Lancashire Post

Cover of The Red Tassel by David Dodge

Litchfield Reviews The Red Tassel by David Dodge for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: A globe-trotting private investigator unravels thieving, murder and local vendettas while protecting a flame-haired heiress in The Red Tassel, an atmospheric thriller set amid betrayal, violence and the chill of the Bolivian Andes. First published in hardcover by Random House in 1950 and quickly reissued as a Dell paperback, David Dodge’s third and final case for the hard-nosed Al Colby is now back in print.

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Litchfield Reviews Tales of the Impossible by Bill Pronzini for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: Complex puzzles, strange disappearances, unconventional murder techniques and spectral encounters abound in Tales of the Impossible, a standout collection of hard-hitting crime stories by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini.
Across a literary career spanning more than fifty years, Pronzini has published ninety novels, four non-fiction books, twenty story collections, numerous anthologies, and scores of articles, essays, and reviews. And his work has been translated into nineteen languages and published in nearly thirty countries.

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Litchfield Reviews Call the Witness by Edna Sherry for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: A newly minted partner at a prestigious law firm must fight for his reputation and freedom when he stands trial for his wife’s murder in Call the Witness, a taut 1960s crime novel steeped in small-town suspicion, legal intrigue, and simmering class tensions.

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Image of Roadside Night by Edwin N. Nistler and Gerry P. Broderick

Litchfield Reviews Roadside Night by Edwin N. Nistler and Gerry P. Broderick for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: In this moody, hard-edged noir – teeming with deception and sexual tension – a battle-weary ex-Marine is drawn by a beguiling stranger into a spiral of robbery and murder along the California coast where each shadow harbours treachery
and every promise comes at a price.

Litchfield Reviews Roadside Night by Edwin N. Nistler and Gerry P. Broderick for the Lancashire Post Read More »

Book cover image of The Squeeze and And the Girl Screamed by Gil Brewer

Litchfield Reviews The Squeeze and —And the Girl Screamed by Gil Brewer for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: In two tumultuous stories set in 1950s Florida, a jobless accountant burdened by debt becomes entangled with a seductive femme fatale in a plan to steal her family’s fortune… and a former cop finds himself the prime suspect in a murder he witnessed and must track down the real killer to prove his innocence. The Squeeze and —And the Girl Screamed are notable works by the late American author Gil Brewer, a master of gripping crime thrillers.

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Image of The Face of Evil by John McPartland

Litchfield Reviews The Face of Evil by John McPartland for the Lancashire Post

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Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: A rugged Chicago fixer wrestles with his moral compass as he attempts to tarnish the reputation of a local attorney in The Face of Evil, a gritty 1950s pulp fiction tale, steeped in extortion, corruption, and counter-blackmail.

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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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A Certain Man's Daughter by Timothy J. Lockhart

Litchfield reviews “A Certain Man’s Daughter” by Timothy J. Lockhart for The Virginian-Pilot

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In 2017, Stark House published an impressive debut novel by Timothy J. Lockhart titled SMITH. It was a hard-boiled noir that featured an interesting female lead character with plenty of grit and toughness. Lockhart’s subsequent novel, PIRATES, published the following year, was a modern-day high-seas action-adventure yarn set in the Caribbean. This thrilling, blood-and-guts page-turner benefits from a distinctive, memorable lead character – a tough but sensitive loner named Hal Morgan, who is a former Navy SEAL. His latest, A CERTAIN MAN’S DAUGHTER, published recently by Stark House, is another excellent hard-boiled tale that warrants reading. Completely different from his previous work, it is brisk-paced, exhilarating, and just as rewarding as the earlier novels.

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

Carter Brown’s Tales of the Passionate, Mistress, Lover

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The phenomenally successful mystery series by Carter Brown, the pseudonym of British-born Australian pulp writer Alan Geoffrey Yates, spawned close to 300 titles and allegedly sold more than 100 million copies. Considering the popularity of these swift-paced, tongue-in-cheek stories featuring wise-cracking detective Al Wheeler, I suppose it’s not surprising that my bookshelf contains almost two dozen of these novels. And, fortunately, my collection is growing, owing to Stark House Press continuing to reissue the early Al Wheeler adventures.

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