Pulp Gallery: TEN DETECTIVE ACES

1940

1941

1941

1942

1940

Costaine & McCall books by Neil MacNeil (W.T. Ballard)

I sought out this series back in the '80s, when I was amassing books by Black Mask writers, but when I finally got around to reading it (last year) I found I was missing Mexican Slay Ride. So a few weeks ago, when Emperor Emeritus of the Universe Art Scott was heading for the Los Angeles Paperback Show, I asked him to be on the lookout for it. Instead, he promptly sent me the primo copy shown below, from own private archives. Thanks, Emp!

I reviewed the first two books HERE and HERE, with more coming soon.

Forgotten Books: DEATH TAKES AN OPTION by Neil MacNeil (aka W.T. Ballard)

Based on the number of published novels, W.T. Ballard has to be ranked as one of the most productive of "Cap" Shaw's Black Mask Boys. After his Black Mask days, he went on to write mysteries under his own name and others, and westerns as Todhunter Ballard and others. As of 1979, the year before his death, Steve Mertz tells us he had written 95 novels, more than a thousand shorter works, and fifty film scripts. 

In 1958, with Death Takes an Option, Ballard began a new series starring the private detective team of Tony Costaine and Bert McCall. And for reasons unknown (at least to me), he chose to write under the pen name Neil MacNeil.

The gimmick of two private eyes for the price of one was a good one, and the book covers play them up as partners. But based solely on Death Takes an Option (I've yet to read the others), Costaine is the boss, and does 90% of the detective work. McCall pops in and out, less often than I'd like, doing secondary investigative work, drinking, being irresistible to women and providing comic relief. In short, he's not really a partner - he's a sidekick. Not that there's anything wrong with that. 

While Costaine is your stock hardboiled P.I., being smart, tough, handsome, and flexible in the morality department, McCall is a free-spirited giant who talks like a hipster. He calls Costaine "Dad" (as in "Daddy-o"), and sums up philosophy with the line, "Three things I don't dig. Finks, falsies and fags."

This being 1958, Ballard wasn't worried about offending the LGBTQ community, and an effeminate thug and his partner are referred to as "Rosebud," "blond queen," "daisies" and "girls." There's also plenty for women to object to. Meeting the secretary Costaine is assigned, he immediately addresses her as "Kitten," "honey" and "sweet." There are also naked ladies in this book - and naked men, too - none of whom show the slightest inhibition. 

Costaine and McCall specialize as business detectives, and in this case they're hired to find out why a company accountant has committed suicide. The job leads them from California to Las Vegas, with a side trip into the desert. It's all competently told, and the patter between Costaine and McCall is entertaining. I would have liked a little more of it, and a little more involvement from McCall, but Ballard wrote the book without asking my opinion. 

The Costaine and McCall series continued for six more books, four of which are pictured here. In a 1979 interview conducted by Steve Mertz (you can read the whole thing HERE), Ballard said this about the series:

I developed the idea and editor Dick Carrol was enthusiastic. Then he died and Knox Burger took over. Burger was wary of the MacNeil byline because he knew the real Neil MacNeil of Washington. D.C., and my use embarrassed him although it was an honest family name for me. Knox did his best to kill the series. However, the books were popular and went back into reprint over which Knox had no control. It dragged on until Knox felt it was safe and then did kill both the nom and the series. I had no recourse. Knox left the house soon afterward, but the series was gone.

SECRETS of the STEVE MERTZ LIBRARY (Part 1)

Steve Mertz posted this pic of his bookshelves on Facebook the other day (taken, I suspect by Paul Bishop, who paid him a recent visit). So, in the tradition of my 2015 post "Secret's of Bill Crider's Bookshelf (that's HERE), I did a little literary detective work to give you a closer look at some of Steve's reading matter.

Unlike Bill's photo, in which almost every title was legible, this one required more guesswork and familiarity with Steve's tastes. It also helped that he shelved the books alphabetically by author, making the guesswork easier. Today, we'll be taking a closer look at that first row, marching off to the right of Steve's forehead.

