Paperback Warrior Primer - Lionel White

I was honored when Stark House Press asked me to write the introduction for the 2022 edition of Lionel White's The Mexico Run and Jailbreak. I wanted to share that write-up with the Paperback Warrior readers and fans that didn't have an opportunity to buy the book. I hope you enjoy it. - Eric Compton

"Lionel White: The Perfect Getaway"

All good things must come to an end. It’s a sentiment that may have been echoed by Lionel White (1905-1985) as he typed the last line of Jailbreak. This aptly titled prison break thriller proved to be White's last novel. It was published in the U.K. in 1976 by Robert Hale as The Walled Yard and in paperback as Jailbreak in the U.S. by the lowly, scrupulous Manor Books. It was a step backward from White's prior, much more prestigious American publishers like New York Dutton (Penguin) and Fawcett Gold Medal. Manor Books was mostly reserved for a variety of disposable, low-brow team-commando, western and vigilante men's action-adventure titles. Not something from the esteemed mind and talented fingertips of Lionel White.

In reading Jailbreak, and his late career entry, 1974's The Mexico Run, I questioned if the New York author realized this was the end of the literary road? Can authors sense when the creativity think-tank has become dry? It's hard to imagine that White, an astute, literary powerhouse could have been that obtuse. Could White have theoretically known his career was nearing the end years before drafting Jailbreak? Was that the reasons for the creative change from heist-fiction to something entirely different?

Like other authors that either become complacent with their own style or fail to meet their own expectations, Lionel White became aware that he had written himself into a corner. Beginning with his 1952 novel, Seven Hungry Men!, published as a Rainbow Digest and later re-printed by Avon as Run, Killer, Run, White launched a successful career that seemingly elevated, or at the very least defined, what we now consider heist-fiction, or simply “caper novels.” 

White's classic novels, which were influences for Donald Westlake's own revolutionary heist-fiction series Parker (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark) and critically-acclaimed writer and director Quentin Tarrantino, featured anti-heroes planning extensive crimes like robbery or hijacking. These books were nearly step-by-step blueprints showcasing not only the scheming and strategics of committing the crime, but also the mental capacities criminals possess. 

White's caper novels possessed an uncanny transcendence from real-world crimes to printed page. These bank robberies, diamond heists, kidnappings and hijackings come to life through supreme, suspenseful storytelling that forces readers to sympathize, cheer, or jeer these anti-heroes in their pursuit of fortune and high-level criminality. It is these types of stories that calculatedly blend the criminal elements, emotional anguish, and melodrama with unexpected levels of violence and unrest to create the ultimate, satisfying crime-fiction formula. 

Caper plot-devices became a mainstay in White's narratives, reaching a proverbial peak with White's career highlight and genre high-water mark, 1955's Clean Break. In that novel, an ex-con plans a high-stakes robbery at a horse-racing track. The dangling carrot is $2 million bucks, which comes with a number of complications among the plan's faulty moving pieces. It was adapted into the film The Killing directed by iconic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. 

White's other heist novels were equally as entertaining, including – The Big Caper (1955), Operation -Murder (1956), Hostage for a Hood (1957), and Steal Big (1960). Due to his sheer perfection of inventing riveting fictional crimes and the compelling people who plan and execute them, White found his niche, but the ability and freedom to tell a different type of story was confounded by reader and publisher requests for more heist-fiction. White was trapped in his career trajectory, but wanted to explore his literary boundaries. 

One of crime-fiction's overused plots was the “innocent man on the run” routine. Authors like Henry Kane and Day Keene both recycled the concept, and in 1957 Lionel White utilized the idea for his novel The House Next Door. He used it again in 1962's Obsession, the basis for the French film Pierrot Le Fou (Pete the Madman). Both novels saw White exploring fictional ideas outside of his moneymaking wheelhouse. Other non-heist novels like The Merriweather File (1959), Rafferty (1959) and Lament for a Virgin (1960) are all well-received by crime-noir readers, but failed to meet the high expectations of White's loyal heist-fiction fans. 

By the late 1960s, White's collective body of work was impressive and studded with high-shelf heist-fiction. But, the idea of continuing to write these types of stories for another decade was probably creating some personal angst. I liken it to the same problem that bestselling western author Louis L'Amour was confronting. 

In 1974, after 25+ years of range wars, cattle drives, brutish gunfighters, and frontier Indian skirmishes, L'Amour had become complacent with telling the same tales and decided to switch creative direction. Despite his publisher's wishes, L'Amour ended his career writing early American history novels about a fictional Sackett family arriving in North America in the early 1600s as well as a high-adventure, modern novel called Last of the Breed, set in the Soviet Union. In late interviews, L'Amour had plans for more books set in America's Revolutionary War and Civil War.

In the same year that Louis L'Amour was bucking his trend, Donald Westlake issued a temporary farewell of sorts when his novel Butcher's Moon was published. The novel ended a 16 book run that saw his Parker series of heist-fiction simply disappear for over 20 years. Like White, Westlake needed some breathing room and an escape from the same character and series that earned him so much respect and success. While not career ending, Westlake simply wanted to pursue other projects that were sidetracked due to the immense success of Parker.

