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.

Star City Shopping

The Paperback Warrior hits the road again in search of vintage paperbacks. The spectacle continues to Virginia's iconic Star City of the South for stacks and stacks of antique juvenile fiction, Find Your Fate adventures, Fawcett Gold Medal westerns, and a look at vintage comics, Hot Rod magazines, and some nostalgic lunch boxes. It's a book shopping bonanza and it's happening right here! Watch below or stream on YouTube HERE.

Paperback Warrior Primer - Charles Williams

Charles K. Williams (1909-1975) is an iconic crime-fiction writer that mastered the genre with his unique blend of criminality, sex, and conversational narratives.  He authored 22 books and was one of the best-selling writers in the Fawcett Gold Medal stable. John D. MacDonald, touted by Stephen King as the “hardest of the hardboiled”, said that Charles Williams was probably the best among his peers but never got the break he needed. His most productive years were 1951 to 1960, an era that produced 17 published novels. 

We've written a great deal on Charles Williams here at Paperback Warrior. We also covered his life and body of work on Episode 56 of the podcast HERE. But, we wanted to offer up a Primer piece for fans and readers to continue celebrating his achievements. 

Williams was born in 1909 in San Angelo, Texas. Later his family relocated to Brownsville, Texas and Williams went to school there. In 1929, Williams dropped out of school in the 10th grade and enlisted with the U.S. Merchant Marine as a radio operator. It was there that he fell in love with the sea, an aquatic serenity that would later influence much of his writing. 

In 1939, Williams, now married to Lasca Foster, worked as an electronics inspector in Galveston, Texas. Three years later he acquired a job in Washington State at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. During WWII he worked as a wireless operator, radar technician, and radio service engineer as a civilian with the U.S Navy. In 1946, Williams moved to San Francisco to continue his radio inspector career. 

In the late 1940s Williams had begun working on a novel titled Hill Girl. He began shopping it to publishers in 1950 and it was published by Fawcett Gold Medal one year later. At the same time he experience a small taste of the dying pulps with his short story, “They'll Never Find Her Head”, published in Uncensored Detective in December 1950. The 40-year old author quit his day job to concentrate on writing.

Often the author's first three novels are referred to as “The Girl Trilogy” - Hill Girl (1951 Gold Medal), Big City Girl (1951 Gold Medal), and River Girl (aka Catfish Tangle, 1951 Gold Medal). In these books, Williams walks the line between a noir crime novel and forbidden romance story. Williams followed the success with his most well-respected novel, Hell Hath No Fury (aka The Hot Spot), published by Gold Medal in 1953. Anthony Boucher of The New York Times reviewed the book and described Williams' writing style as reminiscent of Cornell Woolrich and James M. Cain. 

The author's nautical suspense began to surface with his 1955 novel Scorpion Reef (aka Gulf Coast Girl), a book based on a novella titled Flight To Nowhere (Manhunt, September 1955). Williams' writing career evolved into more sea-bound stories and settings, evident with books like The Diamond Bikini (1956) and The Sailcloth Shroud (1960). One of his most popular novels is a two-book series starring a boat broker named John Ingram and his lover Rae. The two first appeared in the 1960 novel Aground and then re-appeared in the 1963 book Dead Calm. 

Twelve of Charles Williams novels were adapted into film or television works in the U.S., France, and Australia. The Texas native also contributed to six screenplays including the 1964 French film Les Felins based on Day Keene's crime-fiction novel Joy House. 

When his wife succumbed to cancer in 1972, Williams moved to a property located near the California and Oregon border. Suffering from depression, he relocated to Van Nuys, California and took his own life on April 5th, 1975. 

His novels and stories are critically-acclaimed and celebrated by publishers like Stark House Press and Hard Case Crime that continue to reprint classic crime-noir for future generations to enjoy. 

Get his Fawcett Gold Medal vintage paperbacks HERE. Reprints from Stark House Press HERE.

