The Health Knowledge Genre Magazines Part Three: Magazine of Horror

by Peter Enfantino

The first two parts of this overview of the Health Knowledge genre digests edited by Robert A. W. Lowndes, covered Magazine of Horror 1-12 and 13-24.

No. 25 January 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(2) There Shall Be No Darkness – James Blish

(17,000 words; From Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1950)

(5) The Phantom Ship – Captain Frederick Marrayat

(3500 words; from New Monthly Magazine, 1837)

(4) When Dead Gods Wake – Victor Rousseau

(9000 words; from Strange Tales, November 1931)

(3) *The Writings of Elwin Adams – Larry Eugene Meredith (4750 words)

(1) The Colossus of Ylourgne – Clark Ashton Smith

(16,250 words; from Weird Tales, June 1934)

Notes: RAWL writes “September 1, 1930 fell on a Wednesday; that was the day the new issue of Wonder Stories was due to go on sale, but there was always the hope that I might see it a day or two before, so I started to haunt the local newsstands Monday.” The editor writes of a certain time and a certain pulp but substitute your time and particular obsession and it’s a universal story amongst collectors. My drug was Famous Monsters of Filmland and I can remember calling my local comic store constantly (the owner probably thought my calls about the next issue began the day after I was in to pick up the current number!). But back to MOH- RAWL writes in his Editor’s Page about discovering Clark Ashton Smith in that issue of Wonder Stories and becoming a fast fan of the author. (When Dead Gods Wake” is illustrated but not credited. “The Colossus of Ylourgne” has an illustration signed by Clark Ashton Smith. RAWL reviews And Flights of Angels, a biography of artist Hannes Bok by Emil Petaja and “divers hands.” In It Is Written, Mrs. David H. Keller writes in, replying to the letter from Robert Madle about Keller’s “The Abyss,” which appeared in MOH 22. Also writing in are Mike Ashley and Eddy C. Bertin, a German writer best known for his Lovecraftian short stories.

No. 26 March 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(1) The Devil’s Bride (Part 1 of 3) – Seabury Quinn

(29,500 words; from Weird Tales, February and March 1932)

(2) *The Oak Tree – David H. Keller, M. D. (5000 words)

(5) The Milk Carts – Violet A. Methley

(2750 words; from Weird Tales, March 1932)

(3) *Cliffs That Laughed – R. A. Lafferty (5500 words)

(t-4) Flight – James W. Bennett & Soong Kwen-Ling

(2750 words; from Weird Tales, March, 1932)

(t-4) The White Dog – Feodor Sologub

(2500 words;from Weird Tales, February 1926)

Notes: At long last, RAWL gets to run his beloved “The Devil’s Bride,” a Jules de Grandin novel that he’d been talking up cautiously for quite a while. Lowndes wasn’t sure readers would want such a long story, one that would have to be split into three parts (it originally ran in six consecutive issues of Weird Tales). Readers let him know they were ready and he obliged. This is also the first issue to feature an installment in David H. Keller’s “Tales of Cornwall” series. When Keller died, he left several unpublished “Cornwall” stories and RAWL was more than happy to rectify that, as well as publishing several of the chapters that had already seen print in Weird Tales. Lowndes’ editorial comments this issue are on the history and chronology of the “Cornwall” series. “The Devil’s Bride” is illustrated by Joe Doolin. Writing in is August Derleth (on Arkham House’s publishing schedule). The first issue of Health Knowledge’s latest digest, Thrilling Western Magazine, is advertised on the back cover.

No. 27 May 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

Cover: Virgil Finlay

(t-4) Spawn of Inferno – Hugh B. Cave

(8000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1932)

(3) *The Sword and the Eagle – David H. Keller (4750 words)

(t-4)*The Horror Out of Lovecraft – Donald A. Wollheim (3000 words)

(1) *The Last Work of Pietro of Apono – Steffan B. Aletti (4000 words)

(5) *At the End of Days – Robert Silverberg (1500 words)

(2) The Devil’s Bride (Pt. 2 of 3) – Seabury Quinn

(26,000 words; from Weird Tales, April and May 1932)

Notes: RAWL recounts for a letter writer how he came to weite the story, “Leapers,” which appeared in MOH 23. “Spawn of Inferno” is illustrated by Wyatt Nelson. “The Sword and the Eagle” is the second in the series of Tales from Cornwall (found in the author’s manuscripts after his death). Lowndes reviews Heinlein in Dimension by Alexi Panshin. “The Devil’s Bride” is illustrated by Joe Doolin (2 pieces). “The Horror Out of Lovecraft” is an HPL spoof. In It Is Written, J. C. Henneberger, the original publisher of Weird Tales tells the story of how “Imprisoned with the Pharoahs,” a story attributed to Harry Houdini but actually ghost-written by Lovecraft, came to be published in the May 1924 WT. Future science fiction/fantasy bibliographer Mark Owings and William M. Danner, publisher of the fanzine Stefantasy also contribute.

No. 28 July 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Robert Schmand

(3) The Nameless Mummy – Arlton Eadie

(6500 words; from Weird Tales, May 1932)

(2) *Raymond the Golden – David H. Keller (6000 words)

(4) The Phantom Drug – A. W. Kapfer

(3500 words; April 1926)

(5) *The Rope – Robert Greth (3250 words)

(6) A Revolt of the Gods – Ambrose Bierce

(1200 words; uncredited source)

(1) The Devil’s Bride (Conclusion) – Seabury Quinn

(26,500 words; from Weird Tales, June and July 1932)

*Not Only in Death They Die (verse) – Robert E. Howard

Notes: “Raymond the Golden” is the third in the series of “Tales from Cornwall” stories. The Howard verse is another of those found by Glen Lord in an attic or suitcase somewhere. In an expanded Inquisitions column, Lowndes reviews Nightmares and Daydreams by Nelson Bond, Index to the Weird Fiction Magazines by T.G.L. Cockcroft, and H. P. Lovecraft: A Portrait by W. Paul Cook. For the first time, RAWL also reviews fanzines; Science Fiction Review by Richard E. Geis, Speculation by Peter R. Weston, and the granddaddy of all sf “fanzines,” LOCUS (RAWL reviews Issue #16!) before it became a prozine. In It Is Written, L. Sprague decamp answers a letter from a previous column.

