At a local used bookshop, I picked up a reading copy of Clarence E. Mulford’s classic western novel, simply titled Tex. I’d never read anything by Mulford; and knowing full well that he is famous for his Hopalong Cassidy character and enduring series which made its way onto the silver screen and into comic books, I figured I ought to take a dip.
So, I took a gamble, paid $5 flat, and perused this abridged edition printed by the Graphic Publishing Co. of New York. They issued the book at least four times, with the following printing dates of September 1949, January 1951, June 1952, and October 1954, for which mine is the latter.
The first bound edition appeared via A. C. McClurg late in 1922 with the true first publication I suspect (but can’t prove) might be in the pulp fiction magazine Short Stories. There, it was a 2-part serial, appearing in the 25 January and 10 February 1922 editions under the title of Tex Ewalt. It certainly seems plausible, but I’ve not seen a copy to compare text against.
Clarence Mulford is most famously recollected among western reading afficionados for the creation of Hopalong Cassidy and the Bar 20 men. I’m certain to have seen some of the movies spawned from this and read only that Clarence disliked the way Hollywood changed his characters. Tex Ewalt is the lead protagonist in the novel Tex and his character comes from the Bar 20. I’ve no knowledge of how he is portrayed in any earlier works, so I won’t guess.
While rummaging through a used bookshop, I picked up a handful of vintage reads. Having never read Clarence’s works, I eagerly popped Tex into the stack, already aware that it’s a classic. And, having read the book, it is nice to see a scene accurately depicted on the front cover, whereas the one featured on a Harlequin book is entirely wrong in that a woman handling a rifle is certainly never present in the book, especially any woman fighting alongside a man.
Settling down for a night’s read, I was bowled over that our protagonist quotes religious verses from a wide variety of sources, literary quotes, etc., and shows off the author’s range of intelligence while systematically making the reader feel stupid for his lack of education. And while I certainly get the gist of much of the nonsense, it is overly done to the point of being annoying, and Tex can’t help but namedrop famous other Clarence characters such as his most famous, Hopalong Cassidy, etc., as if the need was there to bolster the credibility of the novel I’m reading, or that Tex couldn’t stand on his own without their backing, literarily speaking.
In short, the intellectual padding becomes boring and over-the-top pretentious. Too, this being the Wild West, naturally most people are NOT educated, and would hardly comprehend the flapping gums of Tex Ewalt, who is there under the name of Tex Jones, which is hardly a disguise in names.
He seems to be there as a man of vengeance, returning to the scene of a crime harkening back many years ago, meting out retribution against rich townsman Gus Williams. And yet, I’m never given the inside track to precisely why Tex has taken an interest in this town. Perhaps being an abridged paperback edition, something of importance was cut out, but I doubt it. It’s more likely we are simply to understand that Tex has an old ache in his heart from years or decades ago to pursue and Williams is his target. In any case, Tex alludes to the fact nobody recognizes him and is careful to avoid clues to rekindle their memories.
All the while, Tex manipulates like a sage snake every person he meets, even the innocents. In short, he’s an unsavory character in my book and if he is a true literary hero, I can only hope that by the conclusion that he will die a gruesome death.
Alas, he does not, and somehow, he even gets the girl, which by the conclusion runs quite contrary to how the entire plot had been playing out. It’s jarringly unnecessary to provide Tex any romantic interest as even he himself berates himself as unworthy and nearly twice the woman’s age.
Try as I might, while I have made plenty of complaints, I did enjoy the action scenes and Tex’s abilities to manipulate everyone to suit his requirements, but it was all so pathetically easy with zero resistance. Bizarrely, I can’t fathom why Hollywood never chased after this novel. It has all the right earmarks and could readily be adjusted to suit their needs. I shockingly find myself thinking that keeping our Tex a facetious intellectual among the Kansas folks would work out quite well, given the right party to play the part, but he’d need to be a rugged individual, not a pretty-boy.
I’d love to discuss the entirety of the novel’s plot, but the book is so darned commonplace to locate in any number of different vintage and modern editions, so, why bother? And damnably cheap, too, so one would be a fool to buy a modern edition! Go forth and acquire a vintage copy; hell, even an abridged copy will do.
Several years ago, I acquired a collection of original artwork, all from 1941-1944. Many of the pieces are wartime political comic humorous pieces. Some art comic artists. One is a paperback and hardback jacket artist.
Upon receiving them, I immediately identified two-thirds of the artists. Over the subsequent years, others fell into line, courtesy of comparing them with others previously identified and the sources they were printed within.
This particular piece frustrated me. Unlike some that had illegible signatures, this charming work is clearly, boldly, and flowerily signed PALMER. It immediately made me think the artist could be female.
As it turns out, I was correct. More on that in a minute.
The topic of this original commission artwork features two WW2-attired ladies in the foreground frankly gossiping about an overweight woman in the background, with the taller, bustier gal stating:
“Supposing all of us went about looking like beauty queens?”
I had originally drawn no clues as to the identity of this artist. However, I did have some leads.
A “Palmer” was in The Pick of Punch (1946 Annual edition) covering July 1945 through June 1946.
“Palmer” also appeared in I Couldn’t Help Laughing! An Anthology of War-Time Humour edited by D. B. Wyndham Lewis, London: Lindsay Drummond, 1941 (reprinted through 1944). Sadly, the art there is only signed as Palmer, too. The first edition only had 2 pieces by Palmer. Later editions had 3 pieces by Palmer (pages 33, 91, 131).
I saved an example from Page 33 as it mirrors my own piece; as you can see, it features more war-ladies.
Palmer also contributed to Men Only, a digest sized magazine, appearing in issues from 1939-1945. Two pieces in the Nov 1939 issues feature the same lovely signature. I’ve attached that work, showing an officer saluting the girls.
The following link below is for the A Primer of Cartoon Cliches blog site, in which Chris Mullen showcases a handful of Palmer works from within various issues of Men Only. I’m greatly indebted to Chris for his hard work and dedication building up such a wonderful blog, as it back then gave me further access to viewing Palmer’s works, but still brought me no closer to solving the mystery.
I had (in the past) put forth my request openly on the Internet to various researchers and colleagues in the field, with no results.
So, color me mystified (December 2025) to find a well-researched blog providing all the answers!
The following site clearly details who artist Doris Mary Palmer (nee Lambert) was and provides at the bottom an addendum page, too, and noting she was married to publisher Cecil Palmer. If you scroll down that page to the WW2 section of artwork, you’ll see that the pieces are identically signed, etc.
I’m thrilled after all these long years to finally be able to identify the creator of this cherished work of art. Thank you, Bob Forrest, for your extensively detailed research and to Palmer’s family, for their contributions, as well. I’d love to email Bob to thank him directly, however, I could not locate on his site any way of doing so, short of sending him snail-mail.
Early 2025 I managed to acquire a couple dozen 1920s-1930s detective pulps. The earliest was the 14th issue of Flynn’s, which I’ve already blogged. The next earliest is from 1926, now titled Flynn’s Weekly. It later would become Detective Fiction Weekly, for which there are several copies in this haul, too. I’ll be reading and blogging each at a future date. So, stayed tuned!