Following suite, White's very different novel The Mexico Run was published in 1974 by Fawcett Gold Medal. It proved that the author, while not crafting traditional heist-fiction, was still edgy and entertaining. By exploring the more modern, violent savagery of drugs and human trafficking, White was able to explore different storytelling during the sunset of his career. While it will never be mistaken for White's career best, The Mexico Run is a fresh and enjoyable prose with a remarkable twist ending that hits like a lead pipe. Instead of small town banks, urban jewelry stores, or vulnerable vehicular settings, White's workman hero frequents seedy Mexican motels and abandoned coastal villas. The narrative is devoid of robbery or hijacking, the nearly mandatory staples of White's career. The Mexico Run delves into drug cartels and runners (mules), and has a different type of heist, this one involving illegal entrance in and out of U.S./Mexican Customs.

Two years later, his farewell novel Jailbreak involves cons planning to escape from prison. Like his heist formula, White builds the team, introduces the key players, and outlines the strategy for a successful break. But, there's a more modern realism that borders on action-adventure instead of a suspenseful safe-crack or getaway plan. The main character isn't quite an anti-hero, but more of a protagonist that is simply stealing a priceless object – freedom. The novel possesses a lot of gritty, prison terms and behavior, elements that typically wouldn't saturate a 1950s crime-noir paperback. 

White's last streak of publications included The Mind Poisoners (1966), which was an installment of the long-running Nick Carter: Killmaster series of spy adventures. Other non-heist novels included The Crimshaw Memorandum (1967), Death of a City (1970), and A Rich and Dangerous Game (1974). 

Both The Mexico Run and Jailbreak, represented here in this Stark House Press twofer, represents White's honesty with himself. Both of these novels are good enough to compete with his contemporaries, and in some author lists, would even foster career bests. He left behind a legacy of phenomenal crime-fiction literature, what many critics, scholars and fans would consider some of the best heist-fiction of all-time. 

Sensing his career's downward slope, Lionel White retired from writing shortly after Jailbreak's release. But, he did it his way and purged all of his remaining creativity in those final years. He told the stories he wanted to tell, broadened his literary approach, and refused to be cornered. He successfully cracked the safe and made the perfect getaway.

Eric Compton
St. Augustine, FL

July, 2022

Carmody #01 - The Slavers

Peter McCurtin’s Carmody series was a knockoff of the Lassiter western series written by several authors, including McCurtin, under the house name Jack Slade. The first in the series was released in 1970 and remains available today as a cheap ebook.

Carmody is differentiated by other western series titles by the first-person hardboiled narration from our hero. McCurtin is clearly trying to mimic the popular narrative style of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer that was selling quite a few books at the time.

As a main character, Carmody is a benevolent outlaw who is thrust into situations where he is forced to set aside his criminal nature and be a hero. In The Slavers, it’s 1885 in New Mexico and Carmody reconnects with an old buddy who discloses that their mutual friend, a Navajo Indian (a Christian!) was killed and his wife and daughter has been enslaved. Together, they devise a plan for Carmody to save the girls.

McCurtin does a nice job giving readers a quick history regarding the legality and practice of taking and holding Indian slaves. Short version: Enslavement of Native Americans was completely forbidden, but not always strictly enforced, by 1885. The Civil War is long over, Santa Fe had rudimentary plumbing, and an early automobile had been invested in Europe. This was a new era.

All roads lead to the involvement of the town’s wealthy rancher, Thatcher McKim, and his goons fall like dominos under the hail of bullets from Carmody. The tough guy dialogue and patter throughout the novel was simply superb. The explosive set-pieces split the difference between classic westerns and the violent novels forthcoming in series titles like Edge.

Overall, Carmody is a hero worth reading, and The Slavers made me happy to have a new old series to collect and enjoy. Get the paperbacks HERE and digital HERE.

The Hard Corps #02 - Beirut Contract

Chris Lowder and William Fieldhouse, writing as Chuck Bainbridge, had to use 320 pages to unveil The Hard Corps team in the series debut. That book, which was published by Jove in 1986, was an entertaining team-commando novel that showcased the strengths of a five-man group of mercenaries operating out of the Pacific Northwest. The next year both writers were back at it again delivering the next installment, Beirut Contract, in a thinner and more manageable 179 pages.  

The novel is dedicated and inspired by the events surrounding Colonel Art “Bull” Simons, the legendary military strategist and combatant that helped mastermind the freeing of two American men from Iran (described in Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles in 1983) for Texas businessman Ross Perot. 

In this paperback, a wealthy New York publishing executive named Banks is informed that his daughter Georgette has been snatched by a terrorist group calling itself the Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Lebanon. On page, readers experience the turbulent gunfight leading to her capture, orchestrated by a madman named Abdul. In the early sequence of events it is suggested that Georgette's capture will lead to a negotiation and ransom netting millions for the terrorist group. 

After a U.S. Delta Force plan fails, due to an American media leak, Banks takes the matter into his own hands and seeks help from the Hard Corps team. What sets this action-adventure series apart from others is that this team works with the U.S. government. While the team works clandestine missions, they aren't violating or breaching any type of U.S. diplomatic boundaries. The team is assisted by the military in helping create the rescue plan. Some interrogation scenes involve the heroic mercenaries even operating inside of a U.S. embassy. I really like that aspect of this series. 