Of the first twenty books, the only author I can decipher is Edward S. Aarons, and I can't make out titles. But the Cleve F. Adams section is easy to spot. The orange hardcover is the second Rex McBride adventure, And Sudden Death, and the tall trade pb with the white & blue spine is the first, the new reprint of Sabotage from Altus Press.

If you haven't read these books, you should. More on Sabotage HERE, and And Sudden Death HERE.

Can't make out the black hardcover next to Sabotage, but next in line are these first two of three novels featuring Bill Rye, who was Adams' take on political operative Ned Beaumont of The Glass Key. I'm jealous of Steve's Dig Me a Grave dust jacket. (More about Dig Me HERE.)

Next up is Murder All Over, a retitling of the Rex McBride novel Up Jumped the Devil, recognizable because of it's distinctive brown spine.

And next to Murder All Over is a spineless paperback I'm pretty dang sure is a Handi-book, meaning it's one of the two above. My money is on Up Jumped the Devil, discussed HERE. 

After several undecipherable titles by William Ard, and at least a couple by Philip Atlee, we come to hefty collection of paperbacks by Michael Avallone. That's no surprise, as Steve is a long time admirer of his.

I could read only two of those Avallone titles, and they're shown above.

But I also see an Ace Double tucked in there. Could this be it?

I don't recognize the first ten books in this section, but the eleventh is Dealing Out Death, an early novel featuring W.T. Ballard's Hollywood troubleshooter Bill Lennox.

Steve's copy has to be one of the editions above (probably the one on the left). More about that book HERE. 

Next to Dealing Out Death is Ballard's last Bill Lennox novel, published for some inane reason as by "John Shepherd. This one appeared in 1960, twenty-seven years after Lennox's debut in Black Mask. Then, after a couple more mystery books, we come to the Robert Leslie Bellem section...

No bookshelf should be without a Dan Turner collection, and Steve has at least two. Roscoes in the Night was published by Adventure House in 2003, and the John Wooley book below (more HERE), came out in 1983. You'll find the title story from the Black Dog's Spicy Western collection Lust of the Lawless HERE.

The most intriguing book on this top row is shelved between Roscoes and another mystery book, followed by Lust of the Lawless. It's sort of salmon colored, and appears to be an old hardcover in dust jacket. Could it be the Bellem mystery Blue Murder? Or maybe the Adams-Bellem collaboration The Vice Czar Murders? I've never seen a dj for either. Again, I'm jealous. I'm also mighty curious about the tall white book between the skinny little Lust and the Hollywood Detective book. What the heck is it?

You'll find scans of Handi and Harlequin Sleeping Nude covers (including Art Scott's Bellem autograph and a link to James Reasoner's erudite review HERE.)

Next to Sleeping Nude are these two sleaze books. I didn't think much of them, and Steve probably didn't either, but since they're by Bellem, I guess we had to have them. You'll find scans of the back covers HERE. 

Next up: What wonders await on row Two? What books will you recognize that I can't? Come back tomorrow and see.

Forgotten Books: DEALING OUT DEATH by W.T.Ballard (1948)

I’m curious to know many Black Mask characters graduated into original novels after (or during) their time with the magazine. I can name only two from the Shaw years, and W.T. Ballard’s Bill Lennox is one of them. The other is George Harmon Coxe’s Flash Casey 

Race Williams doesn’t really count because—like Sam Spade and the Continental Op—his novel-length adventures had appeared first in the magazine (along with one - I think - in Dime Detective).

Moving beyond the Shaw years, Robert Reeves' Cellini Smith would qualify, and there were likely others.

But Bill Lennox is probably unique in that he not only graduated, but took his Black Mask style along with him. The four Lennox novels are Say Yes to Murder (1942) (reviewed HERE), Murder Can’t Stop (1946), Dealing Out Death (1948) and Lights, Camera, Murder (1960).

Lennox is described as a troubleshooter for Sol Spurck, head of Hollywood’s General-Consolidated Studios. In between making Spurck’s troubles go away, he’s apparently free to do what he wants, and what he enjoys most is discovering would-be starlets and nurturing their careers. Though it’s never really stated, this hobby is one of the main factors in his long term job security. The more starlets he takes under his wing, the more trouble they get into, and the more trouble there is for him to shoot.

