The Devil in the Marshalsea (Tom Hawkins #1) by Antonia Hodgson

London, 1727…on the eve of the coronation of George II.  Young Tom Hawkins, refusing to follow in his father’s footsteps as a clergyman, has instead been seeking out a life as a gambler, a rake, and a chaser of women.  But when he finds himself in debt, he must wager big in order to keep himself outside of debtor’s prison.  Surprisingly, he wins that big gamble but on the way back to his rooms, he is mugged and is thusly tossed into the “Marshalsea”.

Life in debtor’s prison is just as harsh and cruel as what Dickens describes.  The gaol is divided into two sections.  For those with enough influence with family and friends on the outside to provide enough money to keep them afloat, they can stay on the “Master’s” side and provide a cut to the overseers.  For those less lucky, there is the “Commons” side where life is short and about as miserable as can be imagined. "Process must be followed Mr. Hawkins. You can’t just throw men into prison and let them rot.  That would be cruel. They must have their time in court. Their case must be heard, their creditors must be called to account…Then they can rot.”  Running the whole thing is a governor of sorts, and along with a myriad of innkeepers, barkeeps, brothel owners, etc. their only real interest is how much profit they can make off the misfortune of the inmates.

And like in almost any prison in the world, even today, “If you wish to survive in this gaol…in this world then you must make people believe you are the most ruthless, calculating, treacherous man they know. They must believe you are capable of anything—the worst imaginable outrages.  If your enemies learn that you are weak, they will destroy you.  That is the way of the world.”  Men die every day in the Marshalsea but when our young gambler’s roommate is murdered in the middle of the night in their locked room, all signs point to Hawkins himself as the killer.  He must solve the mystery of the real killer before time runs out or he will be executed.

I really enjoy these sorts of historical mystery novels.  In addition to a nice murder mystery element, adventure, intrigue, and betrayal, there is a lot of good history here as well, not the least of which is how debtor’s prisons worked in the 1720s.  It’s always been a strange concept for me to wrap my brain around anyway…how can you expect somebody who is in debt to be able to work themselves out of debt and gain their freedom when they are locked up?  Thanks to the excellent research by the author, this novel was an eye opener for me in that regard, especially the free enterprise system that thrived within the prison walls.  So much so that many of the prisoners stayed on voluntarily after they had found a way to pay off their debts, just to keep on raking in the profits.

This is the first book in a series.  I had already read and enjoyed the second book, The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, so I wanted to go back and get this first one under my belt as well.  While I still recommend they be read in order, either of the first two can be read as a stand-alone novel and I have heard the same of the third, which I will, in due course, pursue as well.

Easy Company and the Medicine Gun (Easy Company #2) by John Wesley Howard (Stephen Winston)

Stephen Winston takes over the reins from Lou Cameron to pen this second book in the 31-book Easy Company series. He would go on to write at least five more.

Less than a year after the events of Little Bighorn, Easy Company continues its mission of maintaining a shaky peace in the region. They are receiving new recruits due to some recent attrition and this novel’s plot centers around those characters although the regulars also get in on some good action.  I get the feeling there might be a lot of new recruits necessary for this company of mounted infantry, (don’t dare call them cavalry) based on the body count in this outing alone.

A Gatling gun (known as a medicine gun to the Indians because of its ability to deal out rapid “big medicine”) has been stolen before it can complete its journey to a reservation in the North. The crew has been slaughtered and it appears the notorious Racing Elk and his band are responsible. As new clues come to light, different groups of Easy Company, including the new recruits hit the trail in pursuit, each experiencing their own separate types of adventure.

I’m not sure if it’s because of a different author from book one or if it’s due to the demands of the publisher but this entry kicks up the adult content a notch or two. Some of it is quite imaginative. But the other parts are equally imaginative, including the gunfights, camp politics, and the new characters’ backgrounds. It all makes for another solid entry in the series. Book three is written by Kenneth Bjorgum, another author in the stable behind the “John Wesley Howard” pseudonym. I’m curious to see what his style will bring to these characters.

The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis (Camulod Chronicles #6) by Jack Whyte

This is the sixth and final novel in the main “Camulod Chronicles” series which tells the story of Arthur, Merlyn, and the rest from a historically realistic and scientifically plausible way. (There are three other books still to come in the series but they are companion pieces to this main set).

