Valley of the Assassins

Using a combination of the names Ian Fleming (James Bond) and Alistair MacLean (Where Eagles Dare), author Marvin Albert (1924-1996) conceived the pseudonym of Ian MacAlister in the early 1970s. The prolific author of crime-fiction, tie-in novels, and westerns authored many books under his own name as well as the names of Al Conroy and Nick Quarry. Conveniently, at the height of the 1970s high-adventure market, Albert used the MacAlister pseudonym to write four genre novels. I enjoyed his 1973 WW2 adventure Skylark Mission, so I was anxious to read Valley of the Assassins, another of Albert's stand-alone paperbacks published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1975 under the MacAlister name.

The novel introduces a boater named Eric Larson. While being a part-time adventurer, Larson spends most of his life around the Persian Gulf escorting tourists, gun-runners and exiles into and out of Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. In the opening pages, Larson discovers three bodies lying on a series of rocks in the islands known as the Arabian Nights. After learning that two of the men are dead, Larson nurses the remaining man back to health and delivers him to authorities in Iraq. Unbeknownst to Larson, the man hides a treasure map on Larson's boat.

Later, Larson is attacked on board his boat by two dagger-wielding assassins. After disposing of the killers, Larson discovers the map and goes down a rabbit hole following the treasure and a secret cult of assassins that can be traced back to 1072 AD. Larson teams with a Kurdish woman named Darra, the daughter of a famous freedom fighter. He also reluctantly agrees to an alliance with an Iranian cop and together the group embarks on a mission to locate the treasure.

Albert's intentions with this book are solid. The makings of any good desert adventure story would surely include a Middle Eastern treasure hunt involving Kurdish rebels and a secret order of assassins. However, the narrative crawls slowly and incorporates way too-many history lessons of the region. Of the novel's 190-pages, only 30-pages really have any action or movement. The author simply regurgitates what he likely learned from National Geographic for much of the book.

I never felt invested in the main character’s success or well-being and found the academic nature of the prose boring. This is a very different book from the high-adventure, high-octane action of Skylark Mission. I still have two more of these Marvin Albert/Ian MacAlister novels to read, but now I'm in no hurry.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Sin for Me

As a key contributor during Fawcett Gold Medal's paperback gold rush, the 1950s and early 1960s proved to be a fruitful time for Gil Brewer. Novels like 13 French Street (1951), Flight to Darkness (1952) and The Red Scarf (1955) cemented his place among John D. MacDonald, Day Keene and Jim Thompson as cornerstones of essential crime-noir fiction. As his career soared, his personal life descended into the murky waters of alcohol abuse and depression.

By 1962's Memory of Passion, Brewer had found himself nearing rock bottom, and the author experienced his first major gap between titles as fans waited four years for 1966's The Hungry One. A new publishing imprint, Banner Books, secured original titles from Harry Whittington, David Goodis and Gil Brewer in hopes of building a successful brand. In Brewer's case, that arrangement led to only two books, The Tease and Sin for Me, both published in 1967. Those two novels proved to be the end of Brewer's successful literary career. He would continue writing a few more years under house names doing series work and television tie-in novels, but Sin for Me was essentially Brewer's last crime-noir paperback. Both of Brewer's Banner novels, The Tease and Sin for Me, have been reprinted by Stark House Press as a double with an introduction by scholar David Rachels

Whether intentional or not, Sin for Me reads like a fast-paced western tale. It's a wild manhunt story through the forests and mountain ranges of Colorado. But unlike a dusty, violent cowboy saga, Sin for Me is classic Brewer – a femme fatale story involving greed, sexual desire and bad people. Really bad people.

The book's main character is real-estate agent Jess Sunderland. He's recovering from a bitter divorce from Germaine, a sexy, mountain-bred seductress. To rebound, Sunderland now works for an old colleague named Brownie. In the opening pages, Sunderland receives a call from a beautiful woman named Caroline Jones. After having Sunderland show her numerous houses for sale throughout Denver, she finally confesses the true nature of her business. She was involved in a Florida bank heist with Germaine's new husband. After the heist, Jones was abandoned and finds herself estranged from the money she helped steal. Now she wants Sunderland to assist her in locating the stolen money at Germaine's residence. Like many of Brewer's flawed and doomed protagonists, Sunderland agrees.

Brewer thrusts readers into a chase for stolen loot through Denver and the rural outlying areas. The characters are introduced quickly and often I had to re-read pages to determine which character belonged to which portion of the story. There's a fraud investigator from Jacksonville, Florida, Germaine's backwoods family members, and the various criminals who have tasted the money along the road to misfortune. The finale comes in the form of a western scene – rifle fire from mountain passes between burly men vying for the riches.