The Beirut Contract takes readers on intelligence retrieval missions to drill down a specific location that Georgetta is in. While I didn't quite understand some of the logic, the end result was an explosive novel featuring several violent gunfights as the good guys stop the mean 'ole baddies. It is simple entertainment written with a clear consumer base in mind. The bigger the bang the bigger the bucks. This one was effective and entertaining and that's all one can ask for.  Get these books HERE.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #12

The Men's Adventure Quarterly Magazine are highlights of my year. Thankfully, the boys behind this amazing publication put in the hard work and are dedicated to keep these books coming. This is the quarterly magazine edited by both Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham that focuses on vintage men's action-adventure magazines, but delves into other media like paperbacks, comics, films, and books about books. Guest contributors in this issue are James Reasoner, David Avallone, John Harrison, David Spencer, and Paul Bishop. Every MAM Quarterly has a theme. Prior issues were dedicated to themes like juvenile delinquents, spy, vigilante, Vietnam War, and western. This one is right up my alley. It is the Private Eye Issue. At 160 pages this thing is stuffed with content. I'll hit the surface just to give you an idea of what you get with this amazing issue. 

In the opening pages, Bob Deis gives a thoughtful and mournful farewell to his friend and MAM inspiration, artist Mort Kunstler. The famed artist passed away in February, 2025. Back in 2019, Bob, alongside his editing partner Wyatt Doyle, put together a fantastic book about Kunstler and his career. Bob's message is endearing and one that solidifies the enormous legacy Kunstler leaves behind. He was a talent like no other and he will be sorely missed. 

Bob also rolls into the issue's first short story with an introduction about a real life private-eye named Raymond C. Schindler. Bob delves into the sleuth's life and his appearance in a short story titled "The Case of the Murdering Detective", penned by writer Alan Hynd and originally published in Cavalier in September 1956. Bob and Bill publish that entire story in this issue complete with the amazing original artwork by Norm Saunders. 

I was thrilled to see that Bob included yours truly in an article about popular crime-fiction author Frank Kane. Bob gives a nod to Tom and I and our Podcast Episode about Kane's iconic private-eye Johnny Liddell. Bob gives a little backstory on Kane and the character and even digs into an old Manhunt story featuring the character titled "Party Girl". That story, originally appearing in Manhunt's August 1954 issue was reprinted in Ken for Men in May 1957. Thankfully, Bob turns the favor and reprints the entire story in this issue as well. Of course it is accompanied by amazing artwork by Rudy Nappi featuring men's adventure supermodel Eva Lynd. 

Bob has an article about a rare two-issue men's adventure magazine titled Private Eye. The issues were November 1959 and April 1960. Bob writes about the magazine and features a story from it titled "Sing a Song of Sex Mail" by an unknown author. 

What I consider the main event of the issue is a book bonus of Michael Avallone's The Tall Dolores. This book bonus is titled "Make Out Mob Girl". The story is introduced by David Spencer and features an excerpt from Spencer's non-fiction work about paperback novelizations aptly titled The Novelizers. The gatefold artwork for the story is by Frank Soltesz. Accompanying this story is an article by Michael Avallone's son David titled "A Little Something About My Father". 

If you are a fan of the Honey West franchise then this issue's MAQ Gallery is a must. There's tons of paperback cover art from books like Dig a Dead Doll and Girl on the Prowl. There's art from TV Guide, an episode guide from the show, and a short story titled "The Red Hairing" which was originally published in the June 1965 issue of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine with art by Leo Morey. 

James Reasoner's article is titled "The Top Ten Western Detectives" and it looks at characters created by the likes of Loren Estleman, Steve Hockensmith, John Reese, Craig Johnson, and A.G. Guthrie Jr just to name a few. Paul Bishop has a detailed article titled "Sherlockian: The Game is Still Afoot!" that examines Sherlock Holmes short story collection Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, The Fight Card Sherlock Holmes Omnibus, and his own edited book out now titled 52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels. John Harrison's article looks at specific examples of futuristic private eyes, so that adds a little something unique and different to round out the issue. 

As always, with these issues of Men's Adventure Quarterly, high-quality is the absolute goal and every single issue delivers it in spades. I don't know how they do it but Bob and Bill are a terrific duo that put in a ton of hard work to get this to print four times per year. I'm impressed. Again, this is Men's Adventure Quarterly #12 and it's out now. Get it HERE.

Jon Messmann: Vengeance is Mine

The following article appears in the Afterword of the Brash Books edition of the 1973 hard-hitting vigilante novel The Revenger. I wrote this to commemorate not only this series but also Messmann's long and lasting body of work. I hope you enjoy it. - Eric Compton

"Jon Messmann: Vengeance is Mine"

It's a human flaw, either well-conceived or spontaneous, and often is devoid of any real sense of right and wrong. This reactionary process, often spawned by grief and anger, makes it a swinging pendulum that authors can use to transform characters and enthrall readers. This reliable character arc can spur a story into a tumultuous second or third act. The thrills arise from the metamorphosis as the character changes and responds to some sort of emotionally jarring or horrific event.

The concept has remained a steady, consistent staple of literature dating back to ancient Greek tragedies of the 5th century BC. It consumes the third play of the Oresteia trilogy as Clytemnestra kills her husband Agamemnon for the sacrificial murder of their daughter. This sets off a chain of events in which Clytemnestra's remaining children plot to kill her to avenge the death of their father. A compelling, awe-inspiring cycle of violence as family matters turn to splatters.

William Shakespeare's longest play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is perhaps the epitome of revenge tales. Written between 1599 and 1601, the play's central theme is vengeance – served cold and calculated. Hamlet's dead father appears and explains that Claudius murdered him, thus fueling a desire for revenge. Thankfully, it became a rather complicated, emotional murder plot that propelled the play to eternal popularity.

