Apalachee Gold

Frank G. Slaughter (1908-2001) is an alumnus of Duke and Johns Hopkins University. He became a successful surgeon in 1930, working first in Virginia before moving to Jacksonville, FL in 1934. In 1946, Slaughter exchanged his scalpel for a typewriter and became a full-time novelist. Throughout his career, Slaughter has written 62 books and achieved sales of over 60 million copies. Though most of Slaughter's novels are medical fiction, he has many biblical and historical novels. His 1954 Ace paperback, Apalachee Gold, is an adventure novel based on a little known historical event in Florida known as the De Vaca Expedition.

The protagonist in the book is the young Spaniard Pedro Morales. Pedro is the clerk of an arrogant Spanish conquistador called De Narvaez. Pedro's uncle, De Vaca, holds a position of treasurer. In 1527, the governor of Cuba ordered De Narvaez to employ a fleet of five vessels and 400 men to the coast of the Gulf of Florida in search of gold. Both Pedro and his uncle joined this expedition. These boats ended up being separated or damaged by severe storms. However, the heart of the story involves Pedro and an enslaved Moor named Estevanico.

After finding various Indian tribes in western Florida, Pedro and Estevanico began to learn how to hunt and fight as well as identify all edible plants. The adventure duo quarrel with a number of Indians and even some of De Narvaez's men. Slaughter's narrative, loosely based on real accounts, has both men captured by Indians and placed in extreme circumstances. 

The two explorers ended up struggling and negotiating their way to the Mississippi River. It's here they navigate into Texas and what is now Corpus Christi Bay. Pedro develops a romantic interest and Estevanico struggles for his own freedom. The finale of the book has the two men, paired with De Vaca, trying to free the Indians from Spanish soldiers.

I have a penchant for early pioneer novels and this certainly fits that sub-genre. While it's not really a western, it still possesses that pioneering lifestyle that makes this genre so interesting to me. I liked these two main characters, the history of our nation at that time and from a Christian standpoint I liked the spiritual messages throughout. It is a great testament to faith. However, as a product of its time, there is an antiquated ideology concerning the Indians. Like anything historical, just take what you can gain from it and disregard some of the older sub-texts. If you can do that, Apalachee Gold is a solid read.

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The Hunters

Clark Howard (1932-2016) authored novels in genres like crime, military, action-adventure and spy. I really enjoyed working my way through his bibliography and have positive feedback for Siberia 10 (1973), Last Contract (1973) and The Last Great Death Stunt (1977). I've always loved thrillers in nature, so I was pleased to learn that Howard had written one. It is titled The Hunters and was published in 1978 by Jove. It is now available as an ebook via Mysterious Press. 

Situated in the San Fernando Valley, the hunters are four suburban neighbors with children, jobs and wives. However, each of them has their own peculiarities that make them unique. Here is how they shake up:

Wes is an architect who has had marital problems for several years. He knows that his wife is having an affair with a cop. Wes' wife knows that he's secretly wearing her silk panties all day. Obviously, Wes is having some sexual issues. 

Leo is an advertising executive who is battling a bleeding stomach ulcer. His marriage is average and he is stressed over a failed advertising campaign catered to police awareness.

Milt is a pharmaceutical sales rep who works with a crooked pharmacist to sell illegal drugs on the side. He remarried, but his new wife is not a good match for his daughter. 

Lamar is employed as an insurance underwriter and despises his wife. He is obsessed with television programs about law-enforcement. Lamar is also sleeping with Milt's wife. 

These four individuals participate in two hunting journeys to Nevada each year. Milt has obsessive-compulsive disorder, which means he orchestrates these journeys down to the last detail. The group normally uses .30 caliber guns and makes a stop at a whorehouse before hitting the forest for three days of booze and good times. However, these four men have truly begun to hate one another over the years. Each one has some motivation for murder. 

