Swamp Tease by Edward Kempton

I got this 1960 Avon paperback in one of those $5 grab bags filled with about 50 books. I took one look at the title and the cover art, read the verbiage on the back cover…and knew I absolutely had to read it.

It’s the story of four people who are living near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. 31-year old Mae is a never-married homely spinster who desires nothing so much as to get married and live happily ever after. Her sister, 18-year old Sue, is a pretty blonde with a penchant for teasing the boys. Their father has just passed away leaving a run-down truckers café with a heavy mortgage as their only means of making a living. Enter Strick, a handsome vagrant who the girls hire as a handyman and who takes advantage of the situation in more ways than one. Sue’s boyfriend Johnny rounds out the foursome and despite his initial dumb hick personality turns out to be the only one with a solid set of thinking skills. I won’t spoil it for you, but you can probably guess what will eventually happen here.

This is a crime novel. Many paperbacks published during this era used eye-catching titles and cover art to attract male buyers but inside they often turn out to be pretty good crime or mystery yarns. This one kept me turning the pages although the plot was largely predictable and there was a bit too much stupidity on the part of all the major characters for my taste. Still, the writing was decent, and the ending (taking place in the midst of a hurricane, no less) was a nicely paced edge-of-your-seat thrill ride. 

I could find nothing on the author, but I feel like it’s too well written to be the only one ever scribed by “Edward Kempton”. Much more likely to be a pseudonym so I’m hoping somebody out there can educate me in this regard. (No entry in Hawk's Authors' Pseudonyms II). Judging by all the other reviews I see out there…I’m the only person to have ever read this book. I’m granting it 4 out of 5 stars because it was quite a lot better than I expected.