Stephen Mertz is a highly-respected author of men's action adventure, mystery and crime novels. As a prodigy of genre great Don Pendleton, Mertz penned a number of 'The Executioner' titles as well as creating action-oriented series' like 'M.I.A. Hunter' and 'Cody's Army'. His first novel, "Some Die Hard," was written in 1975. After an exhaustive search for a publishing deal, the book finally made print in 1979 via Manor Books, a popular producer of genre fare in the 70s. It was re-printed by Rough Edges Press in 2014 with bonus content providing an exclusive backstage peek at Mertz's negotiation with Manor and subsequent frustrations with the publishing house. That version is out of print now.
"Some Die Hard" was written under the pseudonym of Stephen Brett. Mertz later revealed the reason for this pen name comes from his love of Brett Halliday (Davis Dresser) and the 'Mike Shayne' mystery series. This speaks volumes considering "Some Die Hard" is a perfect homage to the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. In essence, Mertz offers a unique presentation of a traditional locked-room mystery. This impossible crime follows the genre formula - murder, follow the clues, line up the suspects and name the killer. Mertz goes as far as name-checking some of his influences in the book - Erle Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen and hard-boiled master Mickey Spillane.
The novel's main character is Dugan, a private investigator who is swept into a murder mystery from the vantage point of a warm bus seat. After witnessing a fellow passenger's death in the street while running from assailants, Dugan finds some intriguing photos of gambling markers stuffed inside of his old paperback. Before his death, the deceased obviously knew there was trouble and left behind a valuable clue for Dugan to discover. Mertz quickly sews the threads to connect the murdered man with the next intended victim, a wealthy architect named Carlander Court.
After taking a job from Court's daughter Susan, Dugan becomes enmeshed within the family's dynamic - attorney, attorney's fragile wife, assistant, doctor and the two heirs to the fortune - Susan and Tommy. In the "daddy's dying, who's got the will" narrative, Dugan learns that Tommy owes $15,000 in gambling debts to the dangerous Zucco. Tommy has now found himself on the outs with his terminally-ill father. His reckless lifestyle of gambling and promiscuity has led Court to re-evaluate his will. His artistic daughter, Susan, has proven to be the best benefactor, and after years of neglect, he has established a healthier relationship with her. As such, she will be the sole heir, leaving Tommy empty-handed. Dugan learns all of this from Court with an intriguing plot development - Tommy will be written out of the will the next day. Court fears that Tommy or Zucco will attempt to kill him that night to preserve the inheritance. If Tommy's omitted from the will, he receives nothing and Zucco's debts will remain unpaid. Court's death prior to the signing of the new will allows Tommy the inheritance as originally planned.
Surely this is quite a murder mystery. Without giving too much away, Court is indeed murdered that night at a birthday party ripe with guests, family and friends. It's an impossible crime that Dugan must solve despite Zucco and Tommy's interference. Who's the culprit and how does the vast fortune connect the victim to the killer? All of this is masterfully orchestrated by Mertz, again clearly utilizing his literary influences while still maintaining his own identity.
Set in Langdon Springs, Colorado, Mertz wrote this first novel while living in Durango. The mountain town was populated by starving artists and the impact of that environment is apparent in "Some Die Hard.". I'd also speculate that the author takes some liberties by denigrating the wealthy. He's quick to criticize the wealthy lifestyle and, while not directly, uses it as a character trait to define the Court family as pompous. Mertz admits this time of his life was one of financial hardship, stating he had 54 cents to his name the day the book contract arrived.
Overcoming adversity, Mertz was passionate about books and writing and maintained a consistent presence within the industry for decades. I'm not sure there is another Mertz book like this one. While I haven't read all of his work, I can steadfastly say that this surely has to be one of his best. It's a literary pursuit quite different from his violent novels written about vigilantes, soldiers and mercenaries. All of those are certainly entertaining and deserve praise, but "Some Die Hard" is truly exceptional. Do yourself a favor and hunt this book down.
We close out the month of September with a feature on Max Allan Collins and his series of books starring the hitman Quarry. Tom reviews "Quarry's Choice" from 2015 and Eric tackles the 23rd installment of 'The Butcher' series, "Appointment in Iran". Tom and Eric look back at the best of September and offer a sneak peek at October's lineup of reviews. Stream the show below or on any popular streaming service. Direct Downloads LINK
Listen to "Episode 13: Quarry" on Spreaker.