Just prior to the departure of these four men in Nevada, Clark Howard introduced two key characters - LAPD detectives Joe Clifford and his partner Harry Bowman. Clifford is a veteran of the force with an outstanding service record. Bowman is a new detective with a violent trend and a crack-addicted girlfriend. Together, they put many drug traffickers behind bars. In a shocking chapter, Clifford returns home from a lengthy shift. He hears someone say his name from the shadows before he is beheaded by a 30-calibre rifle. He's violently blown through his front door and lands in front of his wife and kids. Who murdered Clifford?

At nearly 300 pages, Howard's narrative explores the chemistry between these four hunters and their possible motivations for murdering Clifford or each other. As tension rises, suspicions and motives become shifting targets. There's a whole bunch of reasons for each of these people to kill a cop, but what's the connection? Like Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels, The Hunters is a detailed police procedural handled by an LAPD captain and three of his officers. Believe me, there are a lot of character names, but this is not a struggle to follow. Howard's description and character development are strong and warrant an emotional investment. 

In terms of action, there's a few fisticuffs and a firefight near the end. This probably isn't enough to satisfy a reader that relies on a Mack Bolan body count. As a fascinating crime novel, the mystery is resolved through investigations of marriages, employers, neighbors, associates and even past convictions with drug dealers. I became deeply involved in this police procedure and the ride was a great experience.

Like prior novels, Howard injects plenty of graphic sex into the story. The four men visiting the whorehouse is vividly detailed. In addition, Lamar's affair with Milt's wife, Clifford's sex life with his wife and Bowman's relationship with the druggie are all explicit portions of the narrative. When sex isn't happening, the men and women are fantasizing about it. 

If you love a slowly developing plot and a dense mystery, The Hunters will certainly please you. I love the writing of Clark Howard and his representation of average suburbanites involved in secret affairs and scandalous activities is intriguing. While the suspenseful wilderness thriller never really came to fruition, I still really enjoyed the author's storyline and how the cohesiveness of the final act was. I recommend reading this or any of Howard's novels. He is grossly undervalued. 

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Fog Island #02 - Fog Island

Canadian William Edward Daniel Ross (1912-1995) was a prolific author who wrote nearly 300 novels in his career. Specializing in multiple genres, Ross employed more than 20 aliases, including Tex Steele, Clarissa Ross, Dan Roberts and Ellen Randolph. His most popular alias was Marilyn Ross, a name he used to write over 30 novels related to the Dark Shadows television show. In addition, he used the name to author 54 stand-alone Gothic paperbacks as well as series titles like Birthstone Gothic and The Stewarts of Stormhaven. My first experience with Ross is his Gothic paperback book entitled Fog Island. It was published by the Paperback Library in 1965 and is the second episode in a series of seven stand-alones books simply called Fog Island. From what I can gather, none of these books are directly related to each other. 

In the first chapters of the book, readers learn that the Trent family lives on the rural Fog Island, just off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada. Young Stella Trent has been invited by her distant grandmother Winifred to visit the island and possibly reside in the family's large Victorian-style mansion called Trent Towers. Stella's mother had a bad relationship with Winifred and was recently deceased. Her mother's estate is now transferred to Stella and Winifred hopes to reconnect with Stella. 

Once Stella arrives and settles in the mansion, she is repeatedly attacked by what appears to be a ghostly apparition. To increase the tension, everyone she speaks with on the island warns her that the whole house is haunted and it stems from Trent Towers. While Stella is investigating, she finds out that her aunt and another man died together in a mysterious drowning incident. Everybody agrees that Stella bears a striking resemblance to the drowned woman. Will Stella experience the same fate?

Ross's story is a traditional Gothic tale that puts a woman at risk in what appears to be a supernatural event. The obligatory mansion is fun for the reader, and Stella, to explore. The novel wouldn't be complete without two dashing love interests, one of which may be a psychopath. Perhaps the most compelling part of the story is the guest house. An old family friend is doing medical experimentation there. Often Stella can see these experiments from her large window or in the illumination of the island's lighthouse. The mystery is whether or not her aunt actually drowned or is secretly held in this monstrous neighboring laboratory.

