Bookgasm

The Sailcloth Shroud / All the Way by Charles Williams (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Seafaring Thriller Launches Charles Williams Revival

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As crime fiction collections go, few will better the latest twofer from Stark House Press – The Sailcloth Shroud and All The Way by Charles Williams. These reprints from the late 1950s, released this past month, are a couple of taut, tough, cleverly crafted stories that firmly hold the reader’s attention all the way to the journey’s end.

The second story, All the Way (sometimes known as The Concrete Flamingo), is a gripping noir that tugs at your heartstrings. Whatever your views regarding the intense ending, few can fault the masterful quality of the writing or the intriguing plot. It’s a noir that deserves to be remembered.

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The Lover / The Mistress / The Passionate by Carter Brown (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

THE LOVER, THE MISTRESS, and THE PASSIONATE Bookgasm Review

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A couple of weeks ago, Bookgasm published a glowing review of the newly released Stark House Press collection THE LOVER / THE MISTRESS / THE PASSIONATE. These three novels by Carter Brown (pseudonym of the late British-born Australian pulp writer Alan Geoffrey Yates) are part of the publisher’s ongoing Al Wheeler Mystery Series. This collection marks Wheeler’s thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth adventure and is volume number five in the current Carter Brown reprints series.

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Woman of Cairo and Dear, Deadly Beloved by John Flagg (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

WOMAN OF CAIRO and DEAR, DEADLY BELOVED Bookgasm Review

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This month, Bookgasm gave a very encouraging review of the recent Stark House Press publication WOMAN OF CAIRO, and DEAR, DEADLY BELOVED— two Fawcett Gold Medal originals that are back in print for the first time in decades. “John Flagg, the pen name for John Rex Gearon, introduces us to his series character, Hart Muldoon, in the two novels from the 1950s reprinted here by Stark House Press,” writes book critic Alan Cranis of Bookgasm. “An introduction by editor and author Nicholas Litchfield traces Flagg’s career, the development of the Muldoon character, and how Flagg’s various occupations provided material for his novels and short stories. Both novels are noticeably more hardboiled than other spy novels of the era, but remain as alluring and entertaining as they were when first published.”

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Devil May Care and Sinner Take All by Wade Miller (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Two Exhilarating Thrillers by Wade Miller

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Among the novels I’ve read this year, Devil May Care and Sinner Take All rank as two of the very finest. Both were penned by the writing duo of Robert Allison Wade (1920–2012) and H. Bill Miller (1920 –1961), a couple of close friends who wrote a fair number of big-selling novels in the crime, mystery, and thriller genres during the 1950s and 60s. Without doubt, their most fruitful collaboration was Badge of Evil, a manuscript adapted for the screen as Touch of Evil, directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, Charlton Heston, and Janet Leigh. Other novels by Wade and Miller were adapted to the screen, though, strangely, Devil May Care, considered by some as the duo’s best, didn’t become a movie (despite actor James Cagney’s efforts), and it hasn’t been reprinted since the Fawcett Gold Medal printings in the 1950s.

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Footsteps in the Night and Beat Back the Tide by Dolores Hitchens (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Review of Footsteps in the Night and Beat Back the Tide in Bookgasm

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Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Dolores Hitchens novels — fortunately, there’s plenty to pick from and, thanks to Stark House Press, reprints of her books are hitting the shelves again. Very popular in her day (primarily, the 1950s and ’60s), she was one of those authors who had enormous critical and commercial appeal. At a time when male authors monopolized the mystery genre, Hitchens was ranked as one of the nation’s leading mystery writers. Prominent authors, journalists, and book reviewers, like Anthony Boucher, sang her praises for good reason. Her vividly drawn characters have depth and personality, and she has a masterful ability to shock and unnerve and escalate suspenseful situations.

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A Rage At Sea / A Party Every Night by Frederick Lorenz (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Reviews of A Rage At Sea and A Party Every Night in Paperback Warrior, Crime Time, and Bookgasm

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Recently, the website Paperback Warrior, which posts vintage fiction reviews and features regarding the action-adventure, hardboiled crime, western, pulp, and espionage genres, included a review of the collection A Rage At Sea / A Party Every Night, which was published on May 25. Here’s a snippet of what they have to say of the author and these two long-forgotten crime stories: “Frederick Lorenz was the pseudonym used by Lorenz Heller (1911-????) for a handful of paperback crime novels released by Lion Books in the 1950s. The New Jersey native worked as a seaman on a freighter, so it’s only fitting that I’m introduced to his body of work through his shipwreck novel A Rage at Sea from June 1953. Best of all, the book has been reprinted by Stark House Crime Classics as a double along with Lorenz’s A Party Every Night and an informative introduction by Nicholas Litchfield. A Rage at Sea isn’t particularly action-packed, but the author’s excellent writing keep the pages flying by. Recommended.”

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The Tooth and the Nail / The Wife of the Red-Haired Man by Bill S. Ballinger (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Review of The Tooth and the Nail and The Wife of the Red-Haired Man in Bookgasm

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I’ve been squirreling away antique paperback copies of Bill S. Ballinger’s work for a long time, having first gotten hold of his Barr Breed mysteries and then moved on to his Joaquin Hawks espionage series, before devouring his many suspense novels. It was mystifying why his work had drifted into obscurity. So, in 2018, it was rewarding to have a hand in bringing a couple of his novels (Portrait in Smoke and The Longest Second) back into print and contribute the introduction to the collection.

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