No. 29 September 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

Cover: Virgil Finlay

(2) The Case of the Sinister Shape – Gordon MacCreagh

(10,000 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

(3) The Thirty and One – David H. Keller, M.D.

(5000 words, from Marvel Science Stories, November 1938)

(4) *Portraits by Jacob Pitt – Steven Lott (4000 words)

(5) The Red Sail – Charles Hilan Craig

(2500 words; from Weird Tales, October 1931)

(1) Guatemozin the Visitant – Arthur J. Burks

(27,000 words; from Weird Tales, November 1931)

Notes: At this time, the offices of Health Knowledge moved from 119 Fifth Avenue to 140 Fifth Avenue (both in New York City). In his essay on “The Health Knowledge Years” for Outworlds 28/29 (1976), Lowndes says the new office was “just across the street (from the old office). Whether the stars or the numbers would have suggested this was an unwise move, I know not; I do know that things began to run downhill shortly afterward.” In a much-expanded Editor’s Page, Lowndes discusses the subject of Edgar Rice Burroughs and racism in the Tarzan novels (in connection with RAWL’s review of Richard Lupoff’s biography of ERB in Inquisitions). “Sinister Shape” is illustrated by Amos Sewell. “The Thirty and One” is the first reprinting of a Tale from Cornwall. When Lowndes got the rights to run all these stories, he decided to run them chronologically story-wise rather than in the order they first appeared. Keller would write stories all over his timeline rather than as one cohesive whole. Lowndes also presents a Cornwall timeline in each issue.

No. 30 December 1969

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Richard Schmand

(1) Satan’s Servant’s – Robert Bloch

(11,000 words; from Something About Cats)

(2) Cross of Fire – Lester del Rey

(3500 words; from Weird Tales, May 1939)

(3) The Battle of the Toads - David H. Keller, M.D.

(5000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1929)

(5) *Harry Protagonist, Undersec for Overpop – Richard Wilson (1100 words)

Slumber (verse) – Robert E, Howard

(4) Speak for Yourself, John Quincy – Theodore Roscoe

(22,750 words; from Argosy, November 16, 1940)

Notes: I’m surprised that this is only Robert Bloch’s second (and last) appearance in MOH. Seems he’d be a natural for this zine, but it may have been a matter of budget. On The Editor’s Page (which should be titled, by this time, “Many Pages for the Editor”), RAWL asks “just what is the ‘New Thing in Science Fiction?’” The Bloch story has an introduction by the author and notes and commentary by Lovecraft. Though “The Battle of the Toads” is the fifth “Cornwall” tale, it was actually the first one to be published. “John Quincy” has an uncredited illustration. In It Is Written, Lowndes pays respect to Boris Karloff, who had died the previous February. An index to Volumes four and five are included. The Reckoning did not appear this issue.

No. 31 February 1970

130 pages, 50 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(3) *The Noseless Horror – Robert E. Howard (6500 words)

(4) The Tailed Man of Cornwall – David H. Keller, M.D.

(5500 words; from Weird Tales November 1929)

(1) The Duel of the Sorcerers (Pt. 1 of 2) – Paul Ernst

(16,000 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

(2) *For Services Rendered – Stephen Goldin (5000 words)

(5) The Roc Raid – George B. Tuttle

(16,250 words; from Weird Tales, November 1929)

Notes: This issue is mistakenly labeled Vol. 6 No. 2 even though it’s actually Vol. 6 No. 1. Lucky for us collectors, they were thoughtful enough to give the zine a whole number. Imagine all the years we’d be trying to hunt down a non-existent V6N1? On The Editor’s Page, RAWL writes about his early days in fandom and his introduction to Weird Tales. Is “The Noseless Horror” one of the silliest titles for a story run in a “Magazine of Horror?” Couldn’t Glen Lord have “accidentally” lost the title page when he found this buried in REH’s backyard in a trunk under his favorite cherry tree? In the Inquisitions column, Lowndes reviews The Man Who Calls Himself Poe, edited by Sam Moskowitz.

No. 32 May 1970

130 pages, 60 cents

cover: Robert Clewell

The Hunters from Beyond – Clark Ashton Smith

(8500 words; from Strange Tales, October 1932)

No Other Man – David H. Keller, M.D.

(5500 words, from Weird Tales, December 1929)

*Materialist – Janet Fox (2500 words)

The Moon-Dial – Henry S. Whitehead

(12,000 words; from Strange Tales, January 1932)

The Duel of the Sorcerers (Conclusion) – Paul Ernst

(19,500 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

Notes: Cover price increases from 50 to 60 cents. By this time, both Famous Science Fiction and World Wide Adventures are dead. RAWL discusses Norman Spinrad’s controversial novel, Bug Jack Barron in The Editor’s Page. Since Famous Science Fiction is no more, RAWL chooses to run C.A. Smith’s “The Hunters” in MOH despite the fact that it’s the third story in a trilogy of “Philip Hastane” stories (the first two were reprinted in FamSF). There’s an illustration accompanying the story but it’s uncredited. Harry Warner, Jr.’s look at Science Fiction fandom in the 1940s, All Our Yesterdays, is reviewed in Inquisitions. "No Other Man" is the seventh “Cornwall” tale (but third in the chronology—confused yet?). That timeline gets longer every issue, now taking up most of a full page. Janet Fox became the go-to girl for the small press in the late 80s and early 90s, publishing her Scavenger’s Newsletter monthly in a time when we didn’t have the internet to find out what was coming out when (and now that we do have the internet there’s not much of a small press, is there?) Janet would run addresses, writer’s guidelines and “want lists” of publishers looking for new talent. She became a very important asset for The Scream Factory in our early days. Sadly, Janet Fox passed away last year. “The Duel” is illustrated by H. W. Wesso. Muriel C. Eddy and Richard Lupoff contribute to It Is Written. Health Knowledge’s latest addition to the stable, Weird Terror Tales gets its first ad on the back cover.

No. 33 Summer 1970

130 pages, 60 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(5) *Camera Obscura – Ted H. Straus (7000 words)

(4) The Bride Well - David H. Keller, M.D.