As a finale to Brewer's successful crime-noir career, Sin for Me is rather disappointing. The plot moves briskly and introduces too many characters whose cameo appearances clutter the story's elementary dynamics. There was a bank heist. The robbers turned on each other. Sunderland wants the money. It's a simple approach that could have remained rudimentary even given Sunderland's desire to have Germaine back in his arms. However, the book's rushed pace and shallow characters left something to be desired. Like any Brewer novel, it's a fun reading experience but one that could have been better. Packaged with the far superior The Tease, Stark House Press has balanced the great and the average together at an affordable price. It's definitely worth the money, but buy the reprint for The Tease. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 57

On Paperback Warrior Podcast Episode 57, our feature is on the life and work of Richard Himmel with a review of his sexy spy paperback The Chinese Keyhole. Also discussed: Flipping books for cash! Harry Whittington! Ashville, North Carolina! Sleaze fiction! The Mantrackers by William Mulvihill! And more vintage fiction hijinks! Listen on your favorite podcast app or at paperbackwarrior.com or download directly HERE Listen to "Episode 57: Richard Himmel" on Spreaker.

Mona (aka Grifter's Game)

Ten-time Edgar Award winner Lawrence Block rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s with his Evan Tanner and Matthew Scudder novels. It’s noteworthy that, like Donald Westlake, Block’s early literary work was soft-core porn titles published under pseudonyms like Sheldon Lord, Lesley Evans and Jill Emerson. The first book published under his own name was Grifter's Game. The book was originally titled The Girl on the Beach (Block explained that it had a Brewer/Williams/Rabe feel), but Fawcett Gold Medal changed the title to Mona when they published it in 1961. In 2004, Charles Ardai's Hard Case Crime imprint republished the book as Grifter's Game, as the imprint’s very first release.

The paperback introduces an adept conman named Joe Martin. As we meet Martin, he's arrogantly embracing the receipt of a hotel bill while secretly telling readers that he doesn't have the funds to cover it. After skipping out on the bill, Martin heads to Atlantic City where he steals a suitcase, and identity, from a man called Leonard K. Blake. After settling into a two-week stint at a posh seaside hotel, Martin's silver lining begins to tarnish – he discovers Blake had a lucrative amount of heroin tucked into the suitcase. Martin's hopes of running another successful con becomes even more convoluted when he meets the young, beautiful Mona Brassard.

Lawrence Block's writing - even at this early stage - is so tight and effective. The book doesn't possess an ounce of filler or padding. Instead, the compelling plot speeds along as Mona and Martin's heated passion intensifies. The convincing narrative offers an unusual balance beam for readers to walk – cheer on Martin's criminal behavior or hope that all of the characters face a downfall. With no distinct heroes, I was still invested in the characters’ slow, spiraling descent through robbery, murder and adultery. Block's ending gave me chills, a monumental feat considering it was originally published 60-years ago.

Mona is a masterful crime-noir that proved Lawrence Block was something truly special even 60-years ago. Today, his writing is just as good. Do yourself a favor and read this author. Become familiar with his work. Tell others about it. The affordable Grifter's Game version by Hard Case Crime is a must-have and a great starting point to embrace this author's bold and impressive crime-fiction.

Buy a copy HERE

Killer Mine

After a string of remarkable 1940s and 1950s bestsellers, author Mickey Spillane became a Jehova's Witness and took a long hiatus from writing. Upon his return, Spillane continued his popular Mike Hammer installments. However, he also started writing stand-alone novels and novellas like 1965's Killer Mine. This 80-page work was packaged with the stand-alone novella Man Alone in 1968 and published by Signet under the title Killer Mine. After nearly a year of reading full-length novels, I decided to tackle the Killer Mine novella for a change of pace.

The story is set on a seedy side of Chicago and introduces readers to Lieutenant Joe Scanlon, a tough-as-nails cop who grew up in the area before joining the fight in World War 2. Post-war, Scanlon worked his way up the ladder and moved on to a less crime-ridden part of the city. However, after four homicides are found to have a common thread, the brass ask Scanlon to return to his old stomping ground to find the killer.

Like any good police procedural, the narrative incorporates interviews with eye-witnesses, friends and peers that appear hazy when it comes to morals, ethics and doing the right thing. Scanlon's partner is surprisingly a female cop who works juvenile delinquents, but she's brought into the case as a disguise to allow Scanlon to appear that he is married and returning back home. Once Scanlon's dives into the details, he learns that all four murdered men were once his childhood friends. To solve the mystery, Scanlon recounts portions of his childhood to the reader in a race to find the killer.