The 30 October 1926 edition of Flynn’s Weekly cover is illustrated by Lejaren Hiller, featuring a girl in a tree. This scene is described in the lead story, except that she is crying.
The Silver Urn by Foxhall Daingerfield (Part 1 of 2) Normally I stay away from serials, but this time I decided to tackle the half presented. It reads like those found in the illustrated story papers of the early part of the 20th century. Written from a female’s point of view, it is dignified and proper, and quite stale. Rich older women, in control of finances, younger male heirs ill-equipped to handle funds, or so the women believe. Hence their iron fist control of money. We have negro butlers, maids, liverymen, chauffeurs, etc. They are not ill-treated. In fact, they are kept in their “place” but also at times treated as “family” members in other instances. And yes, for you readers that can’t handle the shame of the N-word, it is used quite often within the text of this story.
Samuel L. Jackson perhaps sums up your queasy bowels succinctly when Leonardo DiCaprio was ill-at-ease with using the N-word in Django Unchained. Sources state he pulled Leonardo aside and said: “Motherfucker, this is just another Tuesday for us. Let’s go.” In this case, get over it. This story was published in 1926. You have no reason to be ashamed or appalled. Times were different. I try to read stories from the backseat looking into the world of the past.
The narrator (Elen) notes her maid has been with her a long time, so that when her brother died, leaving behind a daughter (Bertha), she became the child’s guardian until she came of age to acquire her family’s fortunes. Oh, to have been born into money, wealth, obscene mansions with stupid names attached to them. The story deals with the young lady finding love with Prince Holly. He lives with a rich older woman (Sylvia) in her 70s. In that same household the old woman has two brothers. They own a racehorse, and according to her father’s last wish, Sylvia was to keep money from them lest they ruin the family. Bizarrely, they seem to be doing just fine with the horse (named Vanish) which goes on to win a race. Our narrator, Elen, has her chauffeur drive her to the Holly residence, to discuss the engagement of Prince Holly to the girl. Old Sylvia is angry that Prince never confided in her. Then she goes on an exposition regarding the family fortune and trust, and the silver urn to which she places rose petals inside. This is the last time the old lady is seen alive by Elen, who is more focused on a dance she is setting up. Too, she disagrees with the batty woman, herself loving horse races.
The dance comes off with great success and oddly, Elen has a habit of memorizing when everyone arrives. In fact, she records the times in a diary. This fact is dictated to the reader, no doubt as clues to the upcoming crime, the old lady’s death. Meanwhile, as noted, the Holly racehorse did win, and Holly came away with $10,000 (over $180,000 converted to 2025) of the trio’s winnings. With this fortune, the niece notes gleefully that she and Prince Holly may now be married. A silly remark, given that she is rich in her own right, but no doubt Prince having money of his own enables him to establish himself, too.
Excitement picks up quickly when the old woman and one of her brothers are found murdered by a negro servant. Fleeing in mortal terror, he runs the entire way to where the dance party is being held. Out of breath, he pantingly tells his night of horror. Elen and Prince drive to the estate ahead of everyone else, and find Sylvia’s corpse sitting up in bed, her head split open. They then investigate one of her brother’s rooms, to find him dead, but far more mutilated. Later the body of the big negro (known as Big Livery) that keeps company with Vanish is found dead, his cheek swollen, and an unfinished piece of apple in his teeth. Time passes, and the horse also dies, after consuming an apple. While there to recover the apples as evidence, on the suspicion they are poisoned, somebody fires a shot at them. Prince draws his pistol and returns fire, but the assailant disappears. The pair depart with the apples and bring them to the coroner, who expects them, noting that Big Livery died of potassium cyanide. He suggests that if they find whoever injected the apples, they’ll probably find the killers of Sylvia, her brother, and Big Livery. After all, while Prince has his $10k, the rest of the horse winnings is missing. (Or is all of it missing?) I don’t know for certain, as that was not clarified and I won’t perhaps ever know unless I read Part 2 in the 1st weekly issue for November 1926. The Silver Urn was bound as a mystery novel in 1927 by D. Appleton & Co., but while no copies are available online for sale (at the time I typed up this blog) I did find the whole novel digitized and freely accessible!
At the Crossroads by Agatha Christie leads off with a wealthy older gentleman murdered. While en route to the murdered man’s estate, Satterthwaite and another occupant crash into a vehicle at the crossroads. Satterthwaite discovers they collided with none other than Harley Quin, who has directly or indirectly or not at all (according to Harley Quin) aided in the solving of other recent crimes. (Online, it is suggested that Harley Quin may be a supernatural being). And, coincidentally, seems to show up at the right moment. Quin is apparently a romantic and Satterthwaite thinks his appearance necessary. The murdered man was married to a much younger, very beautiful woman. It is speculated that she had been having an affair with a darker-skinned young man of proper standing. (Not that an affair on either part is proper, mind you!) Having contrived to invite Quin along with them, they arrive, inspect the scene. The bloke had his brains bashed in with a bronze figure. All manner of objects in disarray. A heavy clock is on its side, the time stopped. The police determine that that was the time of the murder. The staff are interviewed, then the Lady herself makes a dramatic appearance, stating that she murdered her husband, shot him dead with a gun. They send her to her rooms, telling her maid to watch her. The maid worries they’ll arrest the butler for the crime; she is in love with him. The Lady’s lover enters and proclaims that he murdered the man with a knife. Sigh. Now two people claim the murder by vying methods not utilized. He’s informed that a knife nor a gun were used, ruling the pair of lovers out. The butler is arrested after each time aligns and the motive laid out. Later, while the trio are dining together, Quin coyly alludes that the entire crime has been solved in error, masterfully manipulated. Satterthwaite is gobsmacked that Quin, a saver of lovers, should thus throw the young couple into the fire and destroy their relationship. Quin assures that he is saving love, between the two staff members. The widow and her lover murdered the older man and arranged the scene to appear otherwise. I won’t divulge the entire plot nor devices, nor Christie’s cuteness in playing with and exposing literary tropes, which she adroitly flips.
The story would mark Harley Quin’s 5th appearance, but first American publication beating out the first UK appearance in the December 1926 issue of The Story-Teller. My guess is the UK magazine sat on the story too long, as they corrected this after the American’s got 3 more Quin stories out first. Bizarrely, this story was NOT collected in the first Harley Quin novel, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (UK: Collins, 1930). It wouldn’t be collected until Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (USA: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1950) appearing as The Love Detectives. This means that about a quarter of a century had passed and the overwhelming majority of Agatha Christie fans would have never known the story even existed, let alone had the opportunity to read it! By the time The Mysterious Mr. Quin was published in 1930, Christie had written 12 pulp stories for her beloved character. Why was At the Crossroads excluded? Instead, the book contained an extra story that reportedly had not appeared prior (or has yet to be traced). Bizarrely, the story wouldn’t be collected by the British in book form until Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (UK: Harper Collins, 1991), some 65 years later!!! Whether Harley Quin is truly a supernatural being or not, the publishing history of this story is uncanny.
The next entry is Smugglers’ Nemesis by Alexander Stewart, an article dealing with Michael and Moses Leinkram and their diamond smuggling charges.
The Swamp Angel by Edward Parrish Ware is a novelette illustrated by F. M. Follett (Foster Morse Follett). It features his popular, recurring character Ranger Jack Calhoun. [Spoiler alert notification: Steeger Books reprinted this story in 2024, so if you want to read the Calhoun series, skip this entry!]