This book sees the culmination of all of the fascinating history that has led up to the final crowning of Arthur, making him the king of kings in England.  But it begins when Arthur is still only around 14 years old with Merlyn continuing with his education.  While Arthur is technically the reason for this entire series, it is once again, not really about him.  Once again, Merlyn relates the events from a first person perspective and follow along with his extraordinary life.  There are some slowish parts in the first half of the book, mostly surrounding discussions of the influx of Christianity, but they are necessary to the way the final chapters unfold.  Merlyn undergoes his own metamorphosis in this book, becoming the more traditional version of the sorcerer we think of today.  Of course, just like the rest of this series, it isn’t actual magic but rather his intelligent use of natural chemicals and techniques that allows him to be seen as performing acts of great sorcery and thus his reputation as a sorcerer is born.

A very satisfying conclusion to one of my all-time favorite “historical-fantasy” series.  I look forward to turning now to the companion novels, which I understand describe many of the same events but from different perspectives.

The Yellow Hoard (The Avenger #2) by Kenneth Robeson (Paul Ernst)

This second novel in The Avenger series, originally published in October, 1939, continues the early adventures of Richard “Dick” Benson in his efforts to fight crime, especially criminal organizations that are similar to the one who was responsible for the death of his wife and young daughter.  Here, he and his two associates, chase after a group who has discovered that an archaeological find will lead them to a huge secret Aztec treasure hoard of gold which they plan to use to further their nefarious goals.

The author behind the Kenneth Robeson name is Paul Ernst, once again, and he delivered a solid second installment of the series.  The plot was fun if rather simple and straightforward.  It does its job as a follow-on to the origin story told in the first book, Justice, Inc. and serves as a good example of the kind of adventure that readers could expect in the stories to come.  It is probably best remembered for the introduction of the character, Nellie Grey, as the latest recruit to Benson’s stable of crime fighters.  Her small, pretty, and seemingly fragile physique disguises a mastery of jiu-jitsu and other martial arts.  She is a welcome addition to the group, and quite remarkable considering the male-dominated era in which this series was written (1939-1942).

Under a Veiled Moon (Inspector Corravan #2) by Karen Odden

1878

Inspector Michael Corravan, a senior officer at Scotland Yard now finds himself as acting superintendent at Wapping River Police for the past three months. As a man born in Ireland, orphaned at an early age and raised by the Irish Doyle family, it’s a tough time for him. He’s caught in the middle, working for the English crown while fighting down his disgust at the very active prejudice he sees against his own people across England.

But Corravan is nothing if not dogged in his police duties so when a body is discovered near the docks and found to be likely something more than an accident, he sets out to investigate. But soon his work is overwhelmed by a catastrophe upon the Thames. The pleasure steamer named the Princess Alice is struck by the massive Bywell Castle, an iron-hulled collier, resulting in the loss of most of the 600 passengers. All police are sucked into the effort to search for survivors and handle relief efforts. Local newspapers start reporting rumors and innuendos about the Irish Republican Brotherhood being responsible. A single case of possible murder appears to have turned into a complex case of mass murder for political purposes.

Karen Odden has once again written a wonderful, historically accurate novel of murder, intrigue, and deadly peril. For the first few chapters I wondered what she might have in mind for us readers as we get to peel the proverbial onion back on a society prone to prejudice and political activism. Sure, there was a what appeared to be a murder case and surely Inspector Corravan would investigate and uncover the truth of the matter. But then the whole plot took a deep turn into unexpected territory. The sinking of the Princess Alice is a historical event and many of the characters involved with her destiny and that we read about here are actual historical characters. This incident remains the greatest loss of life of any British inland waterway shipping accident in history. The author uses this tragedy and creates a masterful story of political intrigue around it, forcing Inspector Corravan to solve what amounts to one of the very first incidents of terrorism ever, even when it means working with sordid figures of the seedy London underbelly. And to think I thought this would be just a simple murder mystery.

I’ve read a couple of other novels by Karen Odden and have always come away impressed. She has a knack for creating complex plots and yet keeping them entirely readable. The settings, society, and true-to-life history reflect her in depth research. But, as in all good stories, the characters make the novel and here, Karen Odden has pulled out all the stops. Inspector Corravan is a superb character, filled with human foibles to balance out his honorable intentions. We get to see a lot of his adopted family and their destinies, heavily influenced by a decision he made long ago. Indeed, one of the central themes of the novel is how one learns to live with prior regretful choices.

This is the second of the Inspector Corravan novels and I will add that I have yet to read the first one. However, at no time did I feel like I was missing anything. The author provides any backstory needed so I was quite comfortable throughout. Of course, I do feel the need to go back now and read that first one (“Down a Dark River”), not to fill in anything about this one but simply to revel in the experience of reading a Karen Odden novel.