Line of Sight

In 2000, American historian Jack Kelly set aside his non-fiction writing to author a femme fatale noir novel in the tradition of James M. Cain. The book is called Line of Sight, and it’s quite a wild ride.

Our narrator is a cop named Ray Dolan. He’s a patrol officer in a fictional washed-up, decaying, former industrial town called Mansfield, New York. I’m guessing the author drew inspiration from the brick-strewn lots and burned-out factories in New York’s Hudson Valley where he resides.

Ray is a good cop. Honest and hardworking. 35 and single. In the opening scene, he intervenes when a fellow officer tries to beat a suspect with a blackjack. Later that night, he spies the family who just moved into the house behind him. Especially the wife, Sheila. Her husband is an asshole, and Ray quickly becomes infatuated.

We also get to see a lot of great policework from Ray, who is an outstanding and heroic cop. There’s an interesting sub-plot about a racially-tinged incident of excessive force by a fellow officer and the pressure Ray is feeling to engage in a cover-up for the greater good of the force.

As the secret romance between Ray and Sheila intensifies, Ray learns things about Sheila’s husband that would make any right-thinking man wish the guy was gone. It’s a crime-fiction novel, so you kinda see where things are headed. Or do you?

It takes awhile, but a murder does occur. The aftermath is completely bonkers — in a good way. Mark it in your mind. On Page 145, the paperback goes from a good-enough novel about a cop to something totally wild. You want jaw-dropping plot twists? Double-crosses? Patsies? Stool-Pigeons? This fantastic paperback has it all.

The author combines a twisty modern thriller with the femme fatale noir template created by James M. Cain (later honed by Gil Brewer, Harry Whittington, and Orrie Hitt) to create a crime fiction masterpiece. The book seems to be out of print at the moment, and that’s also a crime. Do what you need to do, but find a copy and read this book. Highest recommendation. Get a copy HERE.

A Taste of Terror

Martha Albrand (1914-1981, b. Heidi Huberta Freybe Loewengard) was a German-American novelist that earned France's highest crime-fiction award, Police Literature Grand Prize, for her 1948 novel After Midnight. The novel was adapted into film in 1950 as Captain Carey, U.S.A. starring Alan Ladd. Albrand's novels are critically-acclaimed high-tension novels that incorporated WW2 espionage themes. My only experience with the author is her late career effort A Taste of Terror, originally published in hardcover in 1976 by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

The book introduces readers to Kent, a commercial airline pilot living with his wife Kitty and their teenage daughter Kate in the American Northeast. Around three months prior Kent was forced to belly-flop his airplane due to icy conditions and runway gear that refused to descend on the approach to the landing strip. The landing created a fireball that fatally engulfed over 100 passengers and left many more crippled and hospitalized. As the book begins Kent himself is nursing a broken left hip and ankle. But the real pain is about to start. 

Kent receives a threatening letter in the mail. The anonymous sender states that Kent must commit suicide to atone for his errors in landing the plane. Further, if he doesn't commit suicide, the letter's sender will kill Kate. He's left with the choice of saving his daughter by killing himself or simply ignoring the threat and potentially risking his daughter's life. 

The plot of the book lured me right in. Unfortunately, that's the only thing Albrand could really cook up this late in her career. The plot is simply wasted as readers spend 200 pages succumbing to endless dialogue between Kent and Kitty over their marriage. Kitty has an affair, Kent pines over a female family friend, and Kate is semi-dating the 17-year old neighbor. Eventually, Kent hires a bodyguard that is completely out of her element and lets Kate become captured. The inept FBI (sure sure) doesn't follow up with leads, a private-eye is murdered, and all of these “highlights” of a tension-filled thriller are just one to two-page nods that should be important but aren't.

Overall, my first sampling of Albrand was a dreadful experience. However, this was a late career entry and should be a small sample size in the grand body of work. Her 1940s and 1950s novels are heralded as fine espionage thrillers and worth the price of admission. Let's call A Taste of Terror an experimental first bite that begs for a better meal.  

