The Sister of Cain

Mary Collins (1908-1979) was born in St. Louis and studied at Miss Burke's School in San Francisco and the University of California. After selling a few short stories to the magazine The Passing Show, Collins took to writing novels. During her short writing career she authored six mysteries from 1941 through 1949. In 2024, Stark House Press began reprinting her books with Only the Good. A year later the publisher has reprinted The Sister of Cain, complete with the original artwork. It is available in both physical and digital editions with an introduction by the always informative Curtis Evans.

Young Hilda is experiencing some domestic changes in her life. She and her husband are expecting their first child. However, David is away serving the U.S. Navy during WW2. In his absence he has urged Hilda to travel to San Francisco to stay with his family in their large house. David's parents are deceased but he has five sisters and they all live together. But, not happily ever after.

After meeting the family's grumpy housekeeper, Hilda meets with the oldest sister, Pauline. She is firmly etched into the family dynamic as the overseer of the family trust and the smothering motherly figure for the four women. During a turbulent dinner it is revealed that Pauline is forbidding one of them from dating a local druggist. After a few days Hilda discovers that Pauline has also placed unnecessary obstacles to block other sisters from marrying, gaining employment, and even dating. 

When Pauline's body is found in her bedroom with a knife in the back the narrative begins a slow character study and analysis of the many motives and suspects. Beyond just the sisters presence there's also the housekeeper and the family friend. The only male character is the homicide detective Cassidy, who soon joins with Hilda to learn who the killer is. The author explains the pairing by elaborating that the police force is severely understaffed.

Collins' The Sister of Cain is a tight suspense thriller that works like any traditional murder mystery. Each suspect is carefully considered and the obligatory secrets are answered that delve into the family's murky past. I never became bored with the plotting and found it affected me in the same fashion as Margaret Miller's excellent The Iron Gates, published in 1948 and two years after Collins' novel. Both books examine young women with emotional distress and mental health issues. The sleuth in that book, Inspector Sands, is similar to Cassidy in this novel. Both are open to the investigation and never paint themselves into a corner with a quick judgment. 

Overbearing family members living in the same dwelling makes for excellent storytelling even without the murder. With a corpse (or three) readers will find the plot development, characterization, and pacing a perfect balance for this 200-page whodunit. The Sister of Cain is recommended. Get it HERE.

Fiction Firefight

Eric hits the used book store shelves in central Florida and finds hundreds of action-adventure paperbacks. Check out the book covers, series titles, authors, and publishing history! Watch the video below or stream it on the YT channel HERE.

Solomon Kane - The Hound of God

Jonathan Mayberry has earned five Bram Stoker awards during his long and prolific writing career. His books include series titles like Joe Ledger, Rot & Ruin, Dead of Night, and Kagan the Damned. The San Diego author joined Titan's round table of authors in 2023 to write fiction based on characters created by Robert E. Howard. Mayberry's contribution is the ebook Solomon Kane: The Hound of God. 

This 39-page short-story is set in Livonia in 1598. Puritan swashbuckling hero Kane has discovered a village literally torn apart. Pieces of bodies are seemingly everywhere as if a pack of wild animals mauled every villager. The scene is so appalling that Kane stops, with tears running down his face, to ask, “God in heaven, have hell's doors opened?”

Kane finds large animal prints mixed with at least as many as twenty bootprints. How could creature and human exist together in one party? Surely this much destruction brought to a village wouldn't bother to spare the lives of a few Cossacks. Kane learns the answer when he is faced with a werewolf and a creature known as The Benandanti.

Overall this was an enjoyable short story that possessed the imagery and feel of a Robert E. Howard Kane entry. It seems that Mayberry is a Solomon Kane fan and his admiration for the character showed in the writing. Solomon Kane stories are easy to read as “monster of the week” episodes and this one was no different. Recommended. Get it HERE.

Paul Harris #01 - Suddenly, at Singapore

According to Spy Guys and Gals, Gavin Black authored a 13-book series of action-adventure paperbacks that fit the snugness of the tight spy-fiction genre. The books were published in hardcover and paperback by a variety of publishers, including Signet, from 1960 through 1979. Always excited for a good action novel I tackled the series debut, Suddenly, at Singapore.