Ranger Jack Calhoun is contracted by the United States Post Office to confirm whether two railway cars truly were lost when a ferry boat crossing the Mississippi River reportedly vanished, presumably sinking under mysterious circumstances. The scene takes place in 1890. There aren’t many bridges yet that cross the mighty river. So, ferry boats are still used to channel railway cars across. This one happens to carry over $100,000 of registered mail, etc. Investigating the matter, Calhoun looks into the matter, interviewing first the railway engineer, then assorted other persons, and concludes the ferry didn’t sink. It was a heist. Based on the time of night, he knows that the boat could only have been transported to a variety of locations before daylight. It then would have been robbed, and sank, likely with the innocent victims murdered and left on board. Into the story comes tales of the Swamp Angel, something of a Robin Hood. All manner of ingenious crimes in the area are attributed to him. With the aid of Ranger Murdock, a skeptic who believes the newspaper reports that the ship sank after a body surfaces and parts of the ferry are found floating, the pair and others employed by the government under Calhoun’s command take swift action.
The story is full of wonderful scenes, plenty of action when necessary, and moves along swiftly. I won’t ruin the plot points beyond the opening scenario, for there are plenty of events that transpire and are interwoven. I absolutely loved this gem of a story. I personally don’t buy facsimile editions, but for those of you that do, this series might well be up your alley. Calhoun turns up in over 60 adventures, so you can bet Steeger Books, if they can sustain interest in the series, will have plenty to publish, as the series spanned 1926 through 1938. Sadly, this is the only Calhoun story in my meager collection, so I won’t be enjoying any further adventures anytime soon.
The Old Clam by Henry Leverage is illustrated by F. M. Follett (Foster Morse Follett). The story features the second appearance of criminal / hobo “Big Scar” Guffman. I suspect the first story was intended to be a one-off, but proved so popular that a year later, Leverage suddenly cranked out tons of “Big Scar” tales. The last was in 1931, an outlier, given the prior last story was in 1929. So, excluding the first story and last, the series ran 4 solid years.
“Big Scar” learns of an easy bank heist job and drags a loser along for the job. They pull the job but “Big Scar” is gobsmacked to learn the banker with keys has been cooking the books! The bank is bust. It only has about $400. Well, he takes it and gives the lackey peanuts for his effort. They then leave the banker behind to face the fire.
Oh, To Be Arrested! is a series of non-fiction crime articles by Richard R. Blythe.
The Joker by Edgar Wallace is a serial novel, being part 2 of 4. It was originally published in England via Hodder & Stoughton in 1926. I’m lacking too much of this serial to bother with, so, let’s move along!
A Swindler Confesses is an uncredited minor crime piece.
Slave to the Pirate Chief by Joseph Gollomb is an article concerning François l’Olonnais, the French pirate. It is illustrated by F. M. Follett (Foster Morse Follett).
The Pettingill Process by Jack Bechdolt is a short novelette. The illustration is not signed; at least, not to my naked eye. The story opens with the detective lamenting to his secretary that he wishes he were the agency’s cat, who finds a sucker to care for it and does nothing all day. For his part, the detective complains that they need a good case to pay the monthly bills. His secretary is certain that he’ll strike rich one day, since he hasn’t yet, so he’s bound to eventually. What a gal! With that logic, I guess we will all be rich one day.
So, into the Henry Rood detective agency (The Argus Agency) walks an older man with his daughter. He claims to have created a special canning process and that a group of people are trying to swindle him. Henry is certain the man is a nutjob but takes the case when he realizes the fellow made a mistake in going to the wrong skyscraper. This turns out to be the case, however, upon going to the pair’s hotel to inform them of their mistake, he finds the place swarming with cops. The man had been bludgeoned about the head and left for dead. The girl had been out, taking in the city. All the rest of his canned items are missing. Henry realizes the man was wrong about the location but sort of correct regarding the swindle. Only, it’s not a swindle. It’s a clever heist.
Online states that Henry Rood, was formerly a farm-hick turned amateur detective who stumbles through cases by accident and appeared in only 3 stories. Well, I’m here to inform the world that they failed to include this one. The other three were: Henry Rood, Successor (ss) Flynn’s, September 12, 1925 For Twenty Grand (nv) Flynn’s, October 10, 1925 A Too Modest Benefactor (ss) Flynn’s, December 26, 1925 This would mean my story, assuming that there now were only 4 stories in the series, was the 4th, coming out 10 months later! I suspect that Henry Rood and The Argus Agency may have also appeared in The Plague of Cats for September 18, 1926, given that this story begins with Henry complaining about the cat he and the secretary took in.
Lee Foo Keeps the Peace by Don H. Thompson is illustrated by F. M. Follett (Foster Morse Follett) and features his recurring Oriental character Lee Foo, who appears in at least 3 known stories, all in 1926.
Lee Foo, in his 3rd of 4 known appearances, authored by Don H. Thompson, whose works were restricted to the 1920s and vanished thereafter. This story is superficially filled with cliche fancy Oriental words found often in many Oriental stories of the 1910s-1920s period. The plot is incredibly simple, which probably explains why it is the concluding tale, with zero meat to it. Two Tongs go to war in California when over $50 of merchandise. The goods were delivered, but not the quality. So, the offended leader orders the leader of the other to be assassinated. Nothing new here. Lee Foo obtains (somehow) the original $50 sheet that was signed for and is to deliver it to the family members for safekeeping. The vying Tong’s lead gunman, Wong Foo, is to steal that sheet and deliver it to his leader(s) to avoid losing face, I suppose. Lee Foo boards a train for Sacramento with a young gunman who has the sheet on his body. The narrator, a white man, seen in the illustration, is a journalist, invited for the ride. He often gets scoops from Lee Foo to write in his newspaper. Wong Foo is on the train and when the lights go out, beats up the gunnie and steals the paper. The young man feels that he has lost face with his Tong but Lee Foo states that the day is not over yet. The paper must still be delivered according to the appointed time. Later, we learn that Wong Foo stole a forgery and delivered it to his bosses. When Lee Foo alerts Wong Foo of this fact, and that he was as thus paid a vast reward for fake goods, Wong Foo realizes he has signed his own death warrant. With him eradicated, shot down by three men with revolvers, the Tongs finally come to piece. Our narrator turns in the true story of the current Tong war but his editor thinks Lee Foo sold him a bunch of b.s., that nobody would go to war over a $50 sale.
The August 1957 issue of Phantom features the first real format change. Prior issues were filled with numerous short stories and vignettes, over a dozen each issue. Here we have five short stories and one novella. Two of the tales are American pulp reprints.
Ronald W. Smethurst returns with his fifth cover for Phantom, signing as R.W.S. It features a ghostly specter beating against the wall while a man looks back in horror and the woman looks anything but horrified.
Freda M. Starbuck leads off with They Say. Hired from the local bureau, the female protagonist walks to the strange residence that has hired her to type up a manuscript. She’s given to understand the old lady is dead. A coffin was brought in. But arriving she finds the old lady very much alive. Then a young girl asks if she will take time out to type up her poetry. She does but thinks to herself the poems are beautiful but feel incomplete. Come the end of the story, we discover the odd couple did not purchase a coffin, seemingly eliminating anything weird until the old lady mentions her dead daughter and asks the bureau woman if she has read any of her works! So, she knows her dead daughter’s ghost haunts the home!