(5500 words; from Weird Tales, October 1930)

(3) Ligeia – Edgar Allen Poe

(8000 words; uncredited source)

(1) The Nameless Offspring – Clark Ashton Smith

(9750 words; from Strange Tales, June 1932)

(6) Back Before the Moon – S. Omar Barker

(4500 words; from Strange Tales, March 1932)

(2) The Road to Nowhere – Robert A. W. Lowndes

(12,500 words; from Science Fiction Quarterly, Fall 1942)

Notes: RAWL argues, in The Editor’s Page, that science fiction writing has gotten better since the 1930s. “The Bride Well” is Cornwall #8 (no timeline published this issue). An expanded Inquisitions has reviews of Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings by Lin Carter and Two Dozen Dragon Eggs by Donald A. Wollheim. There are also reviews of the fanzines An Annotated Checklist of Science Fiction Bibliographical Works by Fred Lemer and A Reader’s Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos by Robert Weinberg. “The Nameless Offspring” is illustrated by pulp legend Rafael De Soto. S. Omar Barker was well known for the “cowboy poetry” he wrote and saw published in many of the western pulps. “The Road to Nowhere” originally appeared in a shorter version under the title “Highway.” In a long, rambling introduction to It Is Written, RAWL relates a lunch he had with author Stefan Aletti and the question that came up: “What sort of story that we have been publishing in MOH has been most consistently popular with you, the active reader?” The discussion veers from “Is it the gore?” to “Is it the good writing?’ RAWL lists all the stories that have placed first in The Reckoning, then lists the stories that might have been #1 had the “polls been open longer.” As I say, long and rambling but then that’s what made the presence of RAWL so rewarding. Aletti also contributes a letter to It Is Written.

No. 34 Fall 1970

130 pages, 60 cents

cover: Virgil Finlay

(1) The Headless Miller of Kobold’s Keep – Irvin Ashkenazy

(10,500 words; from Weird Tales, January 1937)

(4) *Bride of the Wind – Stephen Goldin (5000 words)

*A Song of Defeat (verse) – Robert E. Howard

(2) The Emergency Call – Marion Brandon

(6500 words; from Strange Tales, June 1932)

(5) *Feminine Magic – David H. Keller, M.D. (6000 words)

(3) The Whistling Corpse – G. G. Pendarves

(17,750 words; from Weird Tales, July 1937)

Notes: RAWL shares his “reminiscences of Seabury Quinn” in The Editor’s Page(s). Health Knowledge’s final digest, Bizarre Fantasy Tales, is announced on the back cover. “Feminine Magic” is a never-before-published Cornwall tale (#9 in the series for those keeping score). Inquisitions sees reviews of The Moon of Skulls by Robert E. Howard and The Little Monsters, edited by Vic Ghidalia and Roger Elwood. In It Is Written, a long letter of nostalgia by California comic book fanzine publisher Richard Kyle (who is attributed with coining the phrase “graphic novel” in one of his zines in 1964. “Bride of the Wind” is the second in a series of stories known as “The Shop.”

No. 35 February 1971

130 pages, 75 cents

cover: Ricardo Rivera

The Altar of Melek Taos – G. G. Pendarves

(15,500 words; from Weird Tales, September 1932

*The Chenoo – Stephen Goldin (6500 words)

Old City of Jade – Thomas H. Knight

(8000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1931)

A Rendezvous in Averoigne – Clark Ashton Smith

(6500 words; from Weird Tales, April-May 1931)

The Mystery in Acatlan – Rachael Marshall & Maverick Terrell

(5500 words; from Weird Tales, November 1928)

In the Lair of the Space Monsters – Frank Belknap Long

(10,000 words; from Strange Tales, October 1932)

Notes: According to RAWL’s essay in Outworlds, Acme News, the corporation that owned the Health Knowledge line, went bankrupt in the Summer of 1970 and Country Wide Publications (owned by notorious publisher, Myron Fass) took over. Only four titles survived the chaos: MOH, Startling Mystery Tales, Bizarre Fantasy Tales, and Acme’s UFO/Bigfoot/paranormal digest, Exploring the Unknown. Incredibly, Weird Terror was axed because Countrywide already published comics with the words Weird and Terror in them and this would cause too much confusion for the company’s bookkeepers! Those comics were among the infamous Eerie Publications (Weird, Witches’ Tales, Tales of Voodoo, etc.), black and white magazines that took pre-code horror comics and added new, gorier panels to the existing art. There’s a new book on the market, The Weird World of Eerie Publications by Mike Howlett that goes into the entire history of the line including its brief association with the Health Knowledge titles. There’s a fascinating bit on how Fass convinced Lowndes to pick out several public domain stories from his digests to run in the comic magazines. Right afterwards, Fass pulled the plug on Health Knowledge and Lowndes was out on the street. I’ll be covering the Howlett book more in-depth in the future. The cover for MOH 35 came from a Countrywide magazine, the short-lived Strange Unknown, ironically a competitor of Exploring the Unknown. The illo is very much reminiscent of the kind of gruesome art that ran in the Eerie zines and must have had MOH readers pitching a fit.

In The Editor’s Page, RAWL discusses “relevance in fantastic fiction.” “The Altar” is illustrated by T. Wyatt Nelson. “The Chenoo” is the third in “The Shop” stories (well, that was what Lowndes called them; Goldin preferred to call it the “Angel in Black” series). This was the last of the series published in MOH but Goldin would write two more “Shop/Angel” stories: “In the Land of Angra Mainyu” (for Gerald Page’s anthology, Nameless Places) and “The Masai Witch” (in Stuart David Schiff’s Whispers #19/20). Goldin collected all five stories in an e-book, appropriately entitled Angel in Black. “In the Lair” is illustrated by Amos Sewell. Kenneth Faig, who would later go on to write several books on Lovecraft writes in to It Is Written.