Some complain that Ross' writing seems interchangeable in all his books. I even read that some suggest that he copies full paragraphs of his Dark Shadows books and places them in his other Gothic novels. The question of whether all this is true is before the audience. I just have this book to judge and for a short, easy-to-follow Gothic novel, I really liked it. I'm looking for the rest of the books in this series, but they're all quite expensive. Based on the quality of Fog Island, it may be worth it. 

Fog Island Books:

1. Haunting of Fog Island (1965)
2. Fog Island (1965)
3. Phantom of Fog Island (1969)
4. Dark Towers of Fog Island (1975)
5. Ghost Ship of Fog Island (1975)
6. Fog Island Horror (1977)

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Men's Adventure Quarterly #02

Earlier in the year, Men's Adventure Quarterly made its debut. The concept is to bring back the style and substance of action-adventure magazines for men (MAMs), those tough-guy magazines that prospered after the pulp magazines lost their appeal. The first issue of Men's Adventure Quarterly, edited by Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham (also graphic design), focused on western literature and artwork and included a number of reprinted stories from vintage MAMs. It was with great joy to receive this brand new issue, which has an espionage theme similar to Ian Fleming's James Bond. In addition, it features a guest introduction by Paperback Warrior's very own scholar, Tom Simon. So that alone is worth the price of admission.

Men's Adventure Quarterly features artwork by the legendary Mort Kunstler as well as well-known peers like Walter Popp, Basil Gogos and Gil Cohen. This issue includes seven spy stories, a special showcase of artwork from classic MAMs, introductions by Deis and Cunningham, and a photographic look at the popular female spy craze. 

We like colorful illustrations, but our meat and potatoes here at Paperback Warrior are fiction reviews. I had the opportunity to read the issue cover to cover and here are capsule reviews of a couple of included stories:

The Deadly Spy Mystery Of The Formosa Joy Girls

This story first appeared in the March 1963 issue of Man's Action and features interior art by artist Basil Gogos. The author is an unknown name in Brand Hollister. The reason is because of the often used MAM marketing gimmick of these authors pretending to be retired spies who are forced to use pen names to preserve their own safety. In this story, Hollister and his partner Mastin are employed as US counter-intelligence agents. They both work to determine who is divulging information from Formosa (a former island of Taiwan) into Red China. As Hollister's story unfolds, the leak in U.S. intelligence is stemming from Madam Fu-Ming's strip club. There are a few shootings and a mystery to make the story stand out. Overall, I really enjoyed this short story of espionage.

The Kremlin Agent Will Be Wearing A Pink Nightgown

Martin Fass wrote short stories for MAMs while also contributing to the daily Nero Wolfe newspaper comic strip. This Fass story was first featured in the October 1961 issue of Male. A two-page illustration by Walter Popp follows the narrative. The story uses another popular marketing trick from the period when the writer receives first-hand information from a spy or law enforcement member. Typically blue-collar males swallowed it hook, line and sinker due to the bogus photos showing the "real" person passing the story to the author. The story unfolds in Germany and features a beautiful woman named Magda Karoli working for Major Mancuso in a US. counter-intelligence agency. While Mancuso is away at meetings, Magda bugs his office in hopes of obtaining valuable intelligence reports that she can provide a Hungarian spy ring that serves the Soviet Union. As leaks occur frequently, Fass's story concentrates on Mancuso's robust investigation. I thought this was the best story that Deiss and Cunningham chose for this issue. I liked the interaction between Magda and Mancuso and the tension that moves slowly as the noose tightens on this network of spies. Kudos for the superb ending with Magda seducing her way through another bureaucracy.

With 157 full-color pages, Men's Adventure Quarterly Issue 2 is another big success. Like Deis's other contributions (Barbarians on Bikes, Cuba: Sugar, Sex, and Slaughter, Cryptozoologoy Anthology), the book is stacked with vintage stories, stunning artwork and a real sense of purpose. The magazine honors the men and women that contributed consistently to the Men's Action-Adventure Magazines that populated store shelves in the mid-20th century. Deis and Cunningham's hot-blooded passion for this style of storytelling is exhibited through their hard work and steadfast dedication to the art form. Raise your glasses high in appreciation. Or, better yet, go purchase a copy and support their latest effort.

