Paperback Warrior Primer - William P. McGivern

William P. McGivern was a successful pulp writer that specialized in crime-fiction, mystery, and science-fiction. He was also an accomplished novelist that found his fortune in the early 1950s as the original paperback novel concept became a marketing triumph. He also wrote screenplays for Hollywood and partnered with his wife to write a number of novels and non-fiction travel logs. We've covered his life and literary work on Episode 59 of the podcast (HERE) but wanted to offer an easy-to-read primer on his life and literary work.

William was born in Chicago in 1922 but at a young age, his family moved to Mobile, Alabama where he was raised. His father was a farmer and his mother was employed as a dress-maker. Despite dropping out of high school, William loved to read as a teenager. His favorite authors were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner. 

Like a lot of the authors we cover here at PW, William joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and rose to the rank of Line Sergeant. At one point he was aboard a tanker that was being bombed. Exercising quick thinking, William opened the valves and released the explosive gas from the tanker saving the crew who were trapped aboard. For that courageous feat, William received the prestigious Soldier’s Medal and honorably left the Army in 1946. At some point after his military career he enrolled in studies at the University of Birmingham in England. 

Returning to the U.S., William was employed for the Pullman Company, a manufacture of locomotive rail cars. Later, he earned a position as a police reporter with the Philadelphia Inquirer, which touched off his fascination with police work and police culture – a theme that ran through his 23 mystery novels. He worked as a police reporter for two years and then jumped ship to become a reporter and reviewer for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

He sold his first short story, “John Brown's Body”, to the pulp magazine Amazing Stories in 1940, and continued to sell short stories throughout his career to magazines including the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Cosmopolitan. During the pulp magazine era, his early 1940s emphasis was on science-fiction short stories for pulps like Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. Wildside Press has compiled 25 of these stories into an ebook volume (HERE). William's pulp career can be identified through a variety of pseudonyms he employed – P.F. Costello, Gerald Vance, Clee Garson, and Bill Peters.  

While William was working as a reporter he also wrote his first novel, But Death Runs Faster, published by Dodd Mead & Co. as a hardcover in 1948. When paperbacks took off in 1950, the novel was reprinted as The Whispering Corpse by Pocket. 

In 1947, McGivern married Maureen Daly, a journalist and published author. She enjoyed success with her 1942 bestseller Seventh Summer. Margaret and William collaborated on a handful of non-genre books throughout their lives, including a non-fiction book about their world travels.

During the second half of the 1940s, it is evident that William's passion for storytelling transformed into crime-fiction and mysteries. His pulp output transitioned from galaxies far, far way to that of inner-city racketeering and the hardboiled detectives destined to stop them. He wrote over 20 crime-fiction stories for pulps like Mammoth Detective, Mammoth Mystery, F.B.I. Detective Stories, and Dime Detective. He also sprinkled in some western stories as well for Mammoth Western. 

As the paperback original became the biggest publishing enterprise, William was there to cash in. Beginning in 1950, he wrote at least one novel every year through 1963. Five of those novels, Shield for Murder, The Big Heat, Rogue Cop, The Darkest Hour, and Odds Against Tomorrow, were all adapted to film. Over the course of his career, William saw 14 of his 23 novels adapted to screen. 

As I alluded to earlier, we have covered a great deal of William's literary work. Here are some of our descriptions of the books we've sampled:

Rogue Cop (1954) - More than just a kick-ass tale of cops and crooks. It’s also a story of a man fighting for his own redemption - both professionally and spiritually. There’s a lot going on in this short novel, and it’s way smarter than most genre paperbacks.

Odds Against Tomorrow (1957) - Fans of heist paperbacks would rightly cite Lionel White and Donald Westlake as the high-water marks in the genre. The book doesn’t quite reach those heights, but it’s a worthwhile effort and a fun ride. Recommended.

Killer on the Turnpike (1961) - A fun way to kill some time with an old, crumbling paperback. Don’t spend a fortune on it, and you won’t be let down. Recommended.

Night Extra (1957) - It doesn’t reinvent the hardboiled formula, but the author certainly showcases his talents and strengths in perfecting it. This was a fast-paced narrative with some touching characters in which readers will invest.

