Forgotten Books: DEALING OUT DEATH by W.T.Ballard (1948)

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. 

Steve Mertz has the Blues (and they have to come out!)

Mr. Stephen Mertz, author of sixtty-some thrillers and adventure novels (including my personal favorite, Hank & Muddy) rocked Tuscon recently with his new roadhouse band, the Outsiderz. This is Steve singing and blowing the harpoon.

Below are a few of his more easily obtainable titles. You Mertz completists will also want to acquire the fine new Carroll John Daly collection Race Williams' Double Date (now available - see below!), which he edited and forwarded.

Order Race Williams' Double Date HERE!

Comic Gallery: KERRY DRAKE (1944)

Overlooked Films: TARZAN OF THE APES (1918)

Here's the very FIRST Tarzan movie, released just six years after the novel appeared in All-Story Magazine. This film, which portrays the first half of the novel (concluded in the 1918 movie The Romance of Tarzan) is said to be the most faithful of all the screen adaptations.

The ERBZine website has a lot of great info HERE. Among other things, it says:
NFC (National Film Corporation) hired eight acrobats to play apes for which costumes made from goat skins and elaborate masks were constructed. Additional ape costumes were made in Morgan City and twenty Young men from the New Orleans Athletic Club were hired to augment the "apes" brought from California

On with the show!

Cap Gun Monday: Halco MAVERICK (#1)

I'm calling this one Maverick #1 because I have a larger, entirely different Halco "Maverick" with a bronze finish. This gun's on the smallish side - 8 1/2 inches with a 3 3/4 inch barrel. I assume both were marketed as TV tie-ins, probably with Maverick holsters. Were I rich, I'd be photographing those for you, too. 

Halco was a toy distributor that sometimes put their own brand on guns made by other companies. Looks like this one was made by the Leslie-Henry Company. 

More less-than-deadly weapons HERE.

ONE AGAINST A GUN HORDE: New Western Stories by Richard Prosch

A pattern has emerged in the western fiction of Mr. Richard Prosch.

1. His characters are not fictional constructs, but real people leading real lives. They have genuine human emotions and converse in real genuine dialogue.

- and -

2. No matter where you think his stories are going, they take you somewhere else. And they're always worth the ride.

Those are two excellent reasons to check out his latest collection of western tales, One Against a Gun Horde.

If the title has a dime novel ring to it, that’s no accident. The book’s title story is an ingenious mash-up of Old West reality and dime novel imagination. It’s a fine lead-in to the collection, and the other five stories keep pace, delivering generous portions of wit, humor and down-home Nebraska authenticity. The writing is rich, smooth, and goes down easy, making it all the more satisfying as each tale follows its own crooked trail to a surprising conclusion.

That’s it. I ain’t telling you any more. You’ll just have to read this for yourself. Get it here:

One Against a Gun Horde

Toy Soldier Saturday: MARX PRESIDENTS (Part 2)

The Marx parade of Presidents marches on . . .

More Toy Soldiers (including our first nine Chief Execs) HERE.

Forgotten Stories: OVER THE WALL by John K. Butler (read it here!)

When I posted the Cleve F. Adams story "Smart Guy" a while back (HERE), Cary Jennings suggested I devote some attention to another neglected pulp writer, John K. Butler. Well, I think that's a fine idea. Thanks, Cary!

For most of us, John K. Butler blipped onto our hardboiled radar thanks to Mr. Ron Goulart, when he wisely included the Dime Detective story "A Saint in Silver" in his 1965 anthology The Hardboiled Dicks. (For that matter, the same could be said of Frederick Nebel, Norbert Davis, Richard Sale, Raoul Whitifeld, Frank Gruber and Lester Dent.) The hero of "A Saint in Silver" was cab driver Steve Midnight, who drove the mean streets of Southern California.

Then in 1998 John Gunnison of Adventure House brought us At the Stroke of Midnight, the complete collection of nine Steve Midnight stories. Butler also sold to other magazines, and I have examples of his work in Black Mask, Detective Fiction Weekly, Argosy, 10 Detective Aces, and Street & Smith's Detective Story. I also have a couple from Double Detective, including this one, from August 1938.

If you enjoy this story, be sure to patronize our sponsor, Star Single-Edge Blades (just 4 for a dime at your neighborhood pharmacy). And have no fear. Mr. Butler will return.