Freda Starbuck contributed (something) to the 14 December 1957 issue of Woman’s World but I don’t have access to that magazine. In all likelihood, she is the Freda Mary Starbuck born 1905, never married, was a nurse, and had an extensive photograph collection donated.
Mary Nyhan asks Whose Ghost? Bunch of people are each experiencing paranormal activity and when the female narrator is asked to pray for murderers, she ends up praying for someone else. So, when a ghost is spotted, everyone is certain it is one particular female that died. Only thing is, the person that actually saw the ghost swore for a moment that it was the narrator herself. Which tells her that the ghost that appeared was actually that of her own mother.
Merle Constiner’s The Skull ofBarnaby Shattuck originally was published in the 25 May 1945 issue the American pulp magazine Short Stories. The tale was reprinted in Weird Tales, July 1951 and also the UK edition of Weird Tales that same year! Being a novella, the plot has more room to be complex. The era is the 1850s. Claybourne, a hat maker from Philadelphia, is making his way west to Nashville, Tennessee, to set up shop. Claybourne finds himself in the role of a detective as he must solve various mysteries and crimes and murders. I found the tale entirely engrossing despite the fact it should NOT be in Phantom! It’s not a weird tale; it’s a pre-Civil War murder-mystery.
A. J. Branston’s article Vampires—Fact or Fiction? simply touches broadly upon the historical lore of vampires.
The Inheritance by Peter Baillie follows in the footsteps established by Constiner’s story; it’s simply not a weird story. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. I did. I wish the plot developed to a greater length, but what the author accomplished within the bounds of the short story was sufficient. The last surviving family heir is found in faraway Canada and brought back to England to inherit the estate. Mysteriously, the only “weird” thing about the estate, is that every heir has simply disappeared off the face of the planet. Handed the sealed letter by the lawyer, our current inheritor (and last) rips open the envelope and reads the contents. He learns that somewhere on the estate is a hidden treasure. Naturally, he later sneaks out to investigate, uncovers the first marker, and clambers down a hole. He nearly passes out from the gasses underground. Later he purchases fans and long electric cords. Runs the cords from the house and blows all the deadly gas out from the cavern below. Dropping in again, he lowers himself down an ancient rope and to his horror discovers many corpses, frozen in time. Turns out the cavern is dripping lime and preserved the gassed heirs one by one underground. He’s outwitted the deadly cavern and found the treasure as well. He’s further enriched by the fact he’s fallen in love with the servant lady who readily accepts his proposal. It’s a sweet love story with adventure and a slight chill of death, but drifts heavily away from the ghost story origins that Phantom asserted they’d be running with at the start!
Peter Baillie wrote some stories for the [Vargo Statten] British Science Fiction Magazine from 1954-1955, then supplied stories to publishers Dalrow for their Phantom and Combat magazines in 1957. He appears to have entirely vanished from placing fiction stories with any other magazine. Not indexed are a pair of short stories in Tarzan Adventures [20 December 1958] being Mulman Pays His Debt and [27 December 1958] with One Spook Too Many.
He also authored some war novels:
Jungle Nemesis (Edwin Self, 1950s)
Broken Trails (1957) (his first novel)
Alamein Story (1957) (his second novel)
Chindwin Mission (Brown Watson, 1958)
The Crossed Road (Brown Watson, 1958)
The Wire has Two Sides (Brown Watson, 1958)
Dropping Zone (Brown Watson, 1958)
Assault Patrol (Brown Watson, 1959)
Fatal Hour (Brown Watson, 1959)
FictionMags Index site states he was born 1921 and died 1988. He was for certain employed at the Smith & Wellstood ironworks in Bonnybridge, Scotland in 1957 as a Foundry Trade Journal that year notes his first two novels.
Moving along; The Cottage is by Robert Moss and the tale feels rather dated, and more at home in the American magazine The Smart Set. A man aging in years begins receiving over the course of three years recurring Christmas cards from a mysterious person, signing only as “P.H.” On the flipside is an amateurishly painted cottage. Each year, the cottage changes seasons. The last depicts Wintertime and snow. The tale ends with he taking a drive but getting lost in the snow and arriving at the cottage. Like The Hotel California, he can’t checkout. Every time he tries to run from the cottage back to his car, he gets no closer and eventually the car is simply gone. Approaching the cottage, he finds it slightly ajar and a girl opens it. It’s the girl he had a romance with nearly forty years earlier. He remarks he’d heard she was dead. She states she is no more dead than he is. I’d say they are both dead by this point, but the author leaves it up to the reader to decide just what is transpiring.
The final tale is the cover story, A Knocking in the Wall by August Derleth; this was originally published in America via the July 1951 issue of Weird Tales. This tale is illustrated by Cliff Lawton. A well-off man buys a home and comes to hear a knocking. Frustrated that he can’t catch the varmint at the front or rear door, he eventually discovers the faint knocking is coming from inside the wall. Later, while making notes, he tires and his hand becomes possessed. It writes a note stating who the ghost-knocker is, that her husband poisoned and walled her up alive. He then sold the house and moved to Canada. Our new home-owner’s secretary solves the mystery, knocks the wall open and frees the dead woman’s spirit. She eventually finds her evil husband and strangles him to death.
Condemnation is a poem that appears on the back cover. It possibly appeared in the American pulps and might have been part of a pulp story. Either would not surprise me. As yet, it has not been traced. I’ll post it below and if anyone recognizes the poem, please do let me know the source. Maybe it comes from a sword-and-sorcery weird tale. I can imagine the Devil himself speaking these lines to Robert E. Howard’s Conan.
“Condemnation” The Devil-man whispered in my ear, He spoke of the evils I’d done. He told me to come to him any old time, For a place in his kingdom I’d won.
“Oh, Murderer, Thief, Oh King of the Dark, Tell me, why it must be, That I should set on your right-hand side Whilst you’re on the throne ‘stead of me.”
“Sinner, Beware,” he whispered again. “Or instead of the good times ahead, You’ll walk the earth in your present shape –Walk the walk of the Dead.”
Not too many years ago, I read my first Ben Benson short story, a Wade Paris policeman tale, reprinted in the Creasey Mystery Magazine. It was blogged here in 2024, and you can revisit that if you wish. Of the assorted literary giants filling that magazine, I was surprised by the number of comments I received concerning Ben Benson. They were all positive. Mostly the comments went directly to my personal email, which is okay, but I wish they had gone to the blog to create further discussions.
Fast-forward. It’s late summer 2025 and I’m in very poor health. I’m bemoaning the lack of decent used bookshops and practically nil access to antique malls when my wife suggests we make a half hour drive to one, but I accept. Last time I had been in there, the entrance was littered with wartime gear, tons of cameras, weapons. This time, years later, it is vastly different. Like someone gutted the place and started over again. It’s no longer cluttered and disorganized. Gone are the creepy skulls of jarred alligator heads. It’s respectable and organized. And to my surprise, someone has a decently large stall of used books. There are also vintage bedsheet magazines, such as Collier’s and Saturday Evening Post from the 1940s-1950s. I’m not expecting to buy anything. Just look. Thrill in the perusal. The first section has a bunch of fiction hardcover novels, no jackets, segregated by color. I’m fingering the red boards, my finger stops at James Oliver Curwood’s The Alaskan. I’m tempted, but another arrests my eyes. Ben Benson’s The Venus Death, published by M. S. Mill Co., 1953.