Clifton Adams (1919-1971) wrote over 50 books and 125 stories using various pseudonyms including Clay Randall and Matt Kinkaid. Most of Adams' literary work is westerns although he did author a small number of crime novels. The Oklahoma native and WW2 veteran won two coveted Spur awards for his western novels “The Last Days of Wolf Garnett” (1970) and “Tragg's Choice” (1969). One of his most successful creations was the 'Amos Flagg' series, published between 1964-1969. My first experience with Clifton Adams is “Tragg's Choice,” originally released by Ace and the subject of this review.
With “Tragg's Choice,” I think the most prevalent sentiment expressed by Adams is guilt. It's an overpowering burden that's not only shifted between characters, but a consistent characteristic worn by each personality. Within the dust and grime of dry Texas, Adams writes at a fevered pace, driving these contestants through a blazing whirlwind of deception, greed and violence while carrying a freight-train of guilt. Like Arnold Hano's “The Last Notch” (1958) and Ralph Hayes' “Gunslammer” (1973), “Tragg's Choice” is the embodiment of the perfect frontier tale.
Ten years ago, US Marshall Owen Tragg hunted and killed infamous outlaw Jody Barker. That event thrust Tragg into the national spotlight, eventually leading to his resignation from law enforcement. In the vein of a traveling sideshow, Tragg spent a decade traveling the country as a lecturer, hesitantly donning a flamboyant “rhinestone” cowboy look costume with tassels and strings and re-telling the epic confrontation. This silly (and somewhat fictitious) spectacle paid the bills, but now after ten years, most people have forgotten Jody Barker and Owen Tragg.
Adams first introduces the reader to Tragg's eventual counterpart, a lowly sodbuster named Morrisey. In the opening pages, Morrisey stumbles upon a wounded cattleman. The dehydrated man begs Morrisey to mercifully locate a doctor for his broken leg and to provide water. Once Morrisey realizes the man has $200, he simply camps out nearby and lets the sun slowly do the murdering. Basking in his change of luck, Morrisey plans to travel back to his wife to impress her with his newfound fortune. It's on a stagecoach through the desert that Morrisey meets Tragg.
From here, there's plenty of white-knuckle suspense to be had. Avoiding any potential spoilers, Morrisey and Tragg eventually stumble upon a bounty hunter named Callahan who is chasing after a woman named Jessie Ross. While Tragg is saddled with his past and the grief of killing a man, Jessie Ross is carrying her own emotional baggage arising from turning in her outlaw boyfriend for a share of a rich bounty. Callahan is on her tail hoping to learn the outlaw's whereabouts so he can beat Jessie to the reward. Collectively, the four learn a great deal about each other on this ill-fated trip through the desert.
While my review seems a little incomplete, trust me when I say it's for your own good. This is a western masterpiece and the perfect introduction to Clifton Adams. There's plenty of gun-play to be found within this emotional examination of guilt and greed. I've always enjoyed authors tinkering with the human condition by taking everyday people and placing them in extraordinary conditions - the essence of noir fiction. It is this premise that allows Adams to excel. You won't find many westerns as good as this. As an inexpensive, fairly popular paperback, do yourself a favor and make “Tragg's Choice” your next choice. You won't be disappointed.
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Robert Lloyd Fish (1912-1981) was an Edgar Award winner who authored over 30 crime novels under his own name as well as the fishy pseudonym of Robert L. Pike. His 1962 paperback, “Mute Witness,” was loosely adapted into the 1968 Steve McQueen film, “Bullitt.” I’ve never seen the film and probably won’t, but Hollywood’s endorsement of the paperback was enough for me to give it a shot.
I understand that the film is iconically set in San Francisco where cars shoot sparks as they leap over every hill, but “Mute Witness” is a car chase free mystery novel set in New York City. Specifically, the 52nd Precinct where NYPD Lieutenant Clancy (no first name is provided) is assigned to guard a witness who will soon be testifying before the State Crime Commission. The D.A. wants this witness alive when the Commission meets, and the suspicion is that the mafia wants the witness permanently muted. Clancy is an odd choice to project-manage this bodyguard assignment since he has historic problems with his department’s management that cost him a promotion and forced him to transfer and languish in the 52nd Precinct.
In this case, the protectee is Johnny Rossi, a high-level hoodlum running a regional crime racket who is prepared to spill his guts to the New York Crime Commission. Rossi is holed up inside a small uptown hotel and has agreed to have plain-clothes protection until its time for his testimony. That’s where Clancy comes in. You see, this is more than just an assignment for the talented cop - it’s his shot at redemption. Clancy doesn’t understand Rossi’s motivation to testify, nor is it his concern. As long as Rossi makes it to court in one piece, Clancy can declare victory and get on with his career.