That’s the driving force behind Dealing Out Death. Bill’s starlet of the moment has a no-good brother in trouble in Las Vegas and shirks her studio responsibilities to help him. Lennox has no choice but to follow her to Vegas, where—as you would expect—much more trouble ensues.

This novel presents an interesting pre-mob look at Sin City. The city fathers and casino operators are fighting to keep the mobsters from gaining a foothold, and Lennox—protecting the interests of his starlet and studio—becomes their unwilling ally. This novel takes place ten or more years before the events in the lamented 2013 TV series Vegas, when we saw that foothold gained.

Stylistically, Ballard was no Hammett, but he knew how to tell a good tale and keep it hopping, and Dealing Out Death is a fine example. It’s also a FREE example, because you can download it in a variety of electronic formats from Munseys.com. You’ll find it HERE. 

Paperback Gallery: W.T. Ballard's BILL LENNOX

Yesterday, right HERE, I announced the release of the Black Mask eBook "Gamblers Don't Win," featuring Hollywood Troubleshooter Bill Lennox. After his ten-year run in Mask, Lennox was featured in these four novels.

1942 (Signet edition 1945)

 1946 (Graphic edition 1950)

 1948 (Graphic edition 1950)

\

1960 (a Belmont original)

Some sources say there were five Bill Lennox novels, but this appears due to confusion over the retitling of Say Yes to Murder. It was reissued in Canada as Murder in Hollywood, and in the U.S. as The Demise of a Louse. (Every time I glance at this Murder in Hollywood cover I have the impression this babe is holding a fish in her left hand, and have to look twice to be sure she ain't.)

 1951

 1962

this second Graphic edition was published in 1954

A BLACK MASK eBook: "Gambler's Don't Win" by W.T. Ballard

W.T. Ballard was one of Joe Shaw’s second wave of Black Mask boys, along with George Harmon Coxe, Paul Cain, Norbert Davis, Roger Torrey, Theodore Tinsley, Dwight Babcock and Raymond Chandler. Ballard's chief character for the magazine was Bill Lennox, hardboiled troubleshooter for one of Hollywood’s major studios.

Between 1933 and 1942, Lennox appeared in over two dozen stories in Black Mask, then starred in four novels, the last of which was published in 1960. (For a look at those novels, tune in tomorrow.)

Unfortunately, very few Lennox stories have been reprinted. The only collection to date (containing five tales) is Hollywood Troubleshooter, a volume assembled by James L. Traylor back in 1985. So I’m mighty pleased to see “Gambler’s Don’t Win,” a Hollywood Troubleshooter alumnus, making its appearance as a Black Mask eBook.

“Gambler’s Don’t Win,” from the April 1935 issue (right), finds Lennox at the town’s new horse track, looking after the interests of his boss, studio head Sol Spurck. When Lennox spots jockeys deliberately throwing races, he’s embroiled in a web of greed, intimidation, revenge and murder. At the heart of it is the beautiful sister of a dead friend. Though Lennox suspects her, he also feels compelled to protect her - putting himself on the wrong side of the law, and of the lawless.

Ballard tells a tight, tough, and twisty tale, bringing it home with revelations I didn’t see coming, and an ending that put a smile on my face. Here’s hoping there will be many more Lennox adventures coming our way.

Want a sample? Here you go:

"Gambler's Don't Win" is now on sale, right here:


I covered the first round of Black Mask eBooks HERE.

All drawings and paintings from Black Mask Magazine are copyright © 1923 to 1953 by Keith Alan Deutsch as successor-in-interest, and conservator of all copyrights to the original publishers and copyright registrars: Pro-Distributors Publishing Company, Inc, and Popular Publications Inc.  All copyrights © renewed 1951 to 1981.

Forgotten Books: TV Tie-Ins - A Bibliography of American TV Tie-In Paperbacks

If your name is Randy Johnson, you probably have this book and know all this stuff.
But for the rest of us - including me - it’s packed with surprises.