This is a tall, thinly bound hardcover, a tad over 200 pages and features some guy by the name of Ralph Lindsey. It’s a police story. I can tell by a quick flip-through. Now, I didn’t know this at the time, but this would be the first of seven novels, so I got really lucky to start. Shame it lacks the jacket, but that doesn’t worry me much.
(Note: images of this title present here are from online sources). A chronology of some of this book’s appearances worldwide are noted below. 1953 – M. S. Mill Co. and William Morrow (US: hc) 1953 – Presses de la Cité (France: pb, as “La Vénus morte”) 1954 – Muller Midnight Thriller Series (UK: hc) 1954 – Bantam Books (US: pb) 1954 April 14 – The Australian Women’s Weekly (Australia) 1954 October 2 – (Toronto) Star Weekly (Canada) 1955 – A. Mondadori (Italy, as “Il caso Venus”) 1960 – Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag (Germany: as “Was Will Sie?”) 1961 – Otava (Finland, as “Venus on kuollut”)
Ralph Lindsey is a rookie state trooper living in the barracks. Off duty, he stops at a cliché bar for a drink when a blonde with all the right looks and curves walks in. Sits two stools away. Orders an Old Fashioned. Scarcely touches it. Asks him for a smoke. He gives. He shouldn’t be looking at this girl. Ralph is sort of engaged to Ellen Levesque, a childhood freckled girlfriend who doesn’t measure up to this quality dame. They hit it off and he walks out with Manette Venus. (An odd name that rolls off my tongue more comfortably had it been Venus Manette, instead). For Ralph, he’s too nervous to make anything wrong out of the chance meeting but when he brings her home, she makes the move, kissing him. From then on, he continues to see Ellen, but when he discovers a pearl-handled .32 in her purse, he begins to put little voiced problems together. She’s in trouble. She’s scarcely told him a thing about herself. She’s too interested in him being a cop, his policeman outfit and gear on his body and in his car. She’s asking too many questions. Something is off. He finally convinces her to release the truth to him, but she’s not quite ready. They arrange a date and time to finalize the truth.
Ralph never sees her alive again.
He goes home after he’s chewed out by his superior officer for not going home 10 days ago, when he met Venus. His father is in a wheelchair, put there since 1939 when a baddie put a rifle slug through his spine, forever paralyzing him. Now he lives a fresh new life after his son steps into his shoes as a rookie policeman. There’s a sense of bitterness in Ralph. He wanted another career out of life but landed a policeman’s career after a stint during the Korean War. His mother has the table’s finest laid out. They’ve invited Ralph’s girlfriend Ellen Levesque to dine with them. Nothing new, save for the fancied-up dinner table. The family seems to be pushing hard now for Ralph to push past engagement status and right into marriage. He feels pressured and perhaps resentment. Too, he’s foggy over Venus.
Ellen sees through him as they take a walk and demands to know who the other woman is. Reading him like a book, Ellen readily coerces Ralph to reveal the truth but doesn’t give him proper opportunity to fully explain all the circumstances. She’s seen the cover of the book, read the blurb and knows she can’t compete against the blonde who’ll ruin Ralph’s life. Being of a temperamental disposition, she storms off.
Ralph returns to work and days later discovers, after a call is placed, that Venus was shot and killed. The killer was seen as a shadowy figure fleeing the scene deep into the woods. Ralph arrives on the scene where the police have the home surrounded and the forest around the home likewise has a perimeter of force enclosing it. A bloodhound called Nick is driven in, and with Ralph following the dog and man, the trio come upon a shack. Nick seems to indicate their quarry is inside. Ralph takes the lead, contrary to what the K-9 officer requests.
Ralph enters, gun drawn, and finds a figure with a gun. He wrestles and finds the figure scarcely resists. To his horror he discovers the slayer to be Ellen. His Ellen. She’s taken into custody. Locked up, Ralph requests five minutes alone with Ellen. He gets a confession. She took a train to the town he works at, over an hour away, asked Venus’s employer for her home address, got a ride there, knocked at the door. She heard a male voice. The radio is turned off, and the door opens. Venus admits her and they have a brief talk. Venus pulls the gun and threatens Ellen, telling her to leave. She doesn’t realize she’s ordering a firebrand out. Ellen becomes angry and charges Venus, wrestles for control of the .32. It goes off. Ellen hits heard her head and blacks out. Comes to. Venus is dead. She hears a car outside. Flees.
Detective-Lieutenant Edward Newpole from State Police General Headquarters in Boston is assigned the case. Newpole was Ralph’s father’s old partner, present when his father’s spine was blown inside out. He’s moved up the ranks and no longer a trooper, but a detective. He drafts Ralph to accompany him on investigative rides, both because the rookie has a personal stake in the murder of Venus and because he needs to ascertain whether the Ralph has any personal “culpability” in the case.
Reinvestigating the scene of the murder, they discover the hole in the wood in which the bullet fired by Ellen fired the gun. It was recovered but had no copper on it. The one found in the slain woman did. Ralph realizes that two different guns were present in the room and recollects that Venus had once mentioned that aside from the pearl-handled .32 she possessed, that it actually had a twin. It’s mentioned that Ellen likely bumped her head into the closet door, knocking herself out. Or did she?
With the aid of Newpole’s investigative skills and cold logic, Ralph is enlisted to assist in the case to clear Ellen of murder while uncovering other crimes in the locale. Systematically a very enjoyable novel from start to finish, smoothly-written, keeping me hooked from start to finish. I will look forward to future novels from Ben Benson, especially in the Ralph Lindsey series. A full list of his novel appearances are noted below:
The Venus Death (1953) The Girl in the Cage (1954) The Silver Cobweb (1955) Broken Shield (1955) The Running Man (1957) The End of Violence (1960) Seven Steps East (1959)
When I read a 1930 detective pulp featuring William Fort, I was intrigued to discover no information online about this author. True, he didn’t contribute all that much to the pulps. In fact, here is his known output under his own name:
The Madison Square Bank Robbery (sl) Prize Detective Magazine, 1929 November & December Dead Man’s Road (ss) Adventure, 1930 February 1 One Way Ticket (ss) Adventure, 1930 June 15 Face Cards (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly, 1930 October 4 Under the Crime (ss) Street & Smith’s Detective Story Magazine, 1933 January 25 Baby Face (ss) Alibi, 1934 March
It was the novelette entitled Face Cards where I first lamped our author. The story was fast paced, contained brisk action and dialogue, and simply did not disappoint me. I wanted to know a little bit more about this obscure writer who lasted scarcely 5 years.
William Henry Fort Jr. was born 18 July 1893 in Chicago, Illinois.
Registered for the WW1 draft. (No clue if he served overseas at all). At this time he was a newspaper man with the City News Bureau (of Chicago). He was sent to Fort Sheridan to attend the officer’s training camp, on 5 June 1917. The war didn’t end until later 1918, so I imagine he saw some military action unless he was reserved behind with Intelligence, etc. He’s listed here as being single.