No. 36 April 1971

130 pages, 75 cents

cover: uncredited

Dread Exile – Paul Ernst

(6750 words; from Strange Tales, June 1932)

The Testament of Athammaus – Clark Ashton Smith

(8000 words; from Weird Tales, October 1932)

*The Vespers Service – William R. Bauer (3500 words)

The Artist of Tao – Arthur Styron

(3500 words; from Strange Tales, October 1932)

The Key to Cornwall – David H. Keller

(5000 words; from Stirring Science Stories, February 1941)

*The Executioner – Rachel Cosgrove Payes (2600 words)

The Settlement of Dryden vs. Shard – W. O. Inglis

(2000 words; from Harper’s Magazine, September 1902)

The Grisly Horror – Robert E. Howard

(12,000 words; from Weird Tales, February 1935)

Notes: RAWL didn’t know this would be the last issue (he had doubts that the Health Knowledge line would last very much longer but there was no verbal warning) so there’s no fond farewell on The Editor’s Page. There is, instead, a typically long discussion of Lovecraft’s views on horror fiction. The lineup for MOH #37 (had it been produced) would have included “From the Dark Halls of Hell” by G. G. Pendarves (from Weird Tales, January 1932), “Once on Aranea” by R. A. Lafferty (an original story that would finally appear in the 1972 Lafferty collection, Strange Doings), and "Murgunstrumm" by Hugh Cave (this was to be serialized in two parts in 37 and, ostensibly, 38; the story originally appeared in Strange Tales, June 1933; it became the title story in the massive Carcosa collection in 1977). “Testament,” “Tao” and “The Grisly Horror” all have uncredited illustrations. “Vespers” and “The Executioner” were originally slated for Weird Terror Tales #4 but shifted over to MOH when WTT was axed. Lowndes' intro to the latter story: "Rachel Cosgrove Payes would also have been present in that never-never issue of Weird Terror Tales. She was one of the very last writers to contribute to the OZ series, originated by L. Frank Baum. Since then, she has written numbers of more or less mundane novels for the now-discontinued Avalon hardcover series, as well as several science fiction novels for Avalon, these latter under the name of L. E. Arch.” Mundane? “Gee, thanks RAWL. I’ll put that in my C.V.!” Years later, Payes was writing historical sex novels for Playboy Press (Moment of Desire, Bride of Fury, The Coach to Hell, Satan’s Mistress). “The Key” is the tenth (and final) Cornwall tale. R. E. Howard’s original title for “The Grisly Horror” was “The Moon of Zambebwei.” In a jumbo-sized Inquisitions, RAWL reviews Under the Moons of Mars, edited by Sam Moskowitz, Beware the Beasts, edited by Ghidalia and Elwood, The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris, The Double Bill Symposium by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., and The Conan Swordbook, edited by L. Sprague decamp and George H. Scithers. In It Is Written, RAWL lets us behind the scenes on all the calamities that have befallen him and Health Knowledge lately. Interesting stuff. The Reckoning is caught up on (it had been omitted the last few issues), though not quite enough as MOH 32’s results are not included. Stuart David Schiff writes in. There is an Index to Volume Six.

Next up: Startling Mystery Tales Part One

Fredric Brown: The Deadly Weekend

By Jack Seabrook

In the mid- to late-1940s, mystery and science fiction author Fredric Brown wrote and published his first six novels: The Fabulous Clipjoint, The Dead Ringer, Murder Can Be Fun, The Bloody Moonlight, What Mad Universe, and The Screaming Mimi. Each of these novels also had a short version that appeared in a pulp magazine. In my 1993 book, Martians and Misplaced Clues, I discussed the short versions of the first five books; a few years ago, I finally found a copy of the pulp containing "The Deadly Weekend," the short version of The Screaming Mimi, in a used bookstore on Long Island.

Comparing the short versions of the first five novels to the published books shows how Brown either mined old stories or simply sold the serial rights to his original novels. The Fabulous Clipjoint was written in 1944. A slightly edited version was published in Mystery Book Magazine's April 1946 issue, and the book was published in March 1947.

The Dead Ringer was written in 1946; the short version, which is virtually identical to the book, appeared in the spring 1948 Mystery Book Magazine. The book was published in March 1948. Murder Can Be Fun was expanded from a story called "The Santa Claus Murders" that was written in 1941 and published in the October 1942 issue of Detective Story Magazine. Brown expanded it to novel length in 1947 and the book was published in October 1948. Unlike the serialized versions of his first two books, Murder Can Be Fun is twice as long as "The Santa Claus Murders" and fleshes out the story by adding new details and characters.

The Bloody Moonlight was based on the story "Compliments of a Fiend," which was published in the May 1945 Thrilling Detective. The book came out in March 1949, making it the third year in a row that E.P. Dutton had published a novel in Brown's Ed and Am Hunter series. The original story does not feature the Hunters and is actually better than the novel; Brown changed the characters and the story to fit the Hunter format. To make matters even more confusing, a slightly edited version of the book was published in the November 1949 issue of Two Detective Mystery Novels magazine.

Brown's fifth novel was the classic science fiction satire, What Mad Universe. It was written in 1947 and first published in the September 1948 Startling Stories. The book came out in October 1949, expanded from the pulp version with added scenes.

"The Deadly Weekend" appeared in the fall 1949 issue of Mystery Book Magazine. This periodical had begun as a monthly digest whose first issue was dated July 1945. By 1949 it had grown in size but decreased in frequency, having become a quarterly pulp. Brown wrote The Screaming Mimi in 1948, while he was living in New York City. The novel was published in about November 1949, a few months after the serialized version appeared.

The fall 1949 issue of Mystery Book Magazine features a garish cover that is an inaccurate interpretation of the scene that sets the story in motion. The beautiful girl on the cover is fully clothed, showing that the artist missed a great opportunity to be more faithful to the story, in which a beautiful blonde stripper is attacked in the glassed-in vestibule of her Chicago apartment building. As a crowd gathers outside, her seemingly vicious dog pulls the zipper on the back of her dress, leaving her naked. The magazine cover is very subdued in comparison to the scene in the novel.

The magazine is volume nine, number one (though it had not been in existence for nine years), and cost twenty-five cents. Best Publications is listed as the publisher and there are no credits for artist or editor (though sources list the editor as Leo Margulies).

The cover promises "The Best in New Detective Fiction" and, in addition to "The Deadly Weekend," it features:

• "The Dog Died First" by Bruno Fischer
• "Swift Flows the River" by Brett Halliday
• "Payoff" by Will Oursler
• "Devil's Cherry" by O.B. Myers
• "Blackmail in Three Acts" by Tom Parsons
• "Buzzard's Wings" by Frank Richardson Pierce
• "Date With the Warden" by Robert Thomas Allen
• as well as a handful of "Features," such as "A Bargain in Crime" by Sam Sleuth.

"The Deadly Weekend" runs from page 9 to page 93 (of 162), taking up more than half the magazine. The book is 248 pages long and, while the two-column pages of the magazine contain more than a page worth of the book's type, the serialized version is considerably shorter than the book. I compared the two versions carefully, side by side, in order to determine whether "The Deadly Weekend" was written separately from The Screaming Mimi, or whether it was an edited version. In my opinion, The Screaming Mimi was written as an original novel, sold to Leo Margulies for magazine publication prior to book publication, and edited to fit the space in the magazine.