Conversations - Greg Shepard

Over the last seven years, Paperback Warrior has discussed, reviewed, promoted, and contributed to amazing Stark House Press publications. In this exclusive interview, Greg Shepard, Stark House's founder and editor, sits down with Eric to discuss his career in publishing, including Zebra's mass-market paperbacks in the 1980s and early 1990s, the humble beginnings of the Stark House name, working with the estates of heavyweight crime-fiction icons like Harry Whittington, Carter Brown, Lionel White, and the multiple series titles that he published and continues to publish. This insightful interview peers into the paperback publishing process from start to finish and offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the book business. Stream the audio only portion HERE. Stream the video below or on YouTube HERE.

Winterkill

Kathryn Johnson is a bestselling author of over 40 published novels. She was nominated for the Agatha Award and earned the Heart of Excellence and Bookseller's Best Awards. Her most well known work is The Gentlemen Poet, a novel that has Shakespeare escape to the New World. What drew me to her writing was the young-adult novels she wrote in the 1990s using the pseudonym Nicole Davidson. These were published by Avon under their young-adult imprint Avon Flare. I wanted to read her first novel, Winterkill. It was published in 1991.

Winterkill was written for young adults, however, after reading it, I can honestly say this is no different than any mystery from the early to mid 20th century. The narrative would also please horror readers - which is probably the young audience the cover catered to. I would imagine if you enjoy the childhood perspectives in books by the likes of John Saul, Dan Simmons, or even Stephen King, then that element is strongly used by Johnson - a vulnerable teen placed into extreme situations. 

The book stars Karen, a high school student that is forced to move with her parents to a small town in Vermont. This little town, which features a ski resort, is far different than Karen's New York City roots. There's a fish-out-of-water scenario with Karen initially becoming shy, self-sheltered, and protective in terms of negotiating her emotions at a new school with new people. Thankfully, Karen loosens up and befriends a fellow student named Matt and his popular friends. Matt and Karen begin dating.

Karen also befriends a less popular girl and develops a little rivalry with a local girl named Jerrie. One night at a party Matt tells Karen he has to leave for just a little bit but he will return. Karen gets worried and follows Matt only to see him run over in a hit and run. She can't make out the car through the snow and fog. Later, she discovers that her own car was used in the hit and run. But who would want to kill Matt? Why use her car to do it? Karen then sets out to solve the mystery by eliminating her fellow students as suspects. The finale of the book takes place on the ski slopes as Karen tries to outfox the killer. 

This book was a lot of fun and contained an absorbing mystery. In terms of young-adult novels, this one has some profanity, talk about sex, and of course at least one murder. Again, in comparison to early 20th century mystery fiction, there isn't anything too far out of bounds from just a straight up traditional mystery novel. There is a hint of the supernatural, but it is subjective. Karen's necklace was handed down to her from her grandmother. The necklace has opals that change color depending on how much danger Karen is in. Now, it could just be the lighting or some type of scientific explanation of the weather affecting the stones. There's no clear answer on this, so it is up to the reader to determine if there was something supernatural involved. Personally, I don't think so.

Winterkill was a lot of fun and I have a few other books by this same author I'm willing to read now. If they are as good as this then I'd be very pleased. Recommended. Get the book HERE.

The Butcher #26 - The Terror Truckers

Along with a couple of contributions from Lee Floren, The Butcher series was authored by James Dockery until October 1977. This 26th installment, The Terror Truckers, proved to be the last Butcher novel to be published for over two years. The publishing hiccup by Pinnacle was due to Dockery leaving the series (or being dismissed?) and the title finding a suitable author. By December 1979 literary journeyman Michael Avallone was brought in for the remaining nine books. 