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Mr. Majestyk

Born in New Orleans, Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) began writing successful western fiction in the 1950s. In 1969, Leonard started writing hard-hitting crime novels such as The Big Bounce, The Moonshine War and Fifty-Two Pickup. This is also when Leonard started writing screenplays. After working with Clint Eastwood on Joe Kidd (1972), Leonard started writing the screenplay for Mr. Majestyk. Leonard's original idea was to have Eastwood play the lead. Due to earlier commitments, Eastwood was replaced by Charles Bronson (Steve McQueen was considered) and the film was published by United Artists in July 1974. Leonard penned the film's novelization and it was published in paperback format by Dell.

The book presents Colorado melon producer Vince Majestyk to readers. He won a Silver Star for his heroic service in Vietnam as a U.S. Army Ranger and is now in his second year of farming. After losing money in his first farming year, Majestyk is now in a high pressure situation to successfully harvest his crops to keep the farm afloat. To ensure his success, Majestyk employs experienced Mexican migrants to work on the farm. His work force admires and abides by his commitment.

After a short trip to town, Majestyk returns to the farm to find a low-level hood named Kopas instructing his work force. Kopas says he has hired cheaper work that will save Majestyk money and boost his profits. Majestyk, never accepting anything of this, is shocked by the audacity of the criminal. Eventually, both come to blows and Majestyk takes Kopas's shotgun and drives him away. Later, the police arrive and arrest Majestyk for assault.

Majestyk finds his greatest trouble behind bars. A mafia assassin named Renda is housed with Majestyk and both are transferred to another jail. During the bus journey, Renda's mob operatives try to free him from custody. Instead, Majestyk hijacks the bus and takes Renda to the mountains. It's here that he cuts a deal with the police: his freedom for Renda. In a surprise twist, Majestyk and Renda are both freed. Renda promises Majestyk to kill him for selling him off to the cops.

There's a lot of noble aspects of the Majestyk character. His commitment to Mexican migrants, including fair wages and a secure workplace, his military service and his general good nature regarding the treatment of others is admirable. All of thee characteristics are what attracts a Mexican union representative named Nancy. She falls in love with Majestyk and becomes a major character in the last chapters. I also really liked his relationship with foreman and friend Larry and the respect he slowly receives from law enforcement as the narration expands. Majestyk is an average Joe that readers can easily cheer on.

In terms of violence, both Renda and the mob proves to be worthy adversaries. Majestyk's financial hardships, the stress of farming, and the threats to his livelihood and life are ongoing problems in Leonard's story. The intimidation and interaction between Renda and the low-end thugs is intense and adds another layer to what is already an engaging story. 

My only complaint against Leonard's work is the extent to which the police are responding to the escalation of tension and violence. They are simply targets when the mafia easily disrupts the bus journey and they appear incompetent in the arrest of this high-profile mafia assassin in Renda. The roadblocks they structure, the tracking techniques and the weak protection they provide Majestyk are just not plausible.

Overall, Mr. Majestyk is a fine crime-fiction novel (and film) with an engrossing narrative ripe with interesting characters. Leonard's story is convincing and sometimes even draws on the heartstrings. Majestyk's heartbreaking ordeal is essentially the Everyman facing overwhelming adversity. It's this simple and compelling plot that makes Mr. Majestyk so enjoyable. 

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I'll Call Every Monday

Orrie Hitt (1916-1975) was a suburban family man in Upstate New York who was quietly one of the most successful creators of sleaze paperbacks in the 1950s and 1960s. His plots were largely noir fiction with a heavy dash of non-graphic sexuality and bad decisions driven by greed and lust. During his life, he authored upwards of 150 novels before dying penniless. His second published book, 1953’s I’ll Call Every Monday, remains in-print today.