In the early 1960s, William moved to Los Angeles to write for film and television. His credits include the TV series Ben Casey, Adam-12, and Kojak. While it was a cinematic disappointment, William is also credited for writing the screenplay for The Wrecking Crew, a film loosely based on the Matt Helm installment by Donald Hamilton.  

William continued writing novels throughout the 1960s. His books began to take on international settings as the author and his wife became seasoned travelers. His last crime novel was Night of the Juggler, published in 1975.  

After finding a robust career in California, the couple stayed there until William died from cancer in 1982 in Palm Desert. 

You can get William's books HERE.

Night Extra

World War 2 veteran William P. McGivern worked as a a police reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin and The Evening Bulletin before publishing his first novel in 1948. Specializing in crime-fiction and mysteries, McGivern's journalism experience clearly played a large influence on his narratives and plot-points. Nothing showcases that more than his novel Night Extra, published by Pocket Books in 1957.

The book's hero is newspaper reporter Sam Terrell. While working the “night extra” (a special late evening edition of the newspaper recapping important events), Terrell receives a tip that Richard Caldwell, white-hat candidate for mayor, may be having an affair with a mob kingpin's girl. After interviewing the girl, Terrell learns that she has secretly relayed some mob details to Caldwell in hopes that he can use it to win the election. However, hours later it's reported on the police scanner that the girl has been found dead in Caldwell's apartment. Terrell thinks it's a frame job and can validate it with an eyewitness that says the killer wasn't Caldwell. When his sources are questioned and his story buried, Terrell sets out to set the record straight for the public.

Like any hardboiled crime-fiction protagonist, Terrell interviews key witnesses and participants to shake down an unnamed city's corruption. McGivern's contemporary, author David Alexander, utilized the same formula for his eight-book series starring Broadway Times reporter Bart Hardin (1954-1959). Other authors like Richard Sale and Fredric Brown wrote short-stories starring newshounds that worked like private-eyes to break or solve murder cases. McGivern's positions his hero to crack the case, but he stacks the deck with crooked cops and politicians for the hero to combat. The author adds some social commentary on the media's ability to sway voters with their story, an ethical message that is still prevalent today.

Night Extra doesn’t reinvent the hardboiled formula, but the author certainly showcases his talents and strengths in perfecting it. This was a fast-paced narrative with some touching characters in which readers will invest. I'm not sure if Terrell was a recurring character in McGivern's other novels. But if he wasn't, he should have been. Highly recommended.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 59

Paperback Warrior Podcast Episode 59 features a discussion of William McGivern with a review of his classic, Night Extra. We also discuss Armchair Fiction, Sterling Noel, William O’Farrell, Milton Ozaki, Reporter sleuths, Michael Brett and more! Listen on your favorite podcast app, stream below or download directly HERE

Listen to "Episode 59: William P. McGivern" on Spreaker.

Killer on the Turnpike

“Killer on the Turnpike” is a 63-page story by William McGivern that was originally serialized in the “Saturday Evening Post” in 1961 under the title “Murder on the Turnpike.” It was later the anchor of a five-story McGivern anthology paperback released by Pocket Books later in 1961. Finally, the story was collected in the Alfred Hitchcock compilation, “Stories to Be Read with the Lights On” from 1973.

“Killer on the Turnpike” takes place over a single night when a serial killer (before there was a term for that) is stalking, abducting, and killing motorists along a 100-mile length of interstate highway stretching south from New York. The state troopers patrolling the turnpike first notice an abandoned car followed by a dead body - with more mayhem to follow. Even still, it takes them awhile to piece together what’s happening. 

Adding to the tension is the fact that 45 miles of this highway will be traveled by the motorcade of the President of the United States later that night. Dan O’Leary is the earnest young state trooper who discovers the first abandoned car 200 yards away from a highway diner where his girlfriend works. He later spearheads the cat and mouse game between the police and the killer that is the centerpiece of this enjoyable story.

McGivern writes both tense suspense scenes as well as logical police procedural passages very well. The scenes jump from the killer to the police with smooth transitions. Perhaps it stretches realism when the President’s convoy isn’t rerouted while there’s an active manhunt happening on the turnpike, but what fun would that be?

In any case, “Killer on the Turnpike” is a fun way to kill some time with an old, crumbling paperback. Don’t spend a fortune on it, and you won’t be let down. Recommended.