The Terror Truckers is an unusual men's action-adventure novel. Aside from the obligatory graphic sex-scene, which is pretty darn dirty, this book could work as a juvenile fiction novel. It features a young boy and his dog assisting Bucher in his case to disrupt criminals gassing the heartland of America. It is literally Lassie meets The Butcher. If I'm lying' I'm dyin'. 

The book begins, like all Butcher installments, with the entire first chapter consisting of Bucher's abandonment by his parents, his childhood at the orphanage, and his later recruitment into the Mob as a a hitman. The author then goes into Bucher's reversal to back out of nefarious activities, the bounty on his head offered by the Syndicate, and his involvement now with the shadowy good-guy organization White Hat. Par for the course, two Mob gunners (always named something like Mazulli or Lorenzo), try to kill Bucher in the first chapter and he gives them the 'ole KOOSH! That's Batman for the sound of a silenced Walther P38 spouting a 9mm dumdum. 

The Terror Truckers plot consists of a group of domestic terrorists unleashing mysterious gas on the farming community of Dayton, Ohio (official home of The Book Graveyard booktuber). The gas spews from tanker trucks (“thermos bottles” in trucker jargon) and it is up to Bucher to delve into the mystery. Bucher's journey to Dayton from New York is met with an incident on the road from the truckers. It turns out there is a leak within White Hat and the terror truckers know Bucher is on the case! The next logical step is for Bucher to eat at a truckstop and then ravish and horizontal bop a beautiful waitress later that night. 

Soon, Bucher is thrust into the chaos and fights the truckers on the highway, at a local farmhouse, and then at a covert meeting in Pittsburgh. But his unlikely ally isn't the partner White Hat sends in for a rare assist. Instead, it's a young farm kid named Lem and his Lassie-imitating canine hero Old Ben. Lem is sporting a .22 rifle and has enough spunk and determination to save Bucher's bacon a time or two.

The Terror Truckers is a fun pulpfest that never takes itself seriously. My early readings of this series was met with disappointment due to my lofty Mack Bolan-esque expectations. The Butcher is modern pulp with zany villains, outrageous fighting sequences, impossible heroic saves, and a colorful character that is on the same pages as any Black Mask superhero from the early 20th century. Butcher is Black Bat...not Bolan. Once you figure that out then the series makes way more sense and can be enjoyed for what it is – senseless fun with predictability. Get The Terror Truckers HERE. 

Paperback Warrior Primer - Kendell Foster Crossen

Kendell Foster Crossen (1910-1981) wrote crime-fiction novels under the name of M.E. Chaber, a pseudonym he used to construct the wildly successful Milo March series from the mid-1950s through the 1970s. He also contributed to the pulps using names like Richard Foster, Bennett Barlay, Ken Crossen, and Clay Richards. Paperback Warrior has covered a lot of the author's work, archived under the appropriate tag HERE. We also presented a podcast episode on the author HERE. To go one step further, we decided the author deserved a Primer article as well.

Kendell Foster Crossen was born in Albany, Ohio in 1910. He excelled athletically as a football player, a talent that earned him a scholarship at Rio Grande College in Ohio. After college, Crossen was employed as an insurance investigator, a tumbling clown and huckster for the Tom Mix Circus, and an amateur boxer. Tiring of the grind, Crossen bought a typewriter and hitchhiked to New York City.

In the 1930s, Crossen was employed as a writer for the Works Project Administration. There he contributed to the New York City Guidebook and was assigned to write about cricket in Greater New York. In 1936, Crossed answered an ad in the New York Times seeking an associate editor for the pulp magazine Detective Fiction Weekly. He gets the job and begins his ascension into the realm of pulp-fiction writers.