It wouldn’t be much of a crime novel if the cops just played gin rummy with the hidden mobster for 180 pages. Of course, someone tries to kill Rossi while he’s being protected by Clancy’s guys. Clancy must determine the source of the compromise and identify the syndicate assassins hired to do the job. In that regard, “Mute Witness” is a real mystery with actual clues, red herrings, and a solvable solution.
The author creates a real sense of urgency because Clancy must solve this case before a certain deadline or everything goes to hell. An interesting element to to the plot is that in order to solve the case in a hurry, Clancy forgoes sleep. His deprivation creates physical exhaustion coupled with a decline in his mental faculties over the course of the paperback. We’ve all been there when we are working too hard without any sleep, but Fish does an outstanding job of making this exhaustion real for both Clancy and the reader.
Fish wrote a few short stories and three novels in his Lt. Clancy series - all using the Robert Pike pseudonym. The full paperbacks are:
- "Mute Witness" (1962)
- "The Quarry" (1964)
- "Police Blotter" (1965)
By the time, Hollywood made the movie “Bullitt” in 1968, Fish was finished with the Clancy character. My research indicates that Clancy and Bullitt have zero in common anyway. Hollywood just took the novel’s basic plot outline, added some car chases, and moved it to San Francisco with essentially a different lead character. After the film’s success, Fish wrote a series of novels using the Pike pseudonym starring a fast-driving, turtleneck-wearing, San Francisco detective named Reardon. “Bullitt” fans looking for more of the same should probably just check out the “Reardon” novels.
However, fans of smart NYPD police procedural mysteries in the vein of Ed McBain will absolutely love the intelligent twists and turns of “Mute Witness.” The paperback has been reprinted a ton under the original title and as a “Bullitt” movie tie-in while also remaining available as an affordable eBook.
Highly recommended.
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Floyd Mahannah (1911-1976) never had a successful literary career, but his small body of work is still highly respected by crime-noir fans and enthusiasts. With just six full-length paperback novels to his credit (one of which was just a condensed version of another), Mahannah also contributed to a number of magazines like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Manhunt, Adventure and Argosy. His 1957 novel, “The Broken Angel”, has been reprinted by Stark House Press with an introduction by author Bill Pronzini ('Quincannon', 'Nameless Detective'). The reprint also includes six of the author's short stories.
The book stars newspaper editor Roy Holgren as a hapless fool who's fallen in love with his secretary, the sultry and suspicious Sara. The two have been fooling around for a few months, with just enough intimacy to propel Roy's infatuation with the young woman. But, this is a crime novel and soon enough Roy finds that Sara has skipped town, ditching him and his marital aspirations. Leaving behind a letter, Sara states that she is on the lam from police pursuit and that she'll miss Roy.
The narrative expands as Roy receives a second letter from Sara just four days later. She has the audacity to ask him for $200 and leaves an address for her location. Roy, still chasing love, arrives at the address to find Sara is now residing in a hospital after a vicious assault by a man named Wes Wesnick. Sara, fearing Roy may be her only help, unveils her compromising position in a murder heist.
Sara was once a nurse named Sharon Albany. After falling in love (read that as lust) with her married employer, plastic surgeon Bantley Quillard, there was a mysterious murder of his wife, Iris. The question of whether Sara killed the woman in a jealous fit of rage is a dominant plot point. Roy doesn't know, Sara refuses to elaborate and the devil's in the details. But, aside from one messy murder that Sara is avoiding, the real quandary lies in an opportunity for Roy. Sara knows where Mace Romualdo is living. Mace is a wanted suspect in a major jewelry heist in San Francisco. It's up the ante for Roy when he learns that the jeweler's insurance company will pay ten-percent of the insured value for any jewelry that is returned or found, plus a $25,000 bonus. If Roy can bring Mace to the police, he could solidify a life with Sara, who may or may not be a seductive killer.
“The Broken Angel” reads like a Day Keene novel but has enough foreboding doom to capture Cornell Woodrich. It's a brooding take on mistrust and ill-fated love, with a number of characters that are equally flawed and unworthy. Should anyone benefit from the reward money? I'm not terribly sure, but Mahannah certainly makes for an entertaining, albeit convoluted, crime story. I didn't have the opportunity to read or review the stories included in the Stark House reprinting, but based on just the quality of “The Broken Angel”, this one is sure to please genre fans.