The editing done to produce "The Deadly Weekend" falls into three categories: technical, stylistic, and censorship.

The technical editing comes in the form of breaking long paragraphs into shorter ones, a practice made necessary by the narrow columns of the magazine's two-column pages. A 3 ½" wide paragraph of average length on a one-column wide book page appears longer and less pleasing to the eye when narrowed to a 2 ½" wide magazine column. It is also possible that the magazine editor preferred short, punchy paragraphs over longer, more-developed ones.

Sentences are also cut from the novel in order to shorten paragraphs for the magazine. For example, on page 20 of the book, "He leaned his head back, looking up into the dark green leaves of the trees" is cut from the corresponding section on page 16 of the magazine for no better reason than to save space.

The cumulative effect of all of this cutting is to weaken the novel. The experience of reading "The Deadly Weekend" is much less rewarding than that of reading The Screaming Mimi, mostly due to what is omitted. I like to think that it is the fault of the magazine's editor, Leo Margulies, or of some unnamed copy desk worker at Best Publications, though it is possible that Brown himself, or even his agent, Harry Altshuler, did the cutting. However, since many evocative passages in the book are absent from the magazine, I doubt it was Fredric Brown's doing.

Brown actually moved to New York to take a job as a proofreader, working for Margulies, in 1948, so he was surely capable of doing the editing job himself. A misunderstanding over salary led Brown to quit the job and try his hand at full-time fiction writing.

Stylistic cuts are the second difference between the two versions and, I think, the most responsible for diluting the novel's effect. I will give three examples to illustrate my point.

In chapter two, page 29 of the book, the following passage appears:

Why did anyone in his right mind live in Chicago in a summer heat wave? Why did anyone live in Chicago at all? Why, for that matter, did anyone live?

A victim of the editor's pencil, this is but one of many thoughtful passages that enrich the novel without adding to its plot. On page 34 of the book, four paragraphs about Mozart's Symphony number 40 are cut from the magazine version, and it hurts—as the narrator tells us,

If you know the Mozart 40, the dark restlessness of it, the macabre drive behind its graceful counterpoint, then you know Sweeney. And if the Mozart 40 sounds to you like a gay but slightly boring minuet, background for a conversation, then to you Sweeney is just another damn reporter who happens, too, to be a periodic drunk.

By cutting passages such as this, the editor takes out a good bit of what makes The Screaming Mimi so great—character development, wordplay, and discussions of topics that don't advance the story but rather deepen the reader's experience.

Last example, from page 80 of the book, where Sweeney has just taken a bath and drained the tub:

As he finished, he watched the last of the water gurgle out of the tub, and he wondered—had he just committed a murder? Isn't a tub of water, once drawn, an entity? A thing-in-itself that has existence, if not life? But then life, in a human body, may be analogous to water in a tub; through the sewerage of veins and arteries may it not flow back into some Lake Michigan, eventually into some ocean, when the plug is pulled? Yet even so, it is murder; that particular tub of water will never exist again, though the water itself will.

He removed the evidence of the crime by rinsing out the tub . . .

The other stylistic cuts from "The Deadly Weekend" have to do with the amount of drinking Sweeney does, and how he feels as he recovers from a long, drunken period. As the novel opens, he is essentially a drunken bum, sitting on a park bench in Chicago's Bughouse Square. It is the sight of beautiful stripper Yolanda Lang in the nude that encourages him to sober up and get back to work as a reporter for the newspaper, The Blade. Although he drinks a remarkable amount of alcohol in the course of the novel (as do so many of Fredric Brown's protagonists), the first part of the book tracks the effects on his body and mind as he recovers from his state of perpetual drunkenness.

Much of this is cut from "The Deadly Weekend," either because the editor thought Brown was overdoing it or just to save space. Whatever the case, it serves to lessen the reader's experience of how Sweeney fights his way back from a state of oblivion in order to reach his goal—spending a night with the voluptuous Yolanda Lang.

The last type of cutting in "The Deadly Weekend" has to do with censorship, demonstrating that even the lurid detective pulps of the late 1940s had to be careful with certain words and phrases that were acceptable in book form. A careful comparison of both versions reveals that "bastard" becomes "so and so," "Damn it," "hell," and "Jesus" disappear, and "God damn it" and "bitch" are removed. Sexual situations and double entendres are also toned down. When discussing Dorothy Lee, one of the girls murdered by The Ripper, Sweeney is told that she was "'a private secretary.'" He responds punningly: "'How private? Kind that has to watch her periods as well as her commas?'" (44). In chapter five, a discussion between Sweeney and gay shop owner Raoul Reynarde is cut from the magazine version; they talk about how a woman may be a virgin in her body but not in her thoughts.

Even a seemingly innocent passage about Stella Gaylord, another murdered girl, is cut when Sweeney is told that Stella might have met a man "'at the restaurant instead of at his hotel room or whatever'" (95).

These cuts regarding language and sex are surprising, and I think they demonstrate that, at least for the editor of Mystery Book Magazine, certain words and sexual situations were not appropriate reading material.

Even more interesting are some things that the magazine's editors chose not to cut, even though they might strike today's readers as awkward or offensive. Among these are passages, themes, or remarks that suggest stereotypes (at best) or racist attitudes (at worst). Bill Sweeney, the novel's protagonist, is a drunken Irishman, and the book and magazine open with an entertaining bit of musing on the many things "a drunken Irishman will do." The most unlikely: "He might make a resolution and stick to it" (7). Sweeney is a classic Irish name and his prodigious capacity for imbibing alcohol goes along with the classic stereotype of men from the Emerald Isle.

Most jarring to today's sensibilities is a throwaway passage in the first chapter, as Sweeney recalls:

In his days as a legman, he'd seen enough blood to last him. Like the time he was right after the cops going into the pool hall on Townsend Street where the four reefered-up jigs had had the razor party— (12-13)

In 1949, the editor of Mystery Book Magazine found "damn" and "hell" offensive enough to cut, yet a reference to "reefered-up jigs" having a "razor party" did not present a problem.

I must admit that increased sensitivity in recent decades has affected me as well. While I was struck by the reference to "jigs" when I wrote my book on Fredric Brown nearly twenty years ago, I do not think that I blinked at the extensive homophobic remarks in the book. True to form, the anti-gay passages made the cut and appear intact in "The Deadly Weekend."