TV Tie-Ins (1997, 1999) by Kurt Peer leads off with an A-Z listing of shows and all associated publications. And though the title says paperbacks, the lists include many hardcovers too.

Just looking at the A section . . .
     Did you know there were six A-Team books, five featuring novelizations of TV episodes, and one an original story? And that’s not counting two plot-it-yourself books and one by and about Mr. T.
     I was surprised by this: Black Mask writer W.T. Ballard (as Brian Fox) wrote two novels based on Alias Smith and Jones.
     There were nine novels based on The Avengers (no, not the Marvel gang), including three by Keith Laumer and two by Norman A. Daniels.
     There were fourteen books novelizing episodes of As the World Turns. Yikes.
    And do you have these?: The Wit and Wisdom of Archie Bunker, Edith Bunker’s All in the Family Cookbook and Archie Bunker’s Family Album.

Most interesting to me is the Index by Author, where I gleaned such amazing facts as:
     Edward S. Aarons wrote a novel based on The Defenders.

     Michael Avallone’s tie-ins included The Doctors, Felony Squad, The Girl (and the Man) from U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii Five-O, Mannix and The Partridge Family.
     Lawrence Block wrote a Markham book.
     Pulp writer Robert Sidney Bower wrote a Hawaii Five-O novel.

     Gil Brewer wrote three novels based on It Takes a Thief.
     Along with the previously mentioned Avengers books, Norman A. Daniels did (among others) Arrest and Trial, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare and Rat Patrol.
     Richard Deming’s list includes Dragnet, The Mod Squad, Charlie’s Angels, and Starsky and Hutch.
     George Alec Effinger wrote four Planet of the Apes novels.
     Harlan Ellison (along with Edward Bryant) is credited with a Starlost novel. (Dang, I even have that one.)
     Nora Ephron wrote The Tonight Show: and now . . . Here’s Johnny!
     Richard Wormser did one each for The Wild Wild West, The Green Hornet and The High Chaparral.
     Ron Goulart’s list includes Battlestar Galactica, Kung Fu, and Laverne and Shirley.
     Frank Gruber did one called Tales of Wells Fargo. (Got that too.)
     Bayard Kendrick wrote five Longstreet books.
     Richard S. Prather wrote a Dragnet book.
     Along with The Avengers, Keith Laumer did two Invaders novels.
     Murray Leinster’s list includes Land of the Giants and The Time Tunnel.

     Peter Rabe wrote four Mannix books.
     Barry Malzburg wrote a Kung Fu novel.
     Western writer Dean Owen did two Bonanzas, a Hec Ramsey and one Men from Shiloh (The Virginian).
     Talmage Powell wrote two Mission: Impossible novels.
     Richard Lupoff did two Buck Rogers books.
     Theodore Sturgeon wrote a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea novel.
     Jim Thompson wrote an Ironside book.
     Harry Whittington did a Bonanza and a Man from U.N.C.L.E.
     Collin Wilcox wrote two McCloud novels.

This section also clues you in to such treasures as Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints and Phyllis Diller’s Marriage Manual. And it’s followed by an Index by Publisher, a list of actors pictured on covers, and a list of novelized episodes. Admit it. You want it.

More Forgotten Books at pattinase (I think).

Forgotten Books: Say Yes to Murder (aka The Demise of a Louse, aka Murder in Hollywood) by W.T. Ballard (aka John Shepherd)

Whew! What a strange publishing history this one's had.

Bill Lennox, the hero of this book, was one of Cap Shaw's regulars in Black Mask, appearing in 27 stories between 1933 and 1942. Ballard then put Lennox through his paces in four novels, of which this thrice-titled entry was the first. (The 1942 first edition seen here is described as an ABE dealer as a presentation copy with the following inscription: "To Joe Shaw who had more to do with Lennox's development than I did. Tod Ballard.") He's offering this copy for a mere $2500, plus postage.

Lennox is not a detective, he's a man without a title at Consolidated General Studios in Hollywood, and is usually referred to as just a "troubleshooter." He often acts like a detective, of course, because he's often called upon to sweep murders under the rug, and usually winds up having to solve them.

