book introduction

Wolf Cop and Port Angelique

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Richard Jessup was never content to stay in one genre—or even one type of story. Raised in an orphanage, he ran away to sea at thirteen and later dug cesspools and worked road gangs to feed his family. Writing was an act of grit and determination. Jessup hammered at his typewriter for ten hours a night, cycling through jobs as a merchant seaman, gambling dealer, and manual laborer. By age forty-seven, he had turned out hundreds of radio and TV scripts, seventy-five novels, and a fistful of film credits—sometimes under his own name, sometimes as Richard Telfair or Carey Rockwell.

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Jack Webb Double: One For My Dame & The Deadly Combo

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Jack Webb isn’t a name that gets tossed around much these days, but back in the Fifties and early Sixties, he was a reliable source for sharp, fast-moving crime fiction. A Los Angeles native with a background as varied as his plots—aviary specialist, ad man, Army lieutenant—Webb hit his stride with a memorable run of novels featuring the unconventional team of Father Joseph Shanley and Detective Sergeant Sammy Golden. But his talents didn’t start or end with that duo.

This month, Stark House Press brings Webb back into the spotlight with a new double-novel collection: One For My Dame and The Deadly Combo. These are two of his best standalones, out of print for decades and ripe for rediscovery.

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Fools Walk In / So Wicked My Love by Bruno Fischer with an introduction by Nicholas Litchfield

Bruno Fischer’s Wicked Fools

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This month, Stark House Press reissued two of Fischer’s paperback originals from the Fifties—Fools Walk In, published in 1951, and So Wicked, My Love, from 1954. The novels are essentially two variations on a theme. The first is a bizarre and twisty drama wherein a college professor gets involved with a gang of thieves, and the latter is a powerful and extremely well-written love story with darkness and villainy at its core. My essay, “Fischer’s Foolish Teacher and the Wicked Redhead,” introduces the collection.

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The Man With My Face & The Grinning Gismo by Samuel W. Taylor (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Taylor’s Tales of Teeth and Two Faces

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Recently, Stark House Press reissued a couple of Samuel W. Taylor’s (1907-1997) excellent novels The Man With My Face and The Grinning Gismo. The first, originally published in 1948, is an outlandish crime tale about a man whose identity is stolen. It’s fast, thrilling, and slickly told, and Taylor examines the crime with such thoughtful care that by the end, you’re convinced that a crime like this could really take place. The subsequent mystery, The Grinning Gismo, from 1951, is a gritty pulp yarn that employs a number of clever techniques to keep the reader deeply invested in the story. It’s very suspenseful, full of neat twists, and with an impressive denouement. These stories are well worth seeking out, and this newly released twofer includes my essay “The Doppelgänger Fiend and the Teeth Worth Dying For.” You can purchase the volume on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

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Murder in Monaco & Death’s Lovely Mask by John Flagg (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Yet More Espionage from John Flagg

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My essay, “The Further Adventures of Fearless Agent Hart Muldoon,” introduces the volume Murder in Monaco / Death’s Lovely Mask, published recently by Stark House Press. These 1950s spy thrillers mark the final time Muldoon saw the Mediterranean. His final adventure, set in the Sixties, sent him beyond Europe and into the midst of battle on one final mission. But I’ll stop there, as that’s for another day.

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Nobody Lives Forever & Tomorrow’s Another Day by W. R. Burnett (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

W.R. Burnett Lives On

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This is the sixth collection of novels by W.R. Burnett reprinted by Stark House Press, and there will likely be more that will follow it. Burnett wrote plenty of novels. Some say he never wrote a bad one. Big publishers wanted his stories, and his work was ever popular with readers. Occasionally, his efforts won awards. They were stories that were cinematic and full of good dialogue, and there was always the promise of action. From the first manuscript to the last, he was a reliably good novelist and became a highly prized screenwriter. The most highly rewarded, in fact. Was he shot with luck, or was there something else behind his success?

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The Accused / The Snatch by Harold R. Daniels (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

The Harold R. Daniels Twofer: The Accused and The Snatch

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Earlier this month, Stark House Press published both novels as a twofer. The collection includes my essay, “The Solidly Considerable Talent of Harold R. Daniels,” in which I speak about the power of these two stories and the author’s relatively short but impactful writing career. There’s a lot more I can say about Daniels. His final two novels certainly ought to be reissued. But for now, I’ll hold off and simply say that these two stories are worth seizing while you still can.

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24 Hours to Kill / Blue Mascara Tears by James McKimmey (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

The High-profile Prisoner and the Detective’s Obsession

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The newest compilation released this month, 24 Hours to Kill / Blue Mascara Tears, includes a couple of varied, well-written novels from the 1960s. My essay, “Idolatry and Playing God to Cure “The Fix,” which introduces the volume, explores McKimmey’s writing career and these two works in particular. Those who enjoy hardboiled fiction from the golden era will not be disappointed.

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Cry Scandal & The Root of His Evil by William Ard (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

The Tough and Compassionate PI Timothy Dane

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Those who like their hardboiled mysteries short and slick and with hearty dollops of wit and action would do well to ferret out the tales of the tough but likable PI Timothy Dane. Though a bit rough around the edges, Dane was a decent and honorable chap who was good with his fists and, according to one critic, “catnip to women.” Better known than many gumshoes of the Fifties, Dane proved popular with readers and had influential book reviewers like Anthony Boucher regularly singing his praises.

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