Forgotten Books: The Living Shadow by Maxwell Grant (Walter Gibson)

The Shadow knows . . . and everyone knows him. But how many have had a really proper introduction and read the first Shadow novel?

I’ve read this one several times since 1969, when I picked up the Bantam paperback, and it still packs that old sense of wonder. The Shadow, in this first print adventure, is elusive and mysterious. Harry Vincent, the primary point of view character, is not at all certain this strange dark figure is human, and neither are we.

Harry, jilted by his girl, is about to end it all by plunging off a bridge. Instead . . .

Something clamped upon his shoulder. An iron grip held him − balanced between life and death. Then, as though his body possessed no weight whatever, the man felt himself pulled around in a sweeping circle. He staggered as his feet struck the sidewalk of the bridge.

He turned to confront the person who had interfered. He swung his fist angrily, but a hand caught his wrist and twisted it behind his back with irresistible power.

It was as though the man's strength had been wrested from him when he faced a tall, black−cloaked figure that might have represented death itself. For he could not have sworn that he was looking at a human being.

The stranger's face was entirely obscured by a broad−brimmed felt hat bent downward over his features; and the long, black cloak looked like part of the thickening fog.

And so it begins. In the course of the story, which involves stolen jewels, a mysterious Chinese disk, and of course murder, we meet Detective Joe Cardona, see the Shadow in disguise as Fritz the janitor, face a Chinese torture chamber and get our first glimpse of the girasol ring.

The Shadow, as you may know, was created for the radio, but only as the narrator of a mystery anthology show. His role was rather like that of the EC comics Cryptkeeper. As the show gained popularity, Street and Smith decided to try him in a print adventure of his own, and this is it. The Lamont Cranston/Shadow that later appeared on the air was only a pale imitation of the guy in the magazine.

As far as I know, this novel has been out of print since 1977. I expect it will appear eventually in the fine Nostalgia Ventures series, but until then you can download a free PDF version right here: THE LIVING SHADOW.

If you like it, I highly recommend three more books in the Bantam series. The Eyes of the Shadow, The Shadow Laughs! and Gangdom’s Doom are reprinted from issues 2, 3 and 5 of the magazine, and that sense of wonder sweeps right through them all.

Though I can still enjoy one of the later adventures once in a while, they lack the punch of these early stories. The more I came to know the Shadow, the less I held him in awe, and it’s that awe that gives The Living Shadow its power.

1934

1969

1974

1976

1977

As always, Patti Abbott has links to more of today's Forgotten Books over at pattinase. 

The Almanack Archive of Forgotten Books:
Six Deadly Dames by Frederick Nebel
Sinful Woman by James M. Cain
Dead at the Take-Off by Lester Dent
Homicide Johnny by Steve Fisher
Murder Wears a Halo by John Evans/Howard Browne
Kid's Books: Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, Zorro
Kid Wolf of Texas by Paul S. Powers
Simon Lash, Private Detective by Frank Gruber
Lady Afraid by Lester Dent
Flash Casey - Detective by George Harmon Coxe
Doc Dillahay (Six-Gun Doctor) by Paul S. Powers
Fast One by Paul Cain
Not Too Narrow... Not Too Deep by Richard Sale
Dead and Done For by Robert Reeves
No Love Lost by Robert Reeves
Sabotage by Cleve F. Adams
And Sudden Death by Cleve F. Adams
The Mouse in the Mountain by Norbert Davis
Killer's Caress by Cary Moran
Red Ryder (the strip) by Fred Harman
The Secret Museum of Mankind
Sherlocko the Monk by Gus Mager