On 3 August 1918 he is listed as Leavenworth, Kansas, a soldier employed by the United States government at Camp Sheridan, Alabama and appears to be a 1st Lieutenant, and now listed as married.
He married Evelyn Anne Corlett sometime between 1917-1918. She was born 18 October 1895 in Chicago, Illinois
The pair had four (known) children with a 7-year gap between the first and second, so I don’t know if they had others and lost them. They are: Esther — 30 August 1919 in Chicago, Illinois Mary — 14 April 1926 in Chicago, Illinois William — 30 July 1928 in Chicago, Illinois Walter — 12 September 1929 in Garden City, New York
The above birth dates all come from a 1935 immigration record in which the entire family are returning to New York customs from France aboard the S.S. President Hayes.
The 1940 census provides that he is a newspaper writer.
Fort was employed by the Chicago Daily News for over 20 years (hired around 1919). Fort was a correspondent in New York City, Cuba, and Rome, etc. He resigned to work for Mayor Kelly of Chicago, Illinois (I believe in 1941).
Registered for the WW2 draft. (Again, no clue if he served overseas with the military at all).
Fort died 14 May 1966 in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
I don’t own any further stories by Mr. Fort, but if they ever cross my path, I’ll be happy to give him a read again.
Bevis Winter penned his 7th Steve Craig thriller with Sleep Long, My Lovely. This novel debuted in 1958 via Herbert Jenkins Ltd. and sported the facetious dedication “This one is for Peter Cagney” which is one of Bevis Winter’s many aliases.
Sleep Long, My Lovely
The title for this novel is a bit confusing given that one assumes the “lovely” to be a dead woman. Spoiler Alert: No woman dies in this novel. In fact, the only person that is murdered is a man. More on that in a moment…
Steve Craig is hired by a young woman in disguise to deliver $20,000 cash to a photographer for a set of photos and their corresponding negatives. Craig declines; he doesn’t handle blackmail assignments; this is a job traditionally for the police. But the disguised woman is irate that Craig continues to refer to the job as blackmail, insisting she wants to pay that price for the contents. In fact, she proposed the price. He finally accepts. The job: deliver the cash to photographer Danny Waldo, retrieve the envelope of photos and negatives, do not open the envelope, and the lady will meet with Craig to retrieve the package. Sounds simple.
But Craig can’t follow simple instructions. And he is certain this is a case of blackmail. He’s determined to discern whether Waldo is a blackmailer or not. Bewilderingly, when he knocks, the door is answered by Waldo with shaving cream on his face, busily shaving his face! He seems carefree and disinterested in Craig’s arrival. Allows the cash for photos swap readily, and Craig leaves surprised about the ease of the transaction. It was too easy.
Later, upon inspecting the photos with his sexy secretary Kitty Callaway, he can’t find anything wrong. All feature the same girl and an older man. Then Kitty recognizes the girl in the photos as rising Hollywood starlet Gala Forrest, but a younger version of her. Clearly the disguised woman is the actress. Still, they can’t find a motive for blackmail…that is, until Craig discovers one of the negatives is missing! Craig is now convinced that Waldo held one back to continue blackmailing Gala. So, he decides to complicate matters by revisiting Danny Waldo and extracting the whereabouts of that missing negative.
Nobody answers his knocks, so being the professional sleuth-for-hire that Craig is, he does a wee bit of breaking-and-entering. Luggage indicates Waldo has yet to depart, but then Craig discovers a bludgeoned corpse in the bedroom. The stiff isn’t Waldo. So, where’s Waldo??? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist; in England, the original name for character in the game is Wally.)
Craig wipes his own prints from the crime scene, does not inform the police because he is certain he has been framed for either the murder or stealing the $20,000 cash, then drives out to Gala’s mansion, uninvited. She is angered at his deceit, having opened the envelope, examined the contents, and bewildered as to how he discovered her true identity. Her anger is dampened once he reveals one negative is lacking and, that some crumb is dead in Waldo’s apartment. Upon describing the corpse, Gala reveals that the corpse is Waldo.
So, who did Steve Craig hand the $20,000 cash to? Obviously, the killer. But how did the killer know when the money would be delivered?
Craig returns to the scene of the crime only to discover that Waldo’s bloodied corpse has inexplicably vanished, never to be seen again…at least, not until the waning pages of the novel. Who removed the corpse? The killer had no profit in moving the body. Why risk it? Clearly another party is involved.
Bevis throws a slew of characters at us and a dizzying amount of seemingly irrelevant information. You have various members of Hollywood and two different groups of mobsters involved. Suffice to say, Bevis once more does an excellent job distracting and misleading the reader with webs of deception and cementing our belief that only one person was maniac and smart enough to act out the murder…only to deftly dodge the setup and deal the reader a fresh blow. The options are limitless, really, as to who the killer could be by the concluding pages.
Sadly, Steve Craig’s secretary largely takes a back seat in this thriller, fulfilling more the role of a jealous sex-kitten. A genuine disappointment. Craig and Kitty scarcely interact, save for her jealous rages. After enjoying her strong role in the fourth novel, I confess I had been looking forward to more of Kitty’s own adventures. Despite that, quite an enjoyable novel, and I look forward to reading the 8th novel in the series.
Our mysterious pulp author is R. Craig Christensen. He contributed to the pulps from 1925-1938 then inexplicably vanished. Nowhere on the Internet is there any information about this writer. Nowhere! No site acknowledges nor identifies their name in full, their birth or death date, etc.
I aim to clarify as much as possible for my fellow pulp readers and pulp researchers.
The earliest census data I could locate for Mr. Christensen was the 1925 New York State census but I do not have paid access to Ancestry.com; a shame, as I’d love to know his occupation at that moment. Why? Well, he made his first professional pulp sale with “That Darn Kid” in Ranch Romances, September 1925. This information was gleaned from testimonials in Writer’s Digest in 1926, noting his address as 5831 Fresh Pond Road, Maspeth, Long Island, New York. By 1929 he had relocated to Greenville, Ohio.
The 1930 census provides his occupation as a composer for magazines (ergo, author) and that he arrived in America in 1906. At this time, he has four children: Doris (7), Nina (6, died 1996), Ralph (age 5, died 1975), and Betty (11/12 months). Census data states that he moved from Denmark to America in 1906.
His pulp story The Return of the Muley Kid from Thrilling Western, April 1934 was filmed in 1935 as Border Vengeance.
The 1940 has his occupation given as a research assistant. His last pulp appearance was in 1938.
The 1942 World War Two draft has Ralph Craig Christensen born 13 July 1889 in Denmark, employed at Sherman White Co. It is from this document that I obtained his first name.
The 1950 census has Christensen as a refrigerator engineer at the Wholesale Sheet Packing Co. The four children from the 1930/1940 census have all moved out; remarkably, they have another daughter, Jolaine (7 January 1943), but sadly, she died at the age of 15, on 15 February 1958 in Bay, Florida. She was buried there. In fact, it seems that the family moved to Bay, Florida at some point.