In the 1950s, the life insurance and annuity business was a different animal. Policies were sold by door-to-door salesmen who were also responsible for collecting the regular - often weekly - premiums from the customer. That’s the setup in I’ll Call Every Monday, and our narrator, Nicky Weaver, is a door-to-door cold canvasser and a premium collector in a town called Devans with a population of 15,000. 

Early in the novel, Nicky meets two very different dames. The first is Sally. She’s a maid at the hotel Nicky occupies, but she wants to be a torch singer and nightclub hoochie-coochie girl. Anyway, Nicky is interested in her for all the normal reasons that guys get interested in cute babes. He eventually sets her up with a job at a cabin resort and a place to stay. It’s the beginning of a convenient sexual relationship, and Nicky really seems to like the arrangement. 

The second woman is Mrs. Irene Schofield, a busty sexpot from the nice side of town who Nicky meets when canvassing a neighborhood to sell some policies. She has a forty-inch bust, and you just know she’s gonna be trouble from the first time she appears on the page. Nicky tries to resist her charms the best he can. After all, he’s got Sally holed up in a cabin not far away, and Irene is a married woman. 

After relenting to his base instincts, Nicky quickly becomes a busy guy like any fella would juggling two dames. Mr. Schofield travels to New York every Monday, giving Nicky and Irene some alone time at her place. Meanwhile, he’s got pretty Sally waiting for him at the resort cabins. It’s a nice schedule until the idea of insuring and murdering Irene’s husband is raised. The plot then takes on similarities to James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, but it’s still a lot of fun to read with a unique twist ending. 

The author gets into quite a bit of detail surrounding the ins-and-outs of the door-to-door insurance game. You can decide if you find that stuff compelling or if you want to just breeze past that stuff. The sex scenes are genuinely erotic without being graphic, and Nicky is just the horndog protagonist that a reader of these books can appreciate. Overall, the paperback was an above-average Orrie Hitt affair and a good place to start for readers unfamiliar with his work. Recommended. 

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Mongo's Back in Town

Emil Richard Johnson (1938-1997) authored 11 paperback original crime novels and won an Edgar Award while serving a 40-year sentence for murder and armed robbery in Stillwater State Prison in Minnesota. His 1969 novel, Mongo’s Back in Town, was the basis of a 1971 TV movie starring Joe Don Baker, Telly Savalas, Martin Sheen and Sally Field.

It’s Christmastime as Mongo Nash arrives home to an unnamed city on a Greyhound bus. However, this is no ordinary trip home after a six-year absence. You see, Mongo is a killer-for- hire, and he’s back to take care of a contract killing at the request of his brother, Mike. The brothers have a complicated relationship involving a bar and a girl that Mike arguably stole from Mongo. But when Mike needs someone whacked, he still calls his hitman brother to get the job done. 

Mike needs Mongo to kill a thief and recover some stolen goods before the goods are due to the local mobster. Meanwhile, we have a federal agent in town named Gordon also looking for the same stolen items. Gordon spots Mongo visiting all the wrong people and assumes he’s mixed up with the shady deal. This sets up the compelling cat-and-mouse game that provides the meat of the paperback’s second half. 

I know this sounds biased, but Johnson was an amazingly good writer for a guy in prison. His own favorite writers included Ed McBain and Mickey Spillane, but his plotting more resembles Elmore Leonard and Charles Willeford. The storytelling and pacing are flawless, and the characters are vivid and fully-realized for a 156-page paperback. 

You need to be prepared for some graphic hardboiled violence as well as some retrograde attitudes toward women and sex. Mongo is not a nice guy, but you can appreciate his professionalism under the awkward familial circumstances. Prison was a good place for the author to study the mannerisms of hard case sadistic tough guys, and Mongo is clearly an amalgamation of scary men with a short fuse that Johnson likely encountered while incarcerated. 

Mongo’s Back in Town is a great crime novel. I’m told it’s Johnson’s best work, but that’s not going to stop me from further exploring his body of work. Unfortunately, his books have been out of print for some time and can be a costly used purchase. Hopefully, some enterprising reprint house will take the initiative to revive Johnson’s books, and this lost classic would be a great place to start

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