The first such passage occurs in chapter one, as Sweeney walks through Chicago's near north side and thinks about how to get some money quickly:

Someone was coming toward him on the sidewalk. A pretty boy in a bright checked sport jacket. Sweeney's fists clenched. What would be his chances if he slugged the fairy, grabbed his wallet and ran into the alley? (11)

Sweeney does not attack and rob the man because he feels weak and tired, not because his conscience pricks him.

Much more flamboyant and obvious is the character of Raoul Reynarde, the gay shop owner who sells Sweeney the statuette nicknamed "The Screaming Mimi." Although Reynarde's character is rather cultured and intelligent, and Sweeney gets along well with him, the first thing we learn is that "'This Raoul is a faggot'" (62). He is referred to as "'the pansy'" (63), and when Sweeney first sees him he thinks, "No one would ever have to wonder" if Raoul is gay (66). After Sweeney visits Raoul's apartment and leaves with the statuette, he sees "a plump, beautiful young man" (74) ascending the stairs to the apartment he just left.

All of these terms and passages are included in "The Deadly Weekend," suggesting that anti-gay slurs and a flamboyantly gay character were not thought to be worth editing out. I don't mean to judge Fredric Brown or his editors for writing this; it was commonplace in popular fiction of the time (for other examples, read some of Mickey Spillane's late 1940s Mike Hammer novels).

One of the features I find fascinating in The Screaming Mimi is its detailed use of the city of Chicago to ground the story in a particular place and time. The story begins with Sweeney, a 43 year old newspaperman, sitting on a park bench in the middle of the night. He is on a drunk, and the park where he sits is called Bughouse Square. "The soapbox speakers were gone . . ." (8) the narrator tells us. Bughouse Square was the unofficial name of Washington Square Park, a normal public park in front of Chicago's Newberry Library.

The park is still there, park benches intact, and people still sleep on the grass in the middle of the day (I can't say what goes on in the middle of the night).

Sweeney spends a lot of time walking the streets of the city's near north side, and he even ventures down across the Chicago River and through the Loop. It is easy to follow his progress on a map, and Yolanda Lang's apartment building—where key scenes at the beginning and end of the novel take place—can be pinpointed (though Google Street View shows that the space is now occupied by a parking lot!).

Although Fredric Brown had moved to New York City by the time he wrote The Screaming Mimi, he certainly knew the city of Chicago well, and that knowledge is evident in the novel. His second wife, Beth, wrote that he spent time on Chicago's near north side researching The Fabulous Clipjoint; that part of town also serves as a key location in The Screaming Mimi.

Virtually all of the locations in The Screaming Mimi can be found easily on a map. The only exception comes late in the novel, when Sweeney travels out of the city to look for a misplaced clue. In chapter 14, Sweeney takes a train on the old Chicago and Northwestern line that takes him thorough Milwaukee and Rhinelander, Wisconsin, to the fictional town of Brampton, Wisconsin (180). This train line did exist, though it doesn't any more, and it did run through Milwaukee and Rhinelander, making Brampton's location somewhere in northern Wisconsin, near the Canadian border. The only Brampton I can find on a map is across the border in Canada, on the other side of northern Michigan. Brown's knowledge of Wisconsin was first-hand, since he had moved his family to Milwaukee in 1930, living there for the better part of the next 15 years.

One of the features of "The Deadly Weekend" that Fredric Brown had nothing to do with was the illustrations. The book version of the story features a dust jacket with a clever illustration. The statuette of The Screaming Mimi appears at the bottom left, casting a much larger shadow to its right. Yet the right hand of the shadow figure is clutching a knife, a subtle hint to the novel's conclusion, in which Yolanda Lang—victim of an attack years before by an escaped lunatic—is revealed to be The Ripper that Sweeney and the Chicago police have been seeking.

The fall 1949 issue of Mystery Book Magazine features a color illustration on the cover; the scene shown never actually occurs in the story, though the characters think it did. Inside the magazine, the story is accompanied by black and white illustrations. The first page features a nice drawing of men in Bughouse Square with a head and shoulders illustration of Sweeney. The third page has a montage of images from the story—Yolanda's face, a knife, the statuette, Doc Greene's glasses (and eyes!), and a bottle of booze. Several pages later is a drawing of Sweeney looking at the statuette in Raoul Reynarde's apartment; the drawing of Raoul does not comport with his flamboyantly gay description in the story.

Finally, in chapter two, there is a drawing of Sweeney and the policemen at their table in El Madhouse, watching Yolanda and her dog, Devil, perform. The last seventy pages or so are essentially uninterrupted text, with the exception of normal, "spot" illustrations that mark the start of each chapter. These normal illustrations are generic and I don't think that they were drawn specifically for this story, especially since the pictures don't always have much (or anything) to do with the story.

Unfortunately, none of the illustrations are credited, so I have no idea who drew the cover or the inside work. The cover looks like a painting and seems to demonstrate more skill than the interior pictures.

The Screaming Mimi is a classic mystery novel, but "The Deadly Weekend" does not do it justice. The heavy editing, done for reasons of space, style, and censorship, removes much of what makes the book so unique and entertaining, leaving the shell of the story but removing much of its spirit. It appeared in Mystery Book Magazine, an undistinguished pulp of the late 1940s, whose current scarcity does not—in this instance—equal high quality.

Sources:

Brown, Fredric. The Screaming Mimi. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1949. Book Club Edition.

Brown, Fredric. "The Deadly Weekend." Mystery Book Magazine (Fall 1949).

“Chicago and North Western Transportation Company.” Wikipedia, the Free

Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

“Google Maps.” Google Maps. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. .

“Mystery Book Magazine/Giant Detective.” Galactic Central. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

Seabrook, Jack. Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993.

“Washington Square Park (Chicago).” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27

Nov. 2010.

Richard Matheson - The Original Stories: The Mystery, Horror and Western Pulps

by John Scoleri

In prior installments of this ongoing series, I looked at Richard Matheson's short fiction appearances in Playboy, the Sci-Fi Pulps, the Mystery Digests, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Gauntlet Chapbooks, the first, second, third and fourth groups of Science Fiction Digests, The Twilight Zone and other contemporary magazines and the slicks. With today's installment, we look at Matheson's remaining contributions to the pulps. 