The Mad Scientist Affair (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. #5) by John T. Phillifent

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are assigned to an unusual case in Ireland.  This time, instead of stopping the diabolical plot of a mad scientist, they are to see to it that he carries out his plans, whatever they are, in case it's good, and keep THRUSH from getting their hands on the experiments.  The scientist is a brewer of premium beer but, alas, he has discovered new synthetic substances based on chemical processes.  One use is to enhance indiscretion and recklessness, much like a new form of beer.  Solo himself is drugged with this and learns just how dangerous it could be if loosed upon an unsuspecting population.  But even more serious is the second form of the synthetic which can spread rapidly in water and turn into a solid jelly-like substance.  It seems the scientist and THRUSH have plans to let it loose in key salt water areas on a massive scale and thus paralyze shipping lanes, choke rivers, cut off power plants, etc.  Diabolical indeed! 

The fifth entry of this series is the first of three by English writer John T. Phillifent (also wrote #19 and 20).  This author is probably better known by his pseudonym, John Rackham, a science fiction and fantasy author of some note.  He is also an electrical engineer and scientist by training and this knowledge is put to good use here.  The science behind these fictional synthetic substances may not pass an expert evaluation but was sufficient to sound plausible to my mind.  But he doesn’t scrimp on the action or other expectations of an U.N.C.L.E. story either.  The addition of the scientist’s two beautiful daughters, one blonde and angelic, one raven-haired and devilish, was a nice touch.  Although I will say the blonde was a little inconsistent, changing from a brilliant scientist in her own right, to a helpless chatty Cathy in the middle, and finally to an action hero at the end.  

It’s all in good fun though and as long as you’re not expecting the heights of literary accomplishment, it’s a fun time.

Jewel of the Java Sea by Dan Cushman

Frisco Dougherty has been hanging around the islands of the South China Sea, from Singapore to Manilla and to the coast of India ever since the war ended. He’s been hunting for over fifteen years, hunting diamonds, hoping to gain his fortune and enough dough to get him back home to San Francisco. And now he’s found one. A diamond that’s been oddly cut, not so large as he’d hoped but certainly of superior quality. And even better, it appears to be just the start of a group of diamonds, all available for a man filled with enough cunning and bravado to acquire them one way or another.

This is a classic 1950’s-era South Pacific adventure novel. The plot is filled with rogues and villains out to steal that which Frisco has legitimately stolen first. Frisco has allies but he’s never certain he can entirely trust them. Among them is a beautiful native girl named Anna as well as a Cockney named Jaske, a Chinese merchant, and an American going by the name Deering. From some he can gain clues to how to acquire the rest of the diamonds and from others he can make deals to his own advantage. But just who will help and who will hinder remains an open-ended question.

Author Dan Cushman has written a number of novels that take place in the South Pacific as well as the Congo and the Yukon, all based on his own adventurous life and experiences. Later he turned his hand to writing western/historical novels featuring Native Americans and Montana history. He is probably best known for his novel, “Stay Away, Joe” which was turned into a film starring Elvis Presley.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I was in the mood for a good rollicking adventure yarn and this one fit the bill nicely. I managed to learn a little more about the regions where the story takes place as well as some nice details about the provenance of some famous diamonds that found their way through this area. But at its heart, this is a solid novel of back-stabbing, conniving adventurers intent on gaining riches the old-fashioned way. Trading, dealing, stealing, and murdering, all on the way to a satisfying ending.

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.

Jackdaws by Ken Follett

Whenever I read a Ken Follett novel, I expect a lot.  Not every book I’ve read by him has been outstanding but most have and so I always hope for one of those.  This one certainly qualifies.

It’s a story that takes place during the ten days just prior to the D-Day landings in 1944 during WWII.  The French resistance is in full gear, expecting the imminent invasion, even if they don’t know the exact date.  The SOE (Special Operations Executive) in London has determined to support the French resistance in its efforts to sabotage a key target which, in turn, will greatly aid the success of the invasion.  The Gestapo HQ in Paris in the square at Sainte-Cécile, also houses the critical telephonic communications hub.  If that were to be taken out of commission, then critical communications to those defending against the invasion forces would be severely impacted.

We follow along with Felicity “Flick” Clairet as she builds a team to infiltrate and destroy the communications hub.  She chooses all women (Code name: "Jackdaws") so that they can pose as a cleaning crew and make it easier to withstand close scrutiny.  Recruitment proves difficult and she must settle for inexperienced women with very little time to train.  Most of them are misfits in one fashion or another – comparisons to the Dirty Dozen are not inaccurate.

One mark of an excellent thriller story is the quality of the primary antagonist and here, the character of Major Dieter Franck, working on Field Marshal Rommel’s staff, is a wonderfully drawn bad guy.  He is extremely dedicated to his task of finding Flick and stopping her mission, and while he can be deliciously evil in his effective torture techniques, he also demonstrates admirable traits of intelligence and dogged determination.  

