The latest Stark House omnibus edition of Al Wheeler mysteries (#25, #26, #27) brings The Hellcat, The Lady is Transparent, and The Dumdum Murder–all published in 1962–back to readers who enjoy mirth, mayhem, and mystery.
The Hellcat challenges Al Wheeler to solve the case of a decapitated head that has been waiting–in the Morgue preserved in formaldehyde–for five years. Where is the rest of the body? What is the identity of the decapitated head? Wheeler has to deal with a rich, powerful family with plenty of secrets, two underworld hit-men–one of them blind–and alluring temptresses with hidden agendas. GRADE: A-
Al Wheeler confronts a locked room mystery in The Lady is Transparent. A man is murdered in a cursed room locked from the inside. The suspects in the house believe the victim was murdered by a ghost called The Gray Lady. Wheeler explores the cursed murder room and finds a tape recorder with a chilling message. Fitting the pieces together leads Wheeler to a deadly confrontation. GRADE: A
The Dumdum Murder opens with a corpse shot with a dumdum bullet. The corpse rests on the hood of an antique car in a garage. The residents of the house adjoining the garage are: the surviving half of a song-and-dance act, a sexy female contortionist, an Amazon woman wearing a leopard skin outfit, a sharpshooting illusionist, and an aging comic. There’s also a killer who has just been released from Alcatraz after a 30-year stay. Al Wheeler discovers the motive for the murder, but learns–almost too late–that he’s on the execution list! GRADE: B+
Whether it’s a decapitated head or a murderous ghost or a group of odd vaudevillians, Al Wheeler deals with the screwball murders, the glorious ladies, and the conniving killers in this triple treat!
When I was in college, I was hooked on Carter Brown and read every Signet paperback I could find (and there were a lot of them). I sometimes read two or three a day, because who needs to study when you have Carter Brown (as well as three barrooms in close proximity to your dormitory)? Alas, I have forgotten the plots of every one of those wonderful books, but I really don’t think the plots were ever designed to be remembered.
Jerry, like you, I spent a lot of my time in the 1960s reading Carter Brown paperbacks with those wonderful Robert McGinnis covers! I love the Al Wheeler screwball mysteries!
No, the plots weren’t important. The covers were. I remember the joy of finding the Aussie Horwitz digests, some as by “Peter Carter Brown,” in England, including many that had not been published in the U.S. at the time.
Jeff, I’m happy that STARK HOUSE is reprinting Carter Brown mysteries that were never published in the U.S.!