The Original Stories - Part 12: The Mystery, Horror and Western Pulps

Matheson burst onto the scene writing for numerous sci-fi digests. While the era of the pulps was coming to a close, he managed to place stories in a number of pulps before they all vanished or changed format.

"Legion of Plotters"
Detective Story
July 1953

Subsequent appearances: Collected Stories HC, Shock!, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories, Collected Stories TP v1

Editorial Comment: It became increasingly more difficult to pick his Number One enemy among the hateful throng....

Story Comment: It became harder and harder to pick his Number One enemy among the hateful throng....

These people were out to get him! (illustration uncredited)

"Dying Room Only"
Fifteen Detective Stories
October 1953, Vol. 19 No. 4

Subsequent appearances: Collected Stories HC, Shock Waves, Button, Button, Collected Stories TP v1

Editorial Comment: It was a strange, little room, with a one-way door. Behind it, Bob lost not only his life and his future—but also his yesterdays!

Notes: "Dying Room Only" was later adapted by Matheson for an ABC movie of the week. It was recently issued through the Warner Archive on DVD-R.

"Wet Straw"
Weird Tales
January 1953, Vol. 44 No. 8

Subsequent appearances: Collected Stories HC, Shock Waves, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories, Collected Stories TP v2

Editorial Comment: "...if I die, you'll wait and I'll find a way to come to you."

Story Comment: "...in bed, the window closed, he distinctly felt his hair ruffled by a breeze."

Illustration by Vincent Napoli

Notes: This issue also includes the story, "Sexton, Sexton, In the Wall" by August Derleth.

"Slaughter House"
Weird Tales
July 1953, Vol. 45 No. 3

Subsequent appearances: Collected Stories HC, Shock III, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories, Collected Stories TP v2

Editorial Comment: There had been rumors of ghosts about the old place, but neither of the brothers could credit that sort of thing.

Story Comment: "...permeated by a cruel and malignant vitality which tried to drink the life force from all who entered it."

Illustration by Joseph Eberle

Notes: According to Matthew Bradley in Richard Matheson On Screen, William F. Nolan adapted "Slaughter House" into an unproduced teleplay. This issue also includes the story, "The House in the Valley" by August Derleth and "On the Elevator" by Joseph Payne Brennan.

"They Don't Make Em Tougher"
Dime Western
May 1951, Vol. 60 No. 3

Subsequent appearances (as Gunsight): By the Gun

Editorial Comment: Only a trusted few knew Sherrif Cooley's hidden weakness... It would take the frontier's meanest killer to ferret out his deadly secret.

Story Comment: Few people knew that John Cooley enforced the law with near-blind eyes, until one man finally broke the sherriff's secret—the meanest killer this side of Hell!

Illustration uncredited

"The Hunt"
West
March 1952, Vol. 76 No. 3

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected V2

Editorial Comment:A sheriff follows his code to its payoff.

Story Comment: A sheriff follows his code to its cruel desert payoff!

Illustration Uncredited

Notes: West was another "Thrilling Publication," who you may recall from our foray into the science fiction pulps as the home for all of Matheson's related appearances.

"Too Proud To Lose"
Fifteen Western Tales
February 1955

Subsequent appearances: By the Gun

Story Comment: The time was one o'clock. The place: the field behind the graveyard. Sheriff Torrin was afraid of this duel—because Hell, itself, would reject the losing gunman.

Notes: A particularly challenging Western pulp to find, as Fifteen Western Tales transitioned a few months earlier from a standard pulp size to a bed-sheet (magazine sized) format. Special thanks to my pal and fellow Matheson scholar Paul Stuve (co-editor of The Richard Matheson Companion) for graciously hooking me up with this long sought-after appearance.

Illustration Uncredited

"Son of a Gunman"
Western Stories
December 1955, Vol. 1 No. 3

Subsequent appearances (as "Boy in the Rocks"): By the Gun

Editorial Comment: The cowed ranchers wanted peace at any price—and if they didn't welcome the ragtag kid who was rich in the heritage of his father's fighting spirit.

Illustrations uncredited

Back Cover Comment: Weary of a range war, the little ranchers wanted peace at any price. And they had no welcome for the rag-tag youngster who was rich in the heritage of his father's fighting spririt.

Notes: Before being collected (as "Boy in the Rocks"), "Son of a Gunman" was reprinted in Men True Adventure as "Get Off the Circle 7." Peter would surely be remiss if I didn't mention this issue also contains an Elmore Leonard story ("Jugged"). I can't recall if he told me how much that made this issue worth before or after I gave him my duplicate copy for his collection. :)



There's more to come! Stay tuned for future installments of Richard Matheson - The Original Stories.

The Complete Guide to Manhunt Part 12

by Peter Enfantino

Continuing an issue by issue examination of the greatest crime digest of all time.

Vol. 2 No. 3 May 1954

144 pages, 35 cents

The Blonde in the Bar by Richard Deming

(6700 words) ** illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Sam's far from the most attractive guy so he's, to say the least, a bit surprised when a doll named Jacqueline picks him up in the bar. His suspicions become founded when the dame drops her scam on him post-coitus. She pleads mercy for her sister, who's been arrested on prostitution charges and Sam just happens to be a cop. Sam's new girl promises a payday of $500 if he comes through but this man is made of sterner stuff. When later he finds that the woman is the front for a mafia hood trying to buy local cops, Sam goes to his boss and sets up a sting. Not much in the way of excitement here, Blonde in the Bar is populated by molls in sheer negligees and hoods who talk tough as channeled through a long-winded Oxford professor ("When we have helped into office the officials we want, we'll be in a position to dictate appointments and promotions in the police department" says one Monk Cartelli!). I do have to say I enjoyed this final exchange between Sam and Jacqueline after Sam lowers the boom:

"Sam, you liked me a lot that- that other night. Can't you- isn't there some way you can give me a break?" "Sure, babe, sure...I can give you a break. I'll take you down to the can just the way you are, instead of stopping first to kick your teeth down your throat."

Murder of a Mouse by Fletcher Flora

(4000 words) **

Charles Bruce murders his wife and stages suicide, not knowing that the woman had plans of her own. A dull story, enlivened a bit by its twist.

The Woman on the Bus by R. Van Taylor

(4000 words) *

A man and his young son offer shelter to a very strange woman. Laughable climax.

