Hugely popular and prolific during the 1950s, selling millions of copies of paperback originals, the late Gil Brewer is considered one of the best American crime writers of his era. Between 1950 and the late 1970s, he authored hundreds of short stories and dozens of novels, including The Red Scarf and A Killer is Loose, […]
Litchfield Reviews The Red Scarf and A Killer is Loose by Gil Brewer Read More »
“James O. Causey got his start in the 1940s writing short stories for “Weird Tales” and “Detective Story Magazine.” As the pulps died off, he became a highly-regarded, if not well-known, author of short, hardboiled crime novels. Stark House has compiled three of Causey’s classics into one volume for 21st Century audiences. The new trade
Mysteriously lured by thieves into taking part in a ransom delivery, an honest Manhattan private-eye becomes involved in a perilous blackmail plot and the prime suspect in the murder of a stripper. First published in 1952 by paperback publisher Lion Books under the pseudonym Thomas Wills, You’ll Get Yours is a hardboiled Fifties tale of
Litchfield Reviews You’ll Get Yours by William Ard Read More »
“[Bill S.] Ballinger, who died in 1980 at the age of 68, wrote scripts for eight feature films, more than 150 teleplays, 30 books, and in 1961, he won an Edgar Award for one of his teleplays for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His novels, several of which were made into films, have sold more than ten
Lancashire Post Reviews Bill S. Ballinger’s Portrait in Smoke and The Longest Second Read More »
Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: Wise-cracking, lecherous homicide detective Lieutenant Al Wheeler investigates the disappearances of pretty ‘˜dames,’ a complex hit-and-run case, and murders at a science fiction convention in three entertaining entries in the phenomenally successful Carter Brown mystery series. Written in the 1950s and long since out-of-print, No Harp for My Angel, Booty for a Babe, and Eve, It’s Extortion are a trio of swift-paced, tongue-in-cheek stories by the incredibly prolific Alan Geoffrey Yates, writing under the house name Carter Brown.
Floyd Mahannah was a talented but overlooked 1950s writer of hardboiled tales. Although his novels received strong critical reviews and he managed to place his shorter work in numerous popular magazines, Mahannah didn’t achieve the success he was striving for and his writing career fizzled out early. This week, Stark House Press publishes a collection
Two more welcome suspense novels from Gil Brewer: “In two turbulent, mesmerizing tales from the 1950s, a Korean War veteran gets involved with a troublesome beauty and finds himself caught up in immense family strife and murder, and a disgraced former aircraft manufacturer is blackmailed into treason. Flight to Darkness and 77 Rue Paradis are two
Litchfield Reviews Flight to Darkness and 77 Rue Paradis by Gil Brewer Read More »
Nicholas Litchfield Reviews Ed Lacy’s ‘The Men from the Boys’ for the Lancashire Post: In a hardboiled 1950s tale of robbery, murder, and retribution, a retired cop turned hotel detective uses his sleuthing skills to track down the gangster responsible for assaulting his stepson. The Men from the Boys, first published by Harper in 1956, is a tough and fast-paced crime novel by Ed Lacy, the pseudonym of Edgar Award-winning American novelist Len Zinberg who died in 1968.
Litchfield Reviews Ed Lacy’s ‘The Men from the Boys’ Read More »
Nicholas Litchfield’s Lancashire Post Review of Richard Wormser’s ‘The Body Looks Familiar’ and ‘The Late Mrs. Five’: In two thrilling, out-of-the-ordinary crime stories, an assistant district attorney attempts to frame the city’s police chief for the murder of his mistress, and a travelling company vice president finds himself accused of the murder of his ex-wife. The Body Looks Familiar and The Late Mrs. Five are both impressive novels by the late Richard Wormser, a prolific American writer of some 300 short stories, 200 novelettes, and numerous crime and detective novels, movie and TV novelisations, screenplays and Westerns.
Lancashire Post book review by Nicholas Litchfield: Never Say No to a Killer is a fast, lean, effective tale by a writer who was very proficient at penning marketable men’s adventure fiction. Although not as complex and stimulating as some of his Westerns, Adams’ tough crime novel has sufficient action and plot twists to make for a swift, entertaining read.
Litchfield Reviews Never Say No to a Killer by Clifton Adams for the Lancashire Post Read More »