Fast-forward to the 20th century's Western fiction and the classic revenge story becomes a familiar genre trope. Respected author Frank Gruber (1904-1969) codified the Western plots and includes revenge as one of seven basic plots. Gruber described the revenge story as the pursuit of a villain by an individual he wronged, but mentions that it also could involve elements of the classic mystery story. The protagonist's southern drawl can be heard to say something like, “you're the dirty rascal that shot my pa” or “the bastard had it coming.”

Two stellar Western novels exemplify the revenge plot. Charles Portis' 1968 novel True Grit centralizes vengeance as a 14 year old girl hunts her father's murderer with the aid of a rugged U.S. Marshall. The novel explores the price of revenge and the toll it takes on the avenger. It was adapted twice to film, the first time capturing an Academy Award for John Wayne's portrayal of Rooster Cogburn. Two years later, Clifton Adams won his second consecutive Spur Award for the gritty novel The Last Days of Wolf Garnett (published a year before his death). The plot is simplistic, but presented in an atmospheric, crime-noir way. A man is searching for his wife's killer, the despicable Wolf Garnett. But, he later learns that Garnett may already be dead and his opportunity for vengeance has been stolen. It's as dark as a mortuary drape and explores the seeded, deep longing for vengeance.

In men's action-adventure literature, the undisputed catalyst for the 1970s-1990s vigilante heyday is War Against the Mafia. It was authored by Don Pendleton and originally purchased by Bee Line, who then published the book in 1969 under a subsidiary called Pinnacle Books. In the novel, Sergeant Mack Bolan is serving as a U.S. Army sniper in the Vietnam War. With 97 confirmed kills, he earns the bleak moniker, The Executioner. Unlike the decades of vengeance tales before it, Pendleton incorporated a murder-suicide into the character arc. Bolan's sister and father became financially controlled by the Mafia. The stress and financial burdens provoked Bolan's father into killing his wife and daughter before committing suicide. Bolan learns of the deaths and flies home, never to return to the military. Instead, he becomes a one-man army to exact revenge on the Mob. In essence, it is the classic revenge story modernized.

Early editions of War Against the Mafia suggests the book was originally planned as a one-off. However, the sales solidified the idea that readers desired more of Mack Bolan's vengeance. Later printings would include the #1 to indicate that the book was a series debut. Don Pendleton authored another 36 installments before selling the series to Harlequin. Under their subsidiary, Gold Eagle, The Executioner became the most popular men's action-adventure series of all-time with an astonishing total of 464 installments through 2020.

Beginning in 1970, countless publishers wanted to create another Mack Bolan clone to capture the same success that Pinnacle was experiencing. The Executioner directly influenced countless novels, series titles and publisher demands for more revenge stories with a gritty, violent delivery. Like the pulps of the 1930s and 1940s, these titles needed a tragic origin story to propel the hero into action. Publishers, desperately wanting The Executioner readers and consumers to gravitate toward their titles, pitched their ideas and marketing designs to a revolving door of blue collar, working man authors. Along with the look and feel of a vigilante story, the publishers (including Pinnacle and Gold Eagle) created names for their heroes that sounded similar to the word “Executioner” - Butcher, Terminator, Avenger, Hawker, Dagger, Penetrator, Enforcer, Sharpshooter, Stryker, Ryker, Keller, Peacemaker, Liquidator, Inquisitor. Even Marvel Comics received permission from Pendleton to clone Bolan as The Punisher, one of their most consistently selling comic titles of the last 50 years. Obviously, the prerequisite for any proposed paperback warrior was that the title had to end in the letter R.

Or, in some cases begin and end with that letter. Like, The Revenger.

John Joseph Messmann created The Revenger series in 1973 for publisher Signet, then a division of New American Library. But, Messmann's path to vigilante fiction was the proverbial long and winding road. Born in 1920, Messmann began his artistic career by playing the violin, an extracurricular activity forced on him by his parents. By 1940, Messmann began writing for the up-and-coming comic industry, a period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. His first gig was for Fawcett Comics, an early, successful comic book publisher of that era. His co-workers were a dream-team of comic book icons including Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone. Messman wrote for a decade on titles like Captain Marvel Jr., Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Gabby Hayes, Don Winslow of the Navy, Tex Ritter, and Nyoka: The Jungle Girl. He even created a comic strip technique as an education program conducted for the United Nations Information Office.

In 1950, Messmann, now using Jon J. Messmann, co-created Carousel, an 8-page tabloid comics section in the Pittsburg Courier. This featured many of Messmann's ideas including secret agents, historical romance, sea adventure, private-eyes, jungle girls and even fairy tales. Carousel lasted five years and was distributed by New York's Smith-Mann Syndicate. Over time, Messmann was no longer content with the comic industry.

Beginning in the 1960s, Messmann’s transition into paperback, full-length novels began with Lyle Kenyon Engel’s star franchise, Nick Carter: Killmaster. Messmann’s first contribution was the series' 37th installment, 14 Seconds to Hell, published in 1968. The series, authored by a selection of ghost writers under the name Nick Carter, was a firm stepping stone for Messmann. The series paralleled the pulp industry in terms of campy, over-the-top secret-agent action. Messmann’s experience writing comics and comic strips made him a useful workhorse for Engel to rely upon. The author contributed 14 more installments through 1970 before departing the series.

Engel, pleased with Messmann’s production, paired him with another Killmaster author named George Snyder for a series called Hot Line in 1970. The series lasted only three installments with Messmann only contributing to the debut, Our Spacecraft is Missing!. Again, this allowed Messmann to develop a modern secret-agent, in this case a President’s Man type of hero named Fowler. Also in 1970, while writing Killmaster novels and Gothic romance titles (as Claudette Nicole), Messman wrote two books starring a vagabond hero named Logan. They were inspired by John D. MacDonald’s successful character Travis McGhee.