The pacing here is perfect.  A nice buildup of intrigue and emotion and stressful intensity interspersed with danger as well as softly romantic moments.  The pages keep turning despite whatever else might be going on in your life that would drag you away from reading further.  The danger is real, and not all characters survive but the ending is deeply satisfying.

Highly recommended.

Fighting Crime One Dime at a Time by Ed Hulse (editor)

For several years I’ve been on a quest to learn more about the old pulp stories and heroes. I’ve read quite a few of them now, in several different series and plan to sample a lot more in the future. But I know I’ll never be able to read them all. And that’s where books like this come in.

Per the Murania Press Website, “In the summer of 2002, long-time friends Ed Hulse, Mark Trost and Rick Scheckman launched Blood ‘n’ Thunder, an amateur journal for aficionados of adventure, mystery, and melodrama in American popular culture of the early 20th century.” As a quarterly publication (with a few gaps), a treasure trove of material has been accumulated over the years. Occasionally, a “Blood ‘N’ Thunder Presents" collection comes along, of which this volume is the third.

As the title implies, this volume is devoted to the crime fighting heroes of the pulps, particularly the “single character” type of heroes such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Lone Ranger, Black Bat, The Phantom, etc. Ed Hulse provides a marvelous introduction and summarizes the history of these pulp crime fighters. Fourteen articles follow as well as an appendix which provides two early comics that heavily borrowed from pulp characters.

Knowledgeable authors contributed these articles, including Will Murray, Mark Trost, John Coryell, Joe Rainone, Larry Latham, and of course Ed Hulse. The only article I didn’t really care for was also among the longest, “Masked Rider of the (Pulp) Plains – A History of The Lone Ranger Magazine”. The first part was great, describing, in detail, the history of the magazine and its impact. But then we are presented with a whole host of individual plot summaries of the stories, including the endings for all of them. Spoilers abound!

I would be hard pressed to name my favorite article but certainly near the top would be “The 20 Most Underrated Shadow Novels” wherein various contributors state their case for favorite entries that are often overlooked.

The book itself is well-designed, and of very high quality. One might wish for full color pictures instead of the black and white ones here, but I imagine the resulting retail price would keep it out of the hands of most. As for me, I can honestly say I learned a great deal about these pulp characters as well as the history of their publication and their ultimate demise as comics, paperbacks and TV usurped their role.

Highly recommended.

Assignment Silver Scorpion (Sam Durell #35) by Edward S. Aarons

Sam Durell, agent of K-Section of the CIA is used to working alone. He’s a mission-oriented, no-nonsense, experienced top-notch agent. So when he finds himself on a case with a young, inexperienced female agent, he’s not exactly thrilled. They have been sent to the newly unified African country of Boganda where it appears over $300,000 of American and International aid has been diverted into the pockets of…somebody. Perhaps it’s Mokutu, the new country’s president, or perhaps it’s their military leader. Or perhaps it’s one or both of their wives who happen to be sisters and have every appearance of being professional pirates. The money, in the form of international credits, was intended for economic, social, and educational needs. But over the past six months, the credits have been converted, little by little, into hard cash for projects that were never completed, or never even begun. It was an international swindle of the first magnitude. Durell and his rookie partner must find out where the money’s gone.

Once again Edward S. Aarons (also known by the pseudonyms Paul Ayres and Edward Ronns) has provided an exciting adventure thriller in the lengthy “Assignment” series featuring agent Sam Durell. I think these later books in the series have a bit more TV-style adventure than the early ones, more action, more double-crosses, more peril in general. Durell ends up in a jail cell at least three times (maybe four) in this single novel. But it’s a fun ride all the way through. The author, as he has many times before, provides a realistic exotic setting for his characters to romp around in. While the country of Boganda is fictional, it seems much like many an African nation in the early 1970s when this was published. 

I must say that the character of Sam Durell doesn’t come off well over the first half of the novel. The way he treats his female co-agent is abominable. I get that he is used to working alone, but the author seems to press this point too far in my opinion. Yes, I’m aware that this was written in the early 1970s, but he is arrogant, condescending, patronizing, and flat out rude to her in every interaction they have. He demands information from her but never stoops to answering her questions. He even physically slaps her twice (and another character once). I worry that if this book were a reader’s first introduction to the series, they would be so turned off as to quit half-way through and never want to read another one. Happily, I can report that this relationship changes significantly as the pages fly by. When two people face the kind of dangerous situations that these two face, they tend to gravitate towards each other. In fact, this becomes one of the major rewards of persevering through the book.

Looking forward to my next "Assignment" read.