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I’m curious to know many Black Mask characters graduated
into original novels after (or during) their time with the magazine. I can name
only two from the Shaw years, and W.T.
Ballard’s Bill Lennox is one of them. The other is George Harmon Coxe’s Flash Casey
Race Williams doesn’t really count because—like Sam Spade
and the Continental Op—his novel-length adventures had appeared first in the
magazine (along with one - I think - in Dime Detective).
Moving beyond the Shaw years, Robert Reeves' Cellini Smith
would qualify, and there were likely others.
But Bill Lennox is probably unique in that he not only
graduated, but took his Black Mask style along with him. The four Lennox
novels are Say Yes to Murder (1942) (reviewed HERE), Murder Can’t Stop (1946),
Dealing Out Death (1948) and Lights, Camera, Murder (1960).
Lennox is described as a troubleshooter for Sol
Spurck, head of Hollywood’s General-Consolidated Studios. In between making Spurck’s troubles
go away, he’s apparently free to do what he wants, and what he enjoys most is discovering
would-be starlets and nurturing their careers. Though it’s never really stated,
this hobby is one of the main factors in his long term job security. The more
starlets he takes under his wing, the more trouble they get into, and the
more trouble there is for him to shoot.
That’s the driving force behind Dealing Out Death. Bill’s
starlet of the moment has a no-good brother in trouble in Las Vegas and shirks
her studio responsibilities to help him. Lennox has no choice but to follow her
to Vegas, where—as you would expect—much more trouble ensues.
This novel presents an interesting pre-mob look at Sin City.
The city fathers and casino operators are fighting to keep the
mobsters from gaining a foothold, and Lennox—protecting the interests of his starlet
and studio—becomes their unwilling ally. This novel takes
place ten or more years before the events in the lamented 2013 TV series Vegas, when we saw that foothold gained.
Stylistically, Ballard was no Hammett, but he knew how to
tell a good tale and keep it hopping, and Dealing Out Death is a fine example.
It’s also a FREE example, because you can download it in a variety of
electronic formats from Munseys.com. You’ll find it HERE.
I'm guessing that Paul Cain's Gerry Kells, whose stories were turned into the novel, "Fast One", is a case like Race Williams and Sam Spade? And how about Philip Marlowe? Or did he only appear in BM stories under a different name during the Shaw years?
ReplyDeleteThat's true. Kells and Marlowe don't make the cut.
ReplyDeleteI sure can't think of any, and you're much more knowledgeable about this than I am! This looks like an interesting book, I must say.
ReplyDelete