It was just a matter of time before publishing trends would align with Messmann’s literary strengths. His experience in spy-fiction, Gothics, and action-adventure is a product of that era. Genre fiction was consistently reliable for publishers and there were plenty of ideas, authors, and healthy competition. After The Executioner began to develop banner sales numbers for Pinnacle, it was only fitting that Messmann made his own vigilante footprint. In 1973, The Revenger was born.

It’s a mystery on who originally had the idea for Ben Martin, the former military veteran turned Mafia buster. It could be that Messmann had read Don Pendleton and wanted to try his hand or Signet simply approached Messmann’s agent about the story and needed an experienced writer to tell it. By 1973, Messmann had authored books for Award, Fawcett Gold Medal, Belmont-Tower, and Pyramid. He never played hard to get and had a knack for the business dating back 30 years at that point. With the key words “personal tragedy”, “vengeance”, “hero”, “violence”, “sex”, Messmann’s typewriter lit up with possibilities.

Like any 1970s traumatized hero, Messmann’s Ben Martin is a Vietnam veteran. When the series began, it was during the end of America’s involvement in Vietnam’s affairs. Saigon fell. The world moved on. American soldiers were left to rebuild their lives, overcome emotional distress, and become domesticated. Vietnam veterans became the dominant heroes of 1970s and 1980s men's action-adventure literature in the same way that 1950s and 1960s crime-noir was dependent on WW2 veterans. The buyers and readers that were consuming these books could easily identify with these heroes because they shared the same war experience. Arguably, these books served as a type of therapy. These characters, like Ben Martin, understood the “trial by fire” awakening, just like their readers.

When Messmann introduces Martin, he is an honest living, blue-collar family man who owns a grocery store. His nights of silently awaiting targets in a muddy rice paddy are over. But after the character arc, Messmann is transformed from shop owner back into the prowling warrior. By the book’s fiery finale, he’s either alive or dead. Messmann creates this stirring character arc that feeds off of a very personal tragedy. Like Pendleton’s Mack Bolan origin story, it isn’t a straight-up, traditional “you shot up my family” vendetta. In fact, the tragedy is an accident - caused by evil men - but still an accident. Whether anyone would have died otherwise is in the eye of the beholder. But, Martin’s life is deeply affected, and revenge is the only recourse. In these novels, revenge is always the only recourse. Thus, The Revenger rises.

By the end of the bloodshed, the supposed end of Martin’s war, readers are left to arrive at their own conclusions. Why? The Revenger wasn’t planned as a series. There’s nothing to indicate that Signet had any other plans for Messmann or Ben Martin. The paperback's spine, front and back covers and last pages are devoid of anything suggesting this is a series debut. But, it was. Only Signet and Messmann didn’t know it.

At the very least, the sales must have been satisfactory to warrant a sequel. By that point, five more novels became the new goal. Messmann crafted these novels through 1975 with titles that certainly resonate 1970s men’s action-adventure flare: Fire in the Streets (1974), Vendetta Contract (1974), Stiletto Signature (1974), City for Sale (1975), Promise for Death (1975). While revenge is mostly the catalyst for the first novel, Martin’s life continued to be plagued by violence. Each novel builds to a crescendo with revenge as a silent motivator. The protagonist responds with ample destruction in this profession of violence.

As you read and enjoy The Revenger series, a clear genre standout, take note of Messmann’s special treatment of Martin’s psyche. With an uncanny awareness, he delves into Martin’s warrior soul and deciphers dark emotions for the reader. In many ways, Martin could be the most complex vigilante in terms of repressed feelings and temperament. In the second installment, Martin becomes the vigilante, but he doesn’t really want that burden. He dreams of the life that once was, an existence robbed from him by events outside of his control. The old adage “when you look back, it will be what you’ve overcome” is a staple of Martin’s forward outlook, but it’s a reminder of the scars. In reality, Martin realizes that he’s the blood-craving vampire, only it’s revenge that fuels his existence. The emotion makes him alive and whole, ultimately the reason to rise and exist each day. After nights as a sniper in Vietnam, the ongoing war with the mob, and his transformation into a family man, Martin realizes he’s destined to right the wrongs and be the killer of evil. It was the one constant in his life.

Jon Messmann created another character in 1973 as well, Jefferson Boone: Handyman. It's another series standout featuring a U.S. State Department agent extinguishing international flare-ups that could adversely affect America and its allies. It has the same action-oriented intensity as The Revenger, complete with Boone getting laid...a lot. The sexual escapades of both Ben Martin and Jefferson Boone, as well as the Nick Carter series before that, led Messmann to what would ultimately become his meal ticket.

By 1978, adult Western fiction rose to prominence and was led by a series heavyweight in Lou Cameron's Longarm. The concept was simply to incorporate two to three graphic sex scenes into a traditional western paperback. The main character fights the bad guys and pleases the bad girls. Messmann, following the trend, created The Trailsman series in 1980 for Signet. Like Don Pendleton's The Executioner, Messmann birthed an iconic hero in Skye Fargo – lake blue eyes and bed mattress Olympian – and placed him in nearly 400 total installments. Of those, Messmann wrote nearly half up until his retirement in 1998, a testament to his storytelling skills and craftsmanship.