May 1968 in Bay, Florida, Ralph Craig Christensen passed away but was shipped back to Ohio. On the FindaGrave site, he’s buried as “R. Craig Christensen,” with a birth in 1889 and buried in New Madison, Ohio in 1968. To the right of his tombstone is Louise Christensen, born 1894; she died in 1954.
Sadly, Doris is likely deceased, with perhaps Betty, born 1929, as possibly alive. That leaves the possibility of grand- and great-grandchildren that might one day discover this blog. Perhaps they’ll have a photo of our author that they’d be willing to share along with any other tidbits. Did he attend college? Enlist in The Great War? I could not readily locate him on the 1910 or 1920 census, nor in the Great War draft.
Did he naturalize to become an American citizen? Who were his parents? What ship did he arrive on? The Ellis Island documents do not show him in 1906. I imagine “Ralph” was actually Ralf or Rolf or Rolff, but even then, no matches.
Another thought came to mind. How about his marriage record? Jackpot! Our author is now given as Andrew Ralph Craig Christensen, born in Thisted, Denmark, married 16 March 1921 to Louise Stroemer. His parents are given as Christian Christensen and Ingrid Jensen.
Even with that additional tidbit of data, searching for Andrew Christensen failed to yield any additional hits. Andrew, however, is not a Danish name.
I will be reading in the coming months and posting over the span of several years blogs from my pulps, of which my records indicate that I own copies of 7 of R. Craig Christensen’s short stories, all from the 1933-1934 years. I’ve already finished reading my first introduction to Mr. Christensen and enjoyed it enough to look forward to the next half-dozen entries.
Violet Van Der Elst was born 4 January 1882 as Violet Ann Dodge in Feltham, Middlesex, United Kingdom. Her vast fortune stems from creating the first brushless shaving cream, Shavex. Her facial care empire grew vastly. Some of her other product lines are noted below in various advertisements found within her publications. She initially married Henry Arthur Nathan, a civil engineer and very rich New Zealander. He was a good baker’s dozen years older than herself. When he died late in 1927, Violet mere months later married her business manager Jean Julien Romain Van der Elst, a Belgian man who naturalized in 1929. A survivor of The Great War, he died in 1934. In 1935, Violet claimed to own over 3,000 books of witchcraft and black magic and to be an authority on the topics. Violet Van Der Elst died 30 April 1966, financially broke after spending her fortune fighting for the abolishment of capital punishment in England.
There are plenty of websites online that discuss her life and assorted adventures so I won’t be covering them here.
Collecting the horror / occult booklets published by Violet Van Der Elst from 1944-1946 has been a passion project for nearly two decades, culminating around 2018. Since forming this blog site, I attempted to read her works with the intention of constructing an article for Gary Lovisi’s Paperback Parade. With apologies to Gary, after a third aborted attempt at reading Violet’s works, I gave up. Her literary “ability” is quite simply borderline juvenile, but that doesn’t mean that they are not noteworthy.
Violet’s earliest (known) published works of fiction and non-fiction appear in her self-published newsprint-magazine called Humanity, a weekly that lasted a mere 10 issues, from 6 December 1935 until 7 February 1936. This publication did contain fiction stories by some noteworthy authors.
Her first collection of short stories appears in the hardcover volume The Torture Chamber and Other Stories in 1937. This was published by her own The Doge Press, no doubt a play on her maiden name, “Dodge”. Violet also published The Compositions of Violet Van Der Elst (a book of her musical compositions though she didn’t actually compose them herself) and On the Gallows, a book concerning her views on capital punishment. A second printing appeared in 1939.
Seven years later, beginning in late 1944, during World War Two’s paper-ration years and the blossoming mushroom publishing boom, Violet self-published 8 horror / occult booklets containing reprints from her aforementioned Humanity and her book, The Torture Chamber and Other Stories. The dates for all the booklets below, save for the first, come from Whitaker’s Cumulative Book List, which I’ll be using as a publication guideline. For each booklet below, I will note original and prior sources of publication(s).
Her first booklet is The Torture Chamber and Other Thrilling Stories, mostly reutilizing the same title from 1937. The Bookseller mentions the publication in their 9 November 1944 edition. It’s feasible that it actually appeared in October. It was printed by Barnardo Amalgamated Industries and distributed by Modern Fiction Ltd. No publisher is noted, yet the Whitaker’s Cumulative Book List states Everybody’s Books published the booklet. The uncredited cover art might be by Jeff Cook, who was a regular art contributor to Everybody’s Books. The booklet was priced at 1/6, runs to 82 pages, and measures 5 x 7¼ inches.
The Torture Chamber and Other Thrilling Stories is not recorded in most of the science fiction or horror indexes for the simple fact that each successive editor plagiarized past volumes. For that reason, I myself didn’t know it existed until a worn copy surfaced on eBay.
○ 1 ● The Torture Chamber ● ss Humanity, 1936 January 31, as “In the Torture Chamber of the Spanish Inquisition” and The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 13 ● Coming of Death ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories. ○ 19 ● The Sadist Count ● ss ○ 25 ● World of Shadows ● ss ○ 29 ● Was Joe Burnham a Criminal? ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 43 ● The Strange Messenger ● ss ○ 50 ● The Black Ball ● ss ○ 56 ● Death on the Road ● ss ○ 63 ● The Man of the Mountain ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 78 ● When Night Came ● vi
Death of the Vampire Baroness and Other Thrilling Stories was published by Modern Fiction Ltd. and printed by Barnardo Amalgamated Industries. Priced at 1/6, it ran 80 pages and measured 5 x 7¼ inches. The cover art is uncredited. While there was no series designation, this was the second title published, reportedly appearing a year later, November 1945. Why Violet waited so long, and until after the war concluded, to issue her second collection, is unclear.
○ 1 ● Death of the Vampire Baroness ● ss ○ 13 ● A House for Sale ● ss ○ 18 ● The Haunted House ● ss Humanity, 1936 January 17, 24, 31; Feb 7 and The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 36 ● Don’t be Silly George! ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 50 ● The Immortal Soul ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 64 ● The Christian Martyrs ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 78 ● My Voyage to the Planets ● vi
The Strange Doctor and Other Mystic Stories (Series 3) was published January 1946. It was the first to give Violet Van der Elst Press as publisher. It was distributed by Modern Fiction Ltd., priced at 1/6, 80 pages, and 5 x 7 inches. The cover art is uncredited.
○ 1 ● The Strange Doctor ● nt ○ 21 ● Bonaparte’s Great Love Story ● ss ○ 31 ● The Mandarin Opium Eater ● ss ○ 50 ● Sinister Caesar Borgia ● ss ○ 62 ● Mystic and Eternal Youth ● ss ○ 73 ● The Haunted Woods ● ss
NOTE: This issue adverts on the ToC page and inside rear cover page The Sadistic Vampire as the next issue, which was also listed to be a larger edition. Successive editions were not larger; they contained the same number of pages and dimensions. The Sadistic Vampire does not exist, despite clearly having been planned. I suspect the publication was lost.
The Mummy Comes to Life and Other Thrilling Stories (Series 4) was published April 1946 by the Violet Van der Elst Press and distributed by Modern Fiction Ltd., priced at 1/6, 80 pages, and 5 x 7 inches. The cover is uncredited.