Broken Doll by Jack Webb

(6000 words) ** illo: Houlihan

An airport cop catches the strangest case of his career: a beautiful corpse, clad only in a coat left aboard a plane. A slow-paced whodunit with a bizarre wrap-up. One year later, Webb wrote a novel with the same title but otherwise no similarity to the MANHUNT tale. One half of the team from the novel, Detective Golden makes a brief appearance in the short story.

...Or Leave It Alone by Evan Hunter

(5000 words) *** illo: Houlihan

Back in 1954, this harrowing tale of Joey the hophead, and the troubles he encounters while trying to recover his stash, would probably be considered cutting edge fiction. Today it’s still good writing (albeit a padded) from the master of dark crime but its impact is obviously lessened by our everyday exposure to the horrors of drug addiction. Would I still recommend the read? Certainly. But it’s not among Hunter’s best and you can tell the man was paid by the word at times.

Lead Ache by Frank Kane

(11,000 words) **

Johnny Liddell is hired by The Dispatch to investigate the murder of their ace reporter Larry Jensen. The writer was working on a story involving dance clubs and white slavery. Liddell is aided by (beautiful) reporter Barbara Lake, who evidentally looks just as good in a skimpy dress as behind a typewriter.

The Right One by Jonathan Craig

(2000 words) *** illo: Houlihan

Bizarre little short-short about a stripper and the man she picks up at her club. A nasty climax that isn’t telegraphed a bit.

The Old Flame by James T. Farrell

(5000 words) * illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Arnold Benton has a tryst with his ex-sister-in-law and spends 4500 words feeling guilty about it. Literally page after page of “It’s nice to see you, isn’t it?” and “Yes, it’s nice to see you too.” I have no idea why this would be considered for publication in MANHUNT as there is not one line of suspense or criminal activity (unless adultery qualifies) whatsoever. James T. Farrell (1904-1979) was the author of the famous STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY.

A Clear Picture by Sam S. Taylor

(1500 words) *

A man tries to set up his wife and her lover with tickets to a boxing match. An excellent biography of Sam S. Taylor can be found here: http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=395

You Know What I Did? by Charles Beckman, Jr.

(3000 words) *** illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Joe Allen comes home from work to find his young son missing. Effective tale of violence and revenge.

Mugged and Printed features James T. Farrell, Richard Deming, Jack Webb, and Frank Kane.

Also in this issue: Vincent H. Gaddis’ Crime Cavalcade and Portrait of a Killer #9: Theodore Durrant by Dan Sontup. The Murder Market’s H. H. Holmes reviews several current crime novels including Nothing in Her Way by Charles Williams. “Footprints” by Fred L. Anderson is a non-fiction piece about the use of footprints by police at crime scenes.

Vol. 2 No. 4 June 1954

144 pages, 35 cents

Skip a Beat by Henry Kane

(16,500 words) *1/2 illo: Tom O’Sullivan

PI Peter Chambers is summoned to the home of famous columnist Adam Woodward and hired on as the writer’s bodyguard. Woodward is about to out someone very famous as a communist and he’s sure that violence may follow. Before the commie rat-bastard can be named though, Woodward is plugged full of holes. Since the corpse is all paid up, Chambers decides to investigate. “Skip a Beat” is yet another PI story that takes way too long (about 16,500 words too long, atcually) to state the obvious. The only saving grace here is a nasty bit of carnage during a fight between Chambers and a hired gun:

I knocked the gun out of his hands, yanked him up, swung from the bottom and it caught him on the mouth. It ripped the skin off my knuckles but it knocked his teeth clean through his upper lip, and he looked like he was smiling some sort of ghastly unearthly smile, the blood all over him, before he went down. I put a finger in his collar and got him up. I garbbed the lip between my thumb and forefinger and grabbed it clear.

Points South by Fletcher Flora

(3500 words) ** illo: Houlihan

After losing thousands in a poker game, Andy Corkin loses his cool and belts a connected man. He’s told he has 24 hours to live so he starts living.

My Enemy, My Father by John M. Sitan

(1500 words) ** illo: Houlihan

A nasty short-short about a teen warring with his domineering father.

The Choice by Richard Deming

(5000 words) ***1/2

Climbing the political ladder, three or four rungs at a time, George Kenneday begins clean and naively believes he remains clean despite “little favors” he grants to the local syndicate. Through the years, those favors become bigger and Kenneday’s excuses become exponentially bigger. A strange, fascinating study of political corruption, with just a bare minimum of dialogue, topped with a slap in the face climax.

Double by Bruno Fischer

(7000 words) **1/2 illo: Tom O’Sullivan

Detective Gus Taylor is a particularly violent cop when he needs to be. Right now he feels the need. He’s convinced that actress Holly Laird killed her producer John Ambler, but can’t get the girl to confess. So he harrasses her, beats her, and when that doesn’t work he goes after her boyfriend. “Double” is a strange case: it goes way out there with its subject matter but then pulls back and softens its stance with its cotton candy climax. Too soft for my tastes.

Butcher by Richard S. Prather

(4000 words) ***

Shell Scott stumbles his way into the serial killer known as “The Butcher” when he’s driving home one night and happens upon a dismembered leg. He then aids the police to find the killer when it’s revealed the limb belonged to a young girl Shell knew. Extremely graphic for its time and tackling a subject that wasn’t addressed much (yet) in the sexual predator/serial killer.

A harder edge than we’re used to seeing in a Shell Scott story and Prather would have never gotten away with his final line in today’s “politically correct” climate.

No Vacancies by Craig Rice

(6000 words) *

John J. Malone, lawyer fro the people, is hired by a man accused of murdering his social butterfly wife. JJ instinctively knows the man is innocent. How does he know? The coffee he drinks? He just knows. I could go on about the telecasted plot devices, the wildy irrational coincidences, the “with-it” hip dialogue, and the obligatory expository, but it would just read like I was rerunning my last review of a John J. Malone story.

Die Like a Dog by David Alexander

(4000 words) **

Skid row bum Jack drinks his days away until he meets an interesting man with a blond old dog and a story about a faded starlet.

There is no Mugged and Printed this issue. Featured are Crime Cavalcade by Vincent H. Gaddis and Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer #10: Rose Palmer. H. H. Holmes’ The Murder Market includes reviews of Richard Powell’s classic Say It With Bullets and Wade Miller’s South of the Sun. “Homicide, Suicide, or Accident?” by Fred L. Anderson is another study of police procedures and crime scene investigations.