It was rumored that Messmann had never been to the western regions of the U.S., instead writing every Trailsman novel from the comfort of his Manhattan apartment. He would later die at the age of 84 in a New York nursing home in 2004.

New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg and his Brash Books imprint have been doing God’s work for years by reprinting and reintroducing classic novels by forgotten talented authors for modern audiences. Thankfully, Jon Messmann’s stellar body of work has been recognized and included in the publisher’s superb lineup of novels and collections. I can’t think of a more deserving author than Jon Messmann. I also feel that if he were alive today, he would already be writing a new series of heroic fiction for Goldberg and pitching character concepts for another.

The greats like Jon Messmann never ran out of ideas — they just ran out of time.

01/29/2022
Eric Compton
Paperback Warrior

Jon Messmann - Partial Bibliography

As Nick Carter:
Nick Carter: Killmaster #39 Carnival for Killing 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #43 The Amazon 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #44 The Sea Trap 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #45 Berlin 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #48 The Living Death 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #49 Operation Che Guevara 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #50 The Doomsday Formula 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #51 Operation Snake 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #52 The Casbah Killers 1969 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #53 The Arab Plague 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #54 Red Rebellion 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #55 The Executioners 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #57 Mind Killers 1970 (Award Books)
Nick Carter: Killmaster #60 The Death Strain 1970 (Award Books)

Nick Carter: Killmaster #37 14 Seconds to Hell 1968 (Award Books)

As Claudette Nicole:
Bloodroots Manor 1970 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
The Mistress of Orion Hall 1970 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
House at Hawk's End 1971 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
Circle of Secrets 1972 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
The Dark Mill 1972 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
The Haunted Heart 1972 (Pyramid)
The Chinese Letter 1973 (Popular Library)
The Haunting of Drumroe 1973 (Fawcett Gold Medal)
When the Wind Cries 1976 (Pyramid)

As Pamela Windsor:
Forsaking All Others 1977 (Jove)
Rebel's Rapture 1979 (Jove)
At Passion's Tide 1980 (Jove)

Jefferson Boone: Handyman
The Moneta Papers 1973 (Pyramid)
The Game of Terror 1973 (Pyramid)
Murder Today, Money Tomorrow 1973 (Pyramid)
The Swiss Secret 1974 (Pyramid)
Ransom! 1975 (Pyramid)
The Inheritors 1975 (Pyramid)

Canyon 'O Grady series (as Jon Sharpe)
Dead Men's Trails 1989 (Signet)
Silver Slaughter 1989 (Signet)
Shadow Guns 1989 (Signet)

The Revenger:
The Revenger 1973 (Signet)
Fire in the Streets 1974 (Signet)
The Vendetta Contract 1974 (Signet)
The Stiletto Signature 1974 (Signet)
City for Sale 1975 (Signet)
A Promise for Death 1975 (Signet)

Hot Line (as Paul Richards):
Our Spacecraft is Missing! (with George Snyder) 1970 (Award Books)

Logan (as Alan Joseph):
Logan 1970 (Belmont)
Killers at Sea 1970 (Belmont)

Stand-Alone titles:
The Deadly Deep 1976 (New Amerian Librery)
Phone Call 1979 (Signet)
Jogger's Moon (aka To Kill a Jogger) 1980 (Penguin)
The Last Snow 1989 (Random House)
A Bullet for the Bride 1972 (Pyramid)

Non-Fiction:
Choosing a Pet 1973 Grosset & Dunlap

Comics:
Don Winslow of the Navy 1940-1951
Gabby Hayes 1940-1949
Human Torch 1943
Sub-Mariner 1943
Nyoka: The Jungle Girl #50 1945
Tex Ritter 1950

Captain Marvel Jr. 1940-1949

Before It's Too Late

Thus far our experiences with Lou Cameron have been hit or miss. His 1968 police procedural File on a Missing Redhead seems to be the high-water mark of his bibliography, but his 1960 jazzy crime-noir Angel's Flight and the 1976 WW2 combat adventure Drop Into Hell are worthy contenders to the “best of” Cameron claim. However, there have been a number of real clunkers including his 1977 messy cop novel Code Seven and his 1968 abysmal political thriller The Good Guy. For good reasons I cautiously approached his paperback Before It's Too Late. It was published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1970 and promised “hard-hitting suspense”. 

A former MP named Warren earned a Purple Heart for his service in the Vietnam War. He has returned to his quirky hometown because he's flat broke and needs to earn a living. He takes a job at a collection agency and is quickly assigned the job of retrieving a car from a young college student that defaulted on the loan. Warren successfully swipes the car back but finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation when the kid winds up black and blue and very dead. Like most paperback crime-noir cops the local yokels prove to be inefficient at corralling suspects. But, Warren is eventually released and ordered to get out of town. 

Warren sticks around long enough to get wrapped up in another murder, this one being the swanky hot date he just left. But, just as soon as that investigation gets underway he's paired up with an Israeli hottie that may in fact be a spy. Who's she working for? What intelligence does she need in this little college town? Soon more bodies pile up and the town is pointing fingers at Warren. What is happening in Cameron's goofy plot?

Around page 160 of this 176 pager a minor character asks everyone in the room, “What is any of this all about because I don't understand any of it!” That character echoed my thoughts perfectly – I have no idea what this book was about. It is pages and pages of kooky stuff as Warren hunts down leads like an Abominable Snowman (yep!), a Scooby-Doo type of gimmick with grave robbers, the spy-versus-spy cliché, and a group of biker hippies that can't decide if they want to ball or bang him. For the record, while Cameron's writing is a disjointed mess of ideas, this could be one of the dirtiest Fawcett Gold Medal crime-fiction novels I've read - loads of graphic sex and dialogue. Unfortunately, the book sucks. Stay away.