Note: McGivern's turnpike story became a movie, "Nightmare in Chicago". It was directed by Robert Altman in 1964 and features Charles McGraw.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Rogue Cop

William P. McGivern (1918-1982) started his writing career authoring science fiction and fantasy stories for the pulps. By the time he turned to paperback novels, crime fiction became his preferred genre with a high water mark being his 1954 release, “Rogue Cop.” The book was adapted that same year into a well-regarded movie starring Robert Taylor and a pre-Psycho Janet Leigh.

The book’s protagonist is Detective Sergeant Mike Carmody, a police officer in the employ of his big-city police department (feels like Philadelphia to me) and the local mobster, Dan Beaumonte. Carmody has an idealistic kid brother named Eddie who is also a cop, but one who honors his oath of office and plays by the rules. As you can imagine, their relationship is distant and chilly due to the sizable gulf between their core values.

As the novel opens, Carmody has a real dilemma on his hands. His brother Eddie is preparing to testify against a low-level mobster working for Beaumonte, and the racketeer is nervous that the defendant is going to flip if convicted. Beaumonte enlists Carmody’s help to have Eddie keep his mouth shut...or else.

When Carmody explains the risks of testifying to Eddie, the Super-Catholic younger brother doesn’t want to hear it as he can’t be bought or swayed. Carmody is forced into quite a bit of soul-searching regarding his own reputation in the department as a dirty cop while devising a plan to placate his mob boss and keep Eddie alive. Carmody enlists Eddie’s girlfriend into his scheme to keep his brother safe using his own knowledge of the girl’s checkered past. 

This really is a fantastic novel. McGivern brings his A-game when it comes to creating tension and making Carmody’s redemption tale a roller-coaster ride of conflicting interests. The mobsters are menacing without being cartoonish, and the scenes of reckoning between the brothers are emotionally wrenching. McGivern had a real knack for propulsive plotting, and this story is tight as a drum. 

“Rogue Cop” is more than just a kick-ass tale of cops and crooks (although plenty of asses do get kicked). It’s also a story of a man fighting for his own redemption - both professionally and spiritually. There’s a lot going on in this short novel, and it’s way smarter than most genre paperbacks of that era.

I haven’t seen the movie adaptation because they always seem to be a letdown, but I may seek this one out. But you shouldn’t cheat yourself out of a great page-turner. If you’re looking for a fast-moving hardboiled crime story without an ounce of fat, please consider “Rogue Cop” to be essential reading. Highly recommended.

Buy this book HERE

Odds Against Tomorrow

In addition to writing scripts for the TV shows “Kojak” and “Adam 12,” William McGivern also authored some highly-regarded crime fiction in the 1950s. I asked around and learned that his best noir novel is arguably 1957’s “Odds Against Tomorrow.”

The book is a classic heist thriller with an interpersonal twist. Earl Slater is a Texas ex-con who reluctantly joins a four-man crew planning a bank robbery with an estimated take of $200,000. The catch is that the outfit’s fourth man is an affable black guy named John Ingram (played by Harry Belafonte in the 1959 film adaptation), and Slater is more than a bit of a racist. Blame it on his humble, white-trash roots. Can Earl set aside his prejudices for the greater good of The Plan?

The man with the plan for this bank job is ex-cop-turned-crook, Dave Burke, and he’s thought of everything. He’s the consummate professional of the group. All he’s got to do is convince the crew to stick to the foolproof plan and convince Slater to set his bigotry aside for the duration of the job. If you’ve ever read a heist novel, you can guess that things go sideways and that no plan is truly foolproof.

For his part, McGivern does a fantastic job of introducing us to the key members of the heist crew, their backgrounds, and motivations. The flashbacks and exposition happens fast and never diminishes the excitement of the planning, the heist, and the getaway. The scenes depicting the canny local sheriff who senses that trouble is brewing are also terrific and really bring the “will they get away with it?” pot to a rolling boil. Some of the post-heist sequences dragged a bit, but the conclusion landed on solid ground.

Fans of heist paperbacks would rightly cite Lionel White and Richard Stark as the high-water marks in the genre. “Odds Against Tomorrow” doesn’t quite reach those heights, but it’s a worthwhile effort and a fun ride. Recommended.