At 80-pages, Killer Mine works well as a brisk police procedural. Like Mike Hammer, Scanlon is quick to violence, throwing his hefty girth around mobsters, hoodlums and whores to gain clues and information about the victims and the killer. Ultimately, whether any of it is interesting is probably based on your love of procedural books. While Killer Mine isn't a run 'n gun action extraordinaire, it's still compelling enough to turn the pages. As a good afternoon distraction, you could certainly do much worse.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Skylark Mission

Marvin Albert (1924-1996) was a prolific author of men's action adventure, western, mystery and crime-fiction novels. The Philadelphia native wrote a number of detective, mafia and western novels under the pseudonym Al Conroy. He also wrote a six-book series of private-eye novels starring Jake Barrow under the name Nick Quarry. In the 1970s, Albert capitalized on the high-adventure genre of British thrillers made famous by the likes of Alistair MacLean. Using the very British sounding pseudonym of Ian MacAlister, Albert authored four stand-alone high adventure novels – Strike Force 7, Valley of the Assassins, Driscoll's Diamonds and the subject of this review, Skylark Mission. The paperback was published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1973.

The 175-page novel is divided into four parts – The Trap, The Mission, The Trek and The Assault. The opening chapters introduces readers to a man named Sam Flood, a merchant sailor aboard the S.S. Fleming  (an ode to the James Bond author?) during World War 2. The freighter is attempting to sail through the Vitiaz Straits, a guarded canal thick with Japanese torpedo boats. The destination is northern Australia, a temporary safe haven from enemy-occupied New Guinea and New Britain. After the ship is struck and sunk, Flood and two-dozen passengers are forced to navigate back by sailboat to a Japanese torpedo base in the New Britain jungle. The opening act climaxes when Flood escapes the base and makes a daring run through the jungle to find an Australian widow named Nora. Together, the two contact allied forces from a Coast-Watcher's tower.

The bulk of the narrative follows protagonist Captain Mike Shaw and his partner Corporal Neal Miller as they embark on a do-or-die mission to destroy the Japanese base. By doing so, they can liberate the prison camp and provide a safe zone for the fleeing fleets to safely journey to Australia. The author's depiction of the fighting-man Shaw is enhanced by the character's need to avenge his wife and children's deaths at the hands of Japanese forces. As an older character, his skills and abilities are balanced well with the much younger, more able Miller. To help offset some of the doom and gloom, Albert places a comedic character into the narrative, a drunken former WW1 flying ace named Qualey. Once the mission unfolds, the story flirts with the romantic pairing of Shaw and Nora – two widows horribly affected by war with a saving grace found within each other.

Skylark Mission is popcorn fiction done right. Albert is a terrific writer, and his ability to skirt the surface of this action-packed narrative is a testament to his storytelling. While being laced with WW2 atrocities, the book doesn't weigh down readers with a lot of emotional baggage. The emphasis is high-adventure, fisticuffs and blazing gunfire to please men's adventure readers and fans. In emulating the British style, Albert's delivery recalls a Jack Higgins novel, complete with a propulsive narrative and just enough variance in characters to keep readers invested in their destiny and fate. In other words, it simply doesn't get much better than Skylark Mission.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Swamp Nymph

Swamp noir was a popular American sub-genre of the 1950s and 1960s born from the idea that the rural backwoods was teeming with sexy, duplicitous babes seeking to take advantage of city slickers who crossed their paths. In 1962, sleaze-fiction maven John Burton Thompson (1911-1994) got into the act with Swamp Nymph, a short novel that has recently been reprinted by Cutting Edge Books. 

Charles Carraway III is a 30 year-old wealthy scion of a chemical company who just caught his wife showering with her tennis partner in his mansion filled with servants. He responds in kind by forming a sexual relationship with his Swedish maid - a coupling that, for various reasons, can never be more than a fling. To escape all the problems of the world, he heads south to Louisiana in his private plane for a much-needed vacation. 

The Swamp Nymph in question isn’t introduced until well into the paperback. Her name is Shayne, and she’s a 19 year-old beguiling beauty living near the Amite River in rural Louisiana. She was sexually assaulted at a young age and has avoided the company of men ever since despite a desire for love and intimacy. Thompson does a nice job of making Shayne sympathetic and attractive to male readers who will want to rescue this girl from her own past. 

For nearly the whole novel, the plot toggles between the Charles story and the Shayne story. The book is really not about their romance because they don’t even meet until 85% into the novel. The entire plot is just a series of life events and romantic near-misses that eventually bring them to the same swamp community at the same time. 

It’s hard to tell from the cover of these swamp paperbacks if a particular book is a crime-noir novel in disguise (like Harry Whittington’s Backwoods Tramp) or just a standard soft-core sex story. Swamp Nymph is definitely not a crime novel, and the sex scenes are so tepid that they’d hardly raise an eyebrow today. It’s really the story of When Charles Met Shayne and it takes a pretty basic, rather lengthy and mostly unremarkable route to get there. 

Thompson was a better writer than his genre deserved, but his plotting in Swamp Nymph was a slow road to nowhere. I didn’t hate the book, but life is short. You deserve to be reading better books than this one.

Buy a copy of this book HERE