Justin Perry: The Assassin #02 - Vatican Kill

Justin Perry: The Assassin ran five total volumes from 1983 to 1985. The Pinnacle series was authored by George Harold “Hal” Bennett, an African-American writer that used the name John D. Revere. His other novels include This Passionate Land, a 1979 historical romance written under the pen name Harriet Janeway, and his satirical 1970 novel Lord of Dark Places. 

Missing the first book, I ventured into this bizarre men's action-adventure series with the sophomore effort Vatican Kill. In numerous backstories readers are brought up to speed on the titular hero. Justin Perry is a broad-shouldered, trim-waisted 36-year old assassin for the C.I.A.'s Death Squad. The terrorist organization he's been employed to fight is SADIF, which is fitting considering they murdered Justin's wife. As the book begins we learn that SADIF has launched Kill Venus, a spectacular attempt to destroy the planet with a missile. But, as Justin learns, this is just part of Bennett's insane plot. 

The second aspect of SADIF's Kill Venus part is to blow up the Vatican with 5,000 pounds of TNT. To kick off the fireworks, they plan on assassinating the King and Queen of Spain. Apparently this sequence of extraordinary events will launch Earth's Western Hemisphere into the Dark Ages. The whole operation is led by a pervert named Carl Werner, a Nazi that has catapulted himself into the limelight of various military and terrorist cells throughout the Cold War. Now he's planted in the Vatican as a Cardinal and it is up to Justin Perry to stop him.

As much as books like Roadblaster and TNT pushed the boundaries of over-the-top nonsense, Hal Bennett may have gone one step further and obliterated all traces of anything remotely plausible in a men's action-adventure novel. How on Earth did this get published?!?

Let's start with the guns. The book begins with Perry arming himself with a .38 revolver with a ridiculous silencer and a safety. Additionally, he takes this same gun with him to combat a small army of terrorists fortified in an underground cave. A six-shot revolver isn't exactly the best weapon for mass destruction. But, to top that he uses a .22 bolt-action rifle to shoot his targets at 500 yards away. Totally makes sense. 

In terms of character and interaction, Justin sports a giant boner through a fight with a gang of hungry dogs. Seriously, his throbbing erection nearly slows him down. There's also a woman that Justin has been banging his whole life. She's in the book on nearly every page as one of the surprise SADIF terrorists. She is consistently bringing Justin “around” or “back alive” by...sucking his milk. She's also there for a threesome with Justin and his partner. Justin also fantasizes throughout the book about the time he dressed like Donald Duck for a school event. He also is fixated on a train that derailed killing hundreds of passengers. Every momentous occasion to deliver some type of action is met with these boring bizarre flashbacks of Justin and the duck costume and the train derailment. It is uncanny.

Vatican Kill is certainly in my Top Ten for worst book I've ever read. It is a glorified new inductee into the Paperback Warrior Hall of Shame for many reasons – lame main character, zero action, illogical plot, cartoon villain, an uncommon fixation on the male penis, I can go on and on. This is absolutely the worst of the worst and I encourage you to steer clear of it. Avoid!

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 119

In this podcast episode, Eric explores the infamous Amityville murders and their impact on pop culture through a deep dive into The Amityville Horror and its many paperback sequels and spinoffs that shaped haunted house fiction in the '80s and '90s. He also reviews Grady Hendrix’s novel How to Sell a Haunted House. Stream below, watch on YouTube HERE or download HERE.

Listen to "Episode 119: Amityville Paperbacks from Hell" on Spreaker.

The Revenger #03 - Vendetta Contract

Jon Messmann authored six volumes of a vigilante series titled The Revenger beginning in 1973. I really enjoy this character and Messmann's gritty delivery, an admiration that I conveyed in my Afterword for the series debut, The Revenger, reprinted by Brash Books in a brand new edition. All six books were originally published in paperback by Signet and all are available now in new physical and digital editions HERE. 

Vendetta Contract, originally published in 1973, finds protagonist Ben Martin in a small town 15 miles south of Indianapolis. It is here that he uses the name “Ben Bruzzi” to work as an industrial painter. He frequents a small diner where his girlfriend, Bianca Lanza, works the day shift as a waitress. He's hopeful that his prior tragedy – the murder of his family by mobsters – can finally become blurred after his triumphant hits on the mob in New York (The Revenger) and Chicago (Fire in the Streets). He's wanting a new life and this town and Bianca seem to have sparked the next chapter. 

Bianca, who knows Ben's past life, confesses that her brother is now involved with the Syndicate. He's gone missing and the mob is now sniffing after Bianca in a quest to locate him. She knows Ben can help but doesn't want to risk is life and their budding new relationship. Meanwhile, while Ben and Bianca are debating the next steps to help her brother, a think-tank meeting takes place between some of the Syndicate's Kingpins. Based on the recent Mob destruction in Chicago, the heavy hitters are wanting to hire an outside assassin to hunt and kill Ben. They choose a professional assassin named Corbet and pay him $300,000 to kill Ben and bring back his hand so they can match fingerprints. 