Crossen's first published story may have been “The Killer Fate Forgot”, a western story written with Harry Levin that appeared in 10 Story Western Magazine in January 1938. Sometime in the late 1930s Crossen quit his editing job and moved to Florida. In 1939, he wrote three crime-fiction stories that appeared in Detective Fiction Weekly, one of which used the byline of Bennett Barlay. Crossen continued using the Barlay name in 1940 with four more stories in Detective Fiction Weekly. That same year Crossen used the name Richard Foster to create a pulp-fiction hero known as The Green Lama. In Paperback Confidential, writer Brian Ritt describes the character:

“The Green Lama was the only Buddhist superhero to grace the pages of a pulp magazine”.

The creation of the character and stories originated when the editor of Detective Fiction Weekly, which was owned by the company Munsey's, called Crossen and requested the writer create a series character to compete with The Shadow, a pulp sensation at the time. Crossen had read a newspaper article about a New Yorker who flew to Tibet and studied Lamaism and was lecturing about the Buddhist practices. Crossen was intrigued by the exotic nature and conceived a character called the Grey Lama. Unfortunately, the color grey looks terrible on magazine covers – it doesn’t pop. Crossen changed the character into the Green Lama for a better look.

The character of the Green Lama’s real name is Jethro Dumont. He achieved super-powers through a combination of Buddhist studies and radioactive salts. His main power is the ability to shock by touch. There were 14 Green Lama stories in Double Detective. The character was adapted into comic book format in 1944 with contributions by Crossen. Those stories were reprinted in trade paperbacks by Dark Horse in 2007 and 2008 (HERE). A Green Lama radio show was broadcast on CBS in 1949. The Green Lama pulp stories are available in compilation trade paperbacks (HERE) and digital versions (HERE) by Steeger Press.

In October 1951, Crossen delved into the science-fiction detective scene with the pulp character Manning Draco. Draco is a 35-year old insurance investigator working for the Greater Solarian Insurance Company in a revamped New York, a place called Nuyork, in the 35^th century. The first Draco story was “The Merakian Miracle”, published in Thrilling Wonder Stories. There were five more stories featuring Draco published through 1954 and an early omnibus of stories titled A Man in the Middle. There was also a later collection of these stories published by Steeger (formerly Altus Press) in 2014.

By 1952, Crossen had contributed to pulps like Stirring Detective and Western Stories, Detective Fiction Weekly, Double Detective, All Star Detective, Keyhole Detective Cases, and even glossy magazines like Argosy. However, his most successful creation was just unfolding. By using his experiences as an insurance investigator, and the writing efforts on the Manning Draco stories, Crossen created the insurance investigator “private-eye” Milo March.

Milo March is an investigator for Denver-based Intercontinental Insurance. He used to be an OSS operative (that’s the precursor to the CIA) during WW2. Some of the Milo March books are traditional mysteries involving property crimes or stolen diamonds. However, some are spy stories that feature Army Intelligence pressing March back into service for a covert mission.

These Milo March stories were published in glossy magazines like Bluebook and the pulp Popular Detective. However, the majority of Milo March works was in the format of original novels first published in hardcover by Henry Holt and Company between 1952 through 1973. These were all published under the name M.E. Chaber, a pun on the Hebrew word “mechaber” meaning “writer”. The books have been reprinted several times with the most familiar being the Paperback Library reprints from the 1970s featuring covers by Robert McGinnis. One Milo March movie was created, The Man Inside, starring Jack Palance.

Using the name Christopher Monig, Crossen wrote another series of insurance investigator novels starring Brian Brett. He also created a series, under his own name, starring a U.S. Army Intelligence agent named Kim Locke. There were also two stories written by Crossen starring a futuristic advertisement agent named Jerry Ransom.

Crossen's papers and works are collected at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. He died at the age of 71 in Los Angeles in 1981.

Paperback Warrior spoke with the literary curator for Crossen's estate. Her name, Kendra, suggested the best Milo March books...

#2 No Grave for March

#3 The Man Inside
#6 A Lonely Walk
#9 So Dead the Rose
#17 Wild Midnight Falls

#5 The Splintered Man

You can purchase the Milo March paperbacks with McGinnis covers HERE. The reprinted editions in digital and physical are HERE.