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James Arch Howard (1922-2000) was a World War 2 pilot who later earned a doctorate in psychology. He also wrote crime novels in his spare time under his own name as well as using the pseudonym of Laine Fischer. To the extent that he is remembered at all, he’s known for the Steve Ashe series of four mystery paperbacks between 1954 and 1957. His first stand-alone crime thriller was “Murder Takes a Wife,” a Pocket Books original from 1958 that’s available now as an affordable ebook.
Narrator Jeff Allen is a hit-man with a specialty of killing wives at the request of their husbands - usually to save the client’s some future alimony. He charges $10,000 per hit, plus expenses, and he’s very good at his job - never working more than five jobs per year. In the shocking opening scene, Jeff tosses a radio into a tub during his target’s bubble bath and then stages the scene to look like an accident. It’s the kind of brutal, Manhunt-esque opening that really grabs the reader by the throat and demands attention.
Like the Max Allan Collins character “Quarry,” Jeff is a smooth professional who gets close and ingratiates himself into the lives of the women he’s engaged to kill. Sometimes, he gets laid. Unlike Quarry, Jeff prefers to stage his murders as accidents. It’s also interesting to read the utter lack of compassion he feels for the women he kills - referring to them as tramps and leeches.
After finishing a brutal murder, Jeff relocates and falls in with a group of wealthy Fort Worth businessman with wives worth killing. Jeff gently nudges these country club types toward the idea of offing their wives to create some liberation from the bonds of marriage. The long sales cycle takes up most of the book, and the reader becomes immersed in a bit too much interpersonal drama among the couples. Using his cover as a wholesale pharmaceutical salesman, Jeff is very good at getting inside this group of friends, so the manipulation can begin.
This all culminates in some interesting murders, and a conclusion that I didn’t find particularly satisfying. However, the author is clearly a real talent, and I now want to explore his Steve Ashe series. Overall, I’m not upset to have read “Murder Takes a Wife,” but don’t confuse it with a masterpiece of the genre.
Acknowledgment:
Special thanks to the excellent blog, The Rap Sheet, for providing biographical background on the author.
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Henry Kane (1918-1988) authored over 60 novels, some utilizing pseudonyms like Anthony McCall, Kenneth McKay and Mario Sagola. His most successful character was 'Peter Chambers', a Manhattan playboy private eye that appeared in over 30 of Kane's novels. As a new Kane reader, my first experience with his writing is the early stand-alone title “Edge of Panic”, originally released by Dell in 1951 for a quarter.
“Edge of Panic” is the stereotypical crime-noir novel that possesses a tried and true formula that heaped huge rewards for many crime novelists of the 50s and 60s. The concept? Well, it's fairly elementary. The drunken man simply wakes up with a corpse. Even prolific crime novelist Day Keene titled one of his novels after the familiar prose - “Wake Up to Murder” (1951). Depending on the author, even an over-utilized plot can still be entertaining.
The book's protagonist is Harry Martin, an ordinary family man working as a successful insurance agent in New York City. For those unfamiliar with the insurance industry, agents are typically rewarded with lavish trips and bonus awards that are sometimes saturated with alcohol depending on how high the numbers bounce off the monthly quota. Martin has prospered at Alliance Mutual and in the past enjoyed many sales conferences with Scotch and the company's vice-president Quigley. After meeting his wife Alice and becoming a father, his wild and woolly days are in the rear-view. Now it's pork chops, club soda and nights with the newspaper.
After a client's husband passes away, Quigley brings the policy and it's cash payout to Martin with an invitation to catch up over drinks. Martin's plan is to meet with a wealthy female client later that night, so he takes Quigley up on the offer. After several glasses of Scotch (a mainstay beverage in Kane's novels), Martin starts to become woozy. With endless pouring, Martin goes on a full bender before departing for his prospective client's apartment.
Soon, Martin passes out only to awaken a few hours later in the woman's apartment...and she's been bludgeoned to death! Disoriented and drunk, Martin is dismayed to find he is holding a bloody hammer. Petrified that he's committed a murder, Martin flees the scene and holes up with a friend across town. Surprisingly, the book's changes gears and places Alice into a primary role. She works against the dragnet to learn more about her husband's activities while attempting to convince the authorities of Martin's innocence.
This is a breezy crime novel that works well within the “drunk finds a corpse” niche. While not terribly original (or innovative), Kane delivers the goods in a propelling way. While never dull or lifeless, the mystery takes a few twists and turns before culminating in the inevitable reveal. Overall, a pleasing, well-told crime novel from one of the genre's most consistent writers.
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