British man Paul Harris, the series star, fought in World War 2 alongside his older brother Jeff. The two were captured by Japanese forces and endured harsh treatment as prisoners-of-war. Eventually the war ended and the two went into business in Singapore running a successful shipping and freighting enterprise in a coastal village. However, their wealthy empire runs a thriving hustle of smuggling weapons so the good people of southeast Asia can rebel against their communist overlords. Harris particularly has an interest in vetting out the reds from Indonesia.

As the novel begins readers learn that Paul and his wife Ruth are suffering marital woes due to the loss of their young child to cancer. The two have drifted apart and mostly live separate lives. Paul has an ongoing affair with a woman named Kate, who is integral to the book's narrative. When Paul learns that his brother was shot in the head execution style an investigation is launched to find and punish the culprits.

Suddenly, at Singapore features a first-half written for espionage-fiction fans. Paul knows the communists killed his brother to deliver a fatal blow to the smuggling enterprise. However, Paul wants to know who tipped them to his brother's whereabouts the night he died. This leads to a fiery exchange with a British inspector and one amazing action sequence as Paul is captured and tortured by a downright evil General. Then the book runs out of fiction fuel. 

The book's second half reads more like a twisted romance novel as Paul works through his marriage issues with Ruth while simultaneously orchestrating a split with Kate. Obviously the relationships have a lot to do with finding the killers but this concentration on character study sacrificed what was shaping up to be a rip-roar, hard-hitting revenge ploy. Nevertheless, Suddenly, at Singapore was still entertaining and definitely a recommended read. I'm anxious to read more of the series and I am specifically interested in the nautical aspects. Additionally if you want to learn a great deal about southeast Asia during this turbulent moment in Earth's history then this book puts you in the thick of it. 

Get a copy of the book HERE.

John Hutchinson #01 - Deadfall

Robert Liparulo, who majored in Motion Picture Production in college, is a screenwriter, investigative reporter, business columnist, and full-time novelist. He's authored thrillers like The 13th Tribe, Comes a Horseman, Germ, and a series of young adult novels titled Dream House Kings. His two action-adventure novels starring a Denver newspaper columnist named John Hutchinson is how he landed here at Paperback Warrior. The first novel, Deadfall, was published in 2007 and the sequel, Deadlock, published two years later. My proper introduction to John Hutchinson is the first of the two books, Deadfall.

Fiddler Falls is a small town of 242 people located in the rural Northwest Territories of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is here that Hutchinson and three friends touch down from an airplane. They plan on spending a week in the wild archery hunting. They only have supplies for the week and the only weapons they have are simply bows and arrows. It's a great time to kick back and take a break from messy divorces, cutthroat business ventures, and unhealthy living. But, another group has also calling Fiddler Falls home this week. Only they have lots of weapons. 

Deadfall works like a traditional The Most Dangerous Game type of story. I lump it into my own term which is Deer Hunter Horror. It's the niche where ordinary people face overwhelming odds when a hunting trip descends into madness and depravity. Liparulo places these four men against a wild bunch gang of tech outlaws that are testing satellite weaponry on the innocent citizens. They feel that since no one will miss Fiddler Falls or its residents it would make perfect cannon fodder. With the local Royal Mounted Police dead and the town captured it is up to the four hunters to “survive the game” to protect the town.

Deadfall kicks total ass, but I do wish it were a shorter tale. At nearly 500 pages the novel could have been shaved to 300ish and never missed a beat. That being said, the novel has a little bit of everything. There's the always solid “man hunting man” element to reinforce the narrative, but at the same time there's plenty of cat-and-mouse tactics as the group find allegiance in a tough-as-nails school teacher and her charismatic young son. Like an excellent action movie the characters use - or defy - helicopters, planes, an aggravating Humvee, scary satellite weaponry, and machine guns while being targeted in mine tunnels, the dense forest, the empty small-town streets, and the bad guys' makeshift headquarters. Liparulo's message is about the human spirit and the need to consistently evolve and adapt when faced with challenges. The concept of the simplest weapon versus a 21st century advanced killing machine is the perfect popcorn comfort. 

Alluding to the cover blurb, Deadfall is indeed Rambo, Mad Max, The Wild Bunch, and The Most Dangerous Game all blended together in a summer big-screen-styled narrative. Highly recommended. Get it HERE.