Though W.T. Ballard was a fixture in Black Mask, and must have been popular with readers, he's been largely ignored by hardboiled anthologists. Shaw passed over him for The Hard-Boiled Omnibus, Ron Goulart for The Hardboiled Dicks, William F. Nolan for The Black Mask Boys, and so on. Far as I know, the only Lennox story that's been reprinted is the first, "A Little Different," in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories.

This lack of respect is not too surprising. Ballard's prose was tough enough, with the clipped dialogue and largely objective approach Shaw admired. But unlike Hammett, Daly, Nebel, Chandler, Cain, Gardner and Whitfield, his writing has no distinctive style. His prose is just generic hardboiled, much like that of George Harmon Coxe, who is also absent from most anthologies.

That said, Say Yes to Murder, first published in hardcover in 1942, is a pretty good read, and delivers a lot of Black Mask flavor. Surprisingly, given the fact that most of those other writers recycled their magazine stories into novels, Ballard seems to have written this one - and those following it - from scratch.

Now for the publishing history.

The first reprint to appeared in 1943 - a digest edition from Sphere Publications, Martin Goodman President, and identified as B.D.S. #9 (B.D.S. apparently stood for Best Detective Selections). This one provided the most lurid cover art - a pointy chested blonde wielding a bloody knife - but fails the test in the word department, because it was heavily abridged. Along with large chunks of innocuous prose, the editors excised such objectionable words as "whorehouse" and "Christ." In one instance, the word whorehouse was replaced with "joint." (A word from the Art Police: There are pointy-chested blondes in the book, but none of them are murder suspects, and no female is seen holding a bloody knife.) If you can abide abridgments, this one is offered as a free download in a variety of eFormats at Munseys.com. That's HERE.

Next up, in 1945, was the Penguin paperback. This one says "complete" and "unabridged" right on the cover, and they weren't lying. Every word of the original, including the objectionable ones, appears to be there. (The cover art passes the test too. Car chase: Check. Body under bed: Check. Pills dissolving in water: Check.)

According to an ABE dealer, the Canadian paperback Murder in Hollywood was published in 1951. Can't prove it by me, because my copy of this White Circle Pocket Edition bears no date. But like the Penguin book, the text is all there. (Cover trouble: The brunette discovering the body - which should be laying face down -  should be wearing a long flowered housecoat with a zipper up the front. But hey, cleavage sells, even in Canada.)

The worst reprint in my possession is The Demise of a Louse, issued by Belmont in 1962, as by "John Shepherd." This was published as a follow-up to Lights, Camera, Murder (1960), the fourth and last Lennox novel, which was apparently a Belmont original. It, too, for some strange reason, appeared under the John Shepherd pseudonym. Ballard was writing a lot of westerns around this time, and it might be thought he wanted to reserve the Ballard name for his western audience. BUT that theory fails to account for the other W.T. Ballard mysteries appearing in paperback at around the same time: Chance Elson (1958), Fury in the Heart (1959), Pretty Miss Murder (1961) and The Seven Sisters (1962). And though The Demise of a Louse claims to be "a complete paperback version of the Best-Seller Say Yes to Murder," it's actually a reprint of the abridged Sphere digest. (Cover check: There are two brunettes in the book, and though one is glimpsed naked, neither is seen applying lipstick in her undies. The body, on its face with a knife is back, is okay, but should be halfway under a bed. Worst of all is the back cover, identifying Lennox as "the Rat-Pack Private-Eye." He is, of course, NOT a private eye, and there's no Rat Pack, or anything resembling it, in the book. An inside page identifies this as the second of the "Rat-Pack Private Eye" mysteries, following Lights, Camera, Murder. Sheesh.)

The book was reprinted again in 2009 by Blackmask.com. I don't have this one. Do you? If so, here's an easy way to tell if it's the original or the abridged version. Turn to Chapter 7, subchapter 3. It should begin: The doctor said, "I think she'll be all right now." If it doesn't, page back to subchapter 2, where you'll find that line. Viola! It's the censored abridgment. Or not.

Today's Forgotten Books links are assembled at SWEET FREEDOM.