○ 1 ● The Mummy Comes to Life ● ss ○ 9 ● The Adventures of Mrs. Christie ● ss ○ 17 ● The Death Tower ● ss ○ 28 ● The Haunted Abbey ● ss ○ 39 ● The Witch ● ss ○ 59 ● The Unknown Power ● ss
The Satanic Power and Other Stories (Series 5) was published July 1946 by the Violet Van der Elst Press, priced at 1/6, 80 pages, and 5 x 7¼ inches. Cover art is uncredited. No distributor is noted.
○ 1 ● The Satanic Power ● ss ○ 20 ● The Maharajah ● ss ○ 38 ● The Monk ● ss ○ 46 ● The Last of the Claverdeans ● ss ○ 61 ● Memoirs of Anne Boleyn ● ss ○ 70 ● The Red Judge ● ss
The Brain Master and Other Thrilling Stories (Series 6) was published August 1946 by the Violet Van der Elst Press, priced at 1/6, 80 pages, and 5 x 7¼ inches. Cover art is uncredited. No distributor noted.
○ 1 ● Dr. Zoriloff (The Brain Master) ● nt ○ 43 ● Memories ● ss ○ 61 ● A Strange Old Man ● ss ○ 74 ● Eternal Youth ● ss
NOTE: The cover says The Brain Master; the table of contents says Dr. Zoriloff (The Brain Master); the title on the story itself simply is Dr. Zoriloff.
My Travels (Series 7) was published either September or October 1946 by the Violet Van der Elst Press at 1/6, 80 pages, and 5 x 7¼ inches. The cover art is eliminated, replaced by an old photo of the authoress.
○ 1 ● My Travels ● nt The Torture Chamber and Other Stories as “Memories of My Travels” ○ 63 ● snippet from Confessions of an Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey ○ 63 ● snippet from Macbeth by William Shakespeare ○ 63 ● snippet from The Tempest by William Shakespeare ○ 63 ● one line quote by Violet Van der Elst ○ 63 ● quote by George Bernard Shaw ○ 64 ● Dedicatory Ode (to Jean Julian Romain Van der Elst) ● Violet Van der Elst ● pm The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 65 ● The Christian Martyrs ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories and Death of the Vampire Baroness (same story?) ○ 79 ● excerpt from The Idiot by Dostoieffsky (sic, Fyodor Dostoevsky) ○ 79 ● quote by Lord Bulwer Lytton ○ 79 ● quote from Prisoner of Chillon, Stanza 8 by Lord Byron ○ 79 ● quote from Hamlet by William Shakespeare ○ irc ● untitled poem ● uncredited ● pm (begins “I dream at night when the whole world is still”) ○ irc ● untitled poem ● uncredited ● pm (abridgement of Makers of Eternity by R. L. Sharpe, begins “Isn’t it strange that kings and queens and clowns”)
The Secret Power (Series 8) was published November 1946 by the Violet Van der Elst Press, at 1/6, 80 pages, and 5 x 7¼ inches. The cover photo again is that of the authoress.
○ 1 ● The Love Thief ● ss ○ 20 ● The Penalty of Pride ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 32 ● The Coming of Death ● ss The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 40 ● How a Secret Power Saved My Life ● ss Humanity, 1936 Feb 7 and The Torture Chamber and Other Stories ○ 44 ● The Crime ● ss ○ 58 ● Real Stories of Yogi ● ss ○ 68 ● Some Experiences of Mrs. Van der Elst ● nf
The final Shavex advertisement featured was illustrated by Tremator. This was Italian artist Severino Trematore who also illustrated the Humanity publications. He was born 23 May 1895 in Torremaggiore, Italy, and died in 1940.
Published 1949 by Muir-Watson (with special permission of Sydney Pemberton, publisher) is Rattlesnake Rendezvous by Hank Carson. The actual identity of the author is a mystery.
The artwork is the work of “A. Barclay,” responsible for some lovely jacket art on Blackie & Sons novels.
Now, this was printed as part of the Action Novels series, which has an interesting history. Right after the war, Pemberton commissioned a Canadian firm (Pastime Publications) to print and export numerous titles bearing the Action Novels logo on their covers. The cover price was left blank on all of these. All of this occurred in 1948. Pemberton also issued Action Novels, and between 1948-1949 launched their own imprint (World Distributors) and ran original Action Novels. They also reprinted the Canadian titles under with new cover art. By 1949, they had relinquished the Action Novels series to Scotland-based publisher Muir-Watson.
It’s a complete effing mess, and indexing every single title properly doesn’t interest me, unless a box of them happens to cross my path. Thus far, I own only one Canadian original to match against a UK re-issue. The two highlighted below I’ve previously blogged and I believe to be still tucked away in my collection. In case you are interested, some other titles published by Muir-Watson include:
Lawless Range by Tex Ryan
Roughneck Rider by Hank Carson
Lannigan’s West by W. J. Hanson (a true collector’s item)
Tex Melburn, a young doctor in the West, mends the bloody arm of a man he’s certain is a villain. But, that’s his duty, and he performs as expected. The man rides away, then a sheriff arrives with Melburn’s missing timepiece. It was found by the town bank, which had been robbed. Added to this theft, the robber(s) kidnapped the bank president’s daughter. Melburn is permitted to “escape” as the sheriff believes in his innocence. He’s also in love with the girl, of course.
Melburn searches the untamed West for the man he mended, certain he was involved. He instead is captured by other outlaws and eventually escapes. While doing so, he runs into a posse with the villain’s double present. Clearly the man is a twin but doesn’t bear the evil marks of the other. He eventually trails him to the evil brother’s hideaway. There, the villain murders his own brother, and shoots Melburn. He falls dead but is only unconscious. Certain both are dead, the villain leads the girl away to ransom her. Unfortunately, Melburn foolishly rides into town, is arrested by the sheriff, who is now certain that he indeed is the robber and kidnapper.
All manner of further absurd coincidences take place, including cliche escapes from jail, the doctor capable of taking on various parties, etc. While pursuing the villain, Melburn is captured, bound, and led to the secret lair, and tossed into cave with the girl in a locked room. Absurdly, he escapes when the villain opens the locks and knocks the man out cold. Stumbling in the unlit dark, he takes a wrong turn, falls down an incline, and causes a collapse. Rocks pour in and nearly bury him. Blindly, he shimmies up the collapsed ruin and squeezes his body back into the cave. Stumbling along once more, he finally locates where the girl is held captive. All the while, his hands are roped behind his back! They turn back-to-back and undo each other’s ropes, then make to escape. Upon exiting the cave, the villain is conscious and awaiting their arrival, intent on murdering Melburn. Shots are fired, but Melburn isn’t having any of it any longer. Fighting for love and survival, the bloodied young doctor overcomes the outlaw and batters him but is ultimately rescued by the sheriff and posse, who heard the fired shots and zeroed in on the hidden location. Prepared to re-arrest Melburn on all charges, the banker’s daughter steps forward and informs the villain kidnapped her and she and Melburn will be married.
Entirely juvenile plot, and I’ll confess one thing. Doc Melburn is referred to as “Tex” throughout the novel, beginning with the second chapter, once he abandons his profession, courtesy of the sheriff’s release. The story was easy-going enough to keep me reading, but I hardly would ever recommend this novel to anyone.
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