Dark Shadows #03 - Strangers at Collins House

Paperback Library published the Dark Shadows paperback novels that tied to the television show. The series was authored by goth king William Ross beginning with the 1966 eponymous debut Dark Shadows. I've been torn on the series thus far, enjoying the second novel Victoria Winters more than the plodding starter. I decided to keep the porch light on and continued with the third installment, Strangers at Collins House, published in 1967.

The through story thus far concerns young Victoria Winters, a governess working at an enormous seaside mansion in Maine titled Collins House. Her employers are Elizabeth and Roger Collins, siblings that occupy the house and share an empire of wealth created by the fishing and canning business – although in this novel it is suggested that the Collins family made their fortune from the 19th century slave trade business. Victoria grew up an orphan and is desperate to learn who her real parents were. 

The “strangers” of Collins House in this novel is a reclusive man named Henry Collins, Elizabeth's elderly uncle. He brings along a suspicious caregiver named Benjamin and Benjamin's son, the chauffer named Jack. Before their arrival Elizabeth reveals to Victoria that Henry actually has his own room at Collins House but it is a secret quarters hidden behind a closet. Inside the room Victoria sees that it is decorated as if it is a New York apartment from the early 1900s.

When Henry arrives the chaos begins for Victoria. She begins seeing a female apparition that calls her name from afar. Additionally, Henry behaves in a strange manner and pines for a lover he once had – a lover that was found dead in a parking lot during the height of her singing career on Broadway. Soon the murder attempts begin as always. Victoria stumbles in the dark wine cellar, is nearly killed by a runaway motorist, and is intimidated and threatened by a sinister nighttime roadblock. Par for the course. 

Strangers at Collins House was an okay mystery that delves into Victoria's possible relationship with Henry and her unlikely connection to the dead singer. Admittedly, I was holding out hope that by the book's end Victoria's self discovery would be fulfilled. Maybe it was? In the meantime the book has enough atmosphere and shady characters to keep the pages flying. I enjoyed the book and now it's two books to one that Dark Shadows is an entertaining series. Get the book HERE.

The Sun Eater #01 - Empire of Silence

Christopher Ruocchio of Raleigh, North Carolina authors giant space opera fantasy novels that his fans and critics cherish. He wrote a six-book (thus far) epic series and related in-universe works under the series name, The Sun Eater with the first volume being the 763-paged Empire of Silence (2018).

Our hero is Hadrian Marlowe who lives in a future long after Earth was evacuated by humans who then colonized the universe. We are told that Hadrian was a hero in a battle against an alien force called the Cielcin that harvested humans for meat as they destroyed entire planets. It was Hadrian that won the war and beat back the aliens by exploding their home star with an impossible ship, cementing his lore as The Sun Eater.

But this act of heroic genocide was in the past. When we join Hadrian, he is living far away from anyone as a recluse. The inhabitants of the Sollan empire assume he is dead, which is the official story. All of this is fronted in Chapter One, and then Hadrian goes back to tell the reader how he got here.

As our narrator, Hadrian takes the reader through his life story, including the childhood lessons from a sword master and the obligatory rivalry with his own brother. He is the son of a wealthy and cold industrialist in the uranium mining business - not glamorous nobility - but a harsh man of business ruling his planet of workers, a place called Delos.

During Hadrian’s young adulthood, the Cielcin were already laying waste to entire planets far from Hadrian’s home. Like distant wars in our own world, Hadrian was able to disassociate atrocities from galaxies far away. As telegraphed in the opening chapter (why do that?) Hadrian’s extended coming of age story and rise to greatness is a windy road to his saving of humanity and destruction of the enemy race.

As a science-fiction space operas and thick fantasy epics go, this one is readable and compelling. The buyer’s market for this genre seems to demand 800-page epics, but Empire of Silence would have been stronger and faster-moving at half the size. Regardless, Ruocchio is a fine author who embraces the “rise to greatness” trope and executes it quite well. Dune and Star Wars and countless other media have told variations of the same plot, but genre fiction relies on these familiar story arcs as comfort food — no penalties assessed.

The downside to Empire of Silence is that it could have been titled, "Hadrian: The Early Years". The novel ends with Hadrian setting off on another adventure for which we may be another six books away from resolving. As good as this first novel was, I may not have the stamina for another 4,000 pages to reach a resolution. We’ll see. 

Get the book HERE.