Vendetta Contract isn't just the best installment of The Revenger series. This could be one of the best men's action-adventure paperbacks I've ever read. Messmann's high-octane style delivers a mesmerizing cat-and-mouse chase across the country as Corbet hunts Ben. After explosive successful hits on mobsters in Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, Ben takes to the streets as running prey. Messmann's writing provides thoughtful perspectives from both Ben and Corbet, including a sleazy foray into some really dark sexual places that only the 1970s could produce. 

If you enjoy point-of-impact assassin-thrillers by the likes of Robert Ludlum and Stephen Hunter then Vendetta Contract is an absolute must-read. The smooth calculated chase across America provides high-speed car chases, urban warfare, precise planning, and a emotional investment into the Ben Martin character that is nearly unmatched in terms of paperback heroes. This is the one to read.

Get it HERE.

Dirty Harry #04 - The Mexico Kill

I've had mixed reactions thus far of Warner Books' 12-book paperback series Dirty Harry. These books, published between 1981 and 1983, were authored by Leslie Alan Horvitz and Ric Meyers using the pseudonym of Dane Hartman. The series is based on the film character Harry Callahan, a fictional San Francisco detective portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, and The Enforcer. 

In the opening pages of The Mexico Kill, the title's fourth installment, a five-man crew of a fishing trawler called the Hyacinth spot a distressed boat in the Pacific. As they approach the disabled ship they are told that something is wrong with the fuel line and the boat's passengers are needing a lift back to port. Once the passengers are moved aboard the Hyacinth they all pull out guns and overtake the small fishing crew. The whole thing was a violent ruse to steal a boat. 

The Hyacinth is owned by one of Callahan's old friends, a guy named Harold. Harold goes to Harry and explains that his fishing trawler went missing and has now been spotted in a local dock sporting a new name and a paint job. In a previous chapter, Harry gets into a gunfight and is suspended by the department while an investigation concludes. So, with nothing left to do Harry takes the case to investigate his friend's snafu with the boat job. 

The Mexico Kill is a rare look for a Dirty Harry book – nautical adventure. It came as a surprise to find Harry aboard a fishing trawler headed into Mexico to bait a group of smugglers preying on fishermen. There's a backstory with Harry's connection to Harold's wife and their upcoming divorce that eventually connects smoothly to the initial investigation that has Harry suspended. But, readers are here for action and this one delivers sinking ships, drug runners, a fortified Kingpin mansion, and enough targets for Harry to point his big 'ole .44 at. 

Admittedly, Dirty Harry got off to a real bad beginning with the first two installments. But, the fifth book, Family Skeletons, I found entertaining and now it is more of the same value and quality here with The Mexico Kill. Maybe this whole “make my day” thing is working out quite nicely. Recommended!

Get the book HERE.

Conversations - Paul Bishop

Acclaimed author, editor, and podcast host Paul Bishop joins Eric for a lively conversation about his latest book, 52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels. In this engaging discussion, Paul offers a thoughtful introduction to Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective, sharing tips on where newcomers should start, exploring why Sherlock Holmes remains timeless, and delving into the wide world of adaptations—from classic stories and novels to films, TV series, comics, and anime—that have kept the great sleuth alive for nearly 140 years. Stream the video below, on YouTube HERE or listen to just the audio HERE.

Ranking April Reads

Eric presents a Top Ten countdown of his favorite books from April, featuring book covers, publication details, and author biographies for each pick. Stream below or watch on YouTube HERE.

Bed of Fear

Douglas Duperrault (1928-2005) began his career in radio with WFLA in Tampa, Florida. While enjoying a long and successful career in radio broadcasting, promotions, and marketing, Duperrault also authored short stories for Spree magazine and wrote paperback originals. His sleaze novel Spotlight on Sin was packaged with Harry Whittington's Backwoods Shack and published by Lancer as a twofer paperback in 1954. Other novels like Trailer Camp Woman (1959), Army Tramp (1969), and Gang Mistress (1953) were published by the likes of Croydon Publications, Bedtime Books, and MacFadden. 

My first experience with the author is his 1959 sleaze paperback Bed of Fear. The book was originally published by Stanley Library and now exists in an all-new edition by Cutting Edge Books. It is available in both digital and physical versions and is also packaged in the digital omnibus Suburban Sins: Eight Full Novels and TV Noir: Three Full Length Novels. 

Twenty-something Jane Martin works diligently as a secretary for the fictional TV station KLKS. In an effort to work her way through the corporate shuffle she has to handle the workforce skirt-chasers that consistently attempt to bed her down. At home, she's left unsatisfied and unfulfilled by her domineering husband Dan, a drunk louse that serves as a placid lover. 

Bed of Fear is a mattress romp as Jane is led to different beds by the various men in her life. There's the young and handsome weatherman that lures her back to his place in a quest to lose his virginity to what he admires as the true love of his life. Jane's boss Joe takes her to bed in New York City on an advertising trip that descends into a torturous affair teetering with both pleasure and pain. There's also the insatiable neighbor Harry that watches with a close eye anytime Dan leaves Jane alone at home. 

Through 154 pages, Duperrault takes readers on a brisk and entertaining read as Jane determines the value of her life, the unending sacrifices she must make, and the commitments of marriage in an unstable relationship. Like any good sleaze novel, the author takes these characters through sexual escapades by describing feelings, tensions, and release without graphic references to the actual act. It's a wonderful talent shared by many authors of this era and Duperrault certainly holds his own with his contemporaries. Comparisons could be made to author Don Lee, another writer that Cutting Edge Books recently reprinted.

Get Bed of Fear HERE.