The Crime Master (Gordon Manning & The Griffin, Vol. 1) by J. Allan Dunn

Continuing my tour of story collections from the pulp era, I turned this time to The “Crime Master” otherwise known as the continuing battles of Gordon Manning & The Griffin.  The stories in this collection were originally published from 1929 through 1931 in “Detective Fiction Weekly” magazine and are presented in chronological order.

There were a total of 31 installments in this series and 11 are presented here in this first volume. Each tale builds on previous stories but, in essence, consists of The Griffin (The Crime Master himself) contacting Gordon Manning (formerly Secret Service and currently a consulting attorney) about which famous person he will soon assassinate.  The Griffin takes great pleasure in baiting Gordon, even including which 24 hour time frame his crime will be committed.  Despite Gordon’s best efforts at providing security for the target, the dastardly Griffin always manages to be one step ahead and gets away.  Often one of his henchmen is sacrificed and over these 11 stories, Gordon does make some progress in “getting close” but remains frustrated at the end of each story.

Each of the stories follows the same basic structure but there is enough variation to make each one interesting.  I chose to read one story between each novel I've been reading in order to keep them somewhat fresh. I am very interested to eventually read that last (number 31) story to see if Gordon finally nabs his man but for now, I will just have to hold my breath.

As I’ve expanded my intake of pulp stories from the 1920s-1950s I find myself appreciating them more and more.  The author of these stories, J. Allan Dunn seems to have led an extremely adventurous life himself and his biography would make an almost unbelievable story in its own right.  I rank his Crime Master stories among my favorite pulp reading experiences so far and I will be looking for Volume 2 in short order.

The Peril of the Pacific by J. Allan Dunn

This is a five-part serial, originally published in the pages of “People’s” magazine way back in 1916.  J. Allan Dunn, the author, had broken into the pulps just two years prior, but was already in high demand as a writer.  I was drawn to this book because I had read and enjoyed a collection of his “Crime Master” stories which weren’t written until the late 1920’s and 30's.

This serial is really a science fiction tale for that time, telling of a possible near-future.  A man by the name of Bruce Grahame is an expert in aeronautics and also a believer in preparedness, especially against what he believes is an imminent invasion of the western US by Japan.  Remember that this was written in 1916 so it is a really interesting take on what might happen, even if in our reality it didn’t come close to happening until the 1940s.

The author speculates that the new aeronautical technology of helicopters would completely transform the way combat would ensue, basically predicting that normal fixed-wing aircraft would become completely obsolete.  An interesting speculation that has, of course, been contrary to our history thus far but nevertheless makes for an interesting story.

This is largely a tale of war strategy with a lot of heroic adventure and a bit of romance thrown in. A major sub-plot involves a half-American/half-Japanese bad guy who hopes to betray his native US, lead the Japanese to surprise victory, and ultimately rule the new Nippon. He also kidnaps Grahame's girlfriend, for added incentive. A mere 150 pages cover the entire pre-war preparations, the surprise attacks, the limited response by the caught-flat-footed Americans, several key battles, and ultimate resolution.  And yet, it doesn’t feel rushed at all. It’s written in a more serious tone than the Crime Master stories I read, and I was content to read one section at a time, between novels, rather than straight through.  I wanted that same sense of reading a serial. I imagine that reading it back when it originally came out over five straight months amid the real WWI was quite an edge-of-your-seat experience.

Hats off to Off-Trail Publications and John Locke for re-publishing this interesting story.