Stark House Press is quickly becoming my favorite imprint, and A NIGHT FOR SCREAMING / ANY WOMAN HE WANTED shows off two lesser-known novels from the king of the paperbacks, Harry Whittington. His list of published works would make Stephen King, Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy jealous.

You ever wish you could find a book that resembles early Coen Brothers movies? Well Stark house has opened my eyes in a big way and helped everyone out. Well, 1960’s A NIGHT FOR SCREAMING will make fans of BLOOD SIMPLE rejoice. Mitch Walker is a man on the run for a murder he did not commit. He arrives at a town where vagrancy is no laughing matter and the only work available is at a farm complex run by a no-nonsense businessman named Barton M. Cassel.

The operation is pretty much a glorified work camp, but with no guards. However, the farm also employs convicts from the local prison. So who is really better off: Mitch or the convicts? Slowly it becomes apparent that Mitch can easily move up in the farm hierarchy if he wants to, but all that’s on his radar is getting some money and hiding from the law – namely, his old partner, who is hunting him down. That’s until the day Barton hatches a scheme for Mitch which will get him enough money and maybe escape from all his problems.

I wish I could go into greater detail, but I don’t want to take away from the sheer brilliance of Whittington’s writing. For those who just crave the seedy noir world, A NIGHT FOR SCREAMING delivers like a 2 x 4 to the head.

The burnt-out cop tale has been the subject of many a film and story, but I don’t think any probably pack as much of a punch as 1961’s ANY WOMAN HE WANTED. Mike Ballard is a cop who, four years earlier, cleaned out the mob. He even might have been on the take, but there was no real concrete evidence; all they could do was demote him to a low-grade detective. Ballard goes through the daily routine of his job, not trying to outdo himself or even make any kind of name for himself. He’s stuck in the same rut day after day and seems to be happy with that.

Then one day he is called to see District Attorney Tom Flynn, whose wife used to have a thing for Ballard. Flynn wants Ballard to work with him on a task force to clean up the town and get rid of corruption. But Ballard wants nothing to do with it, which he makes perfectly clear. A day later, Flynn turns up dead in an apparent suicide – at least that’s what the higher-ups want it listed as, despite the huge bullet hole in the back of his head.

Ballard can’t believe the cops are content to hush it all up. But then other cops involved with the investigation turn up dead as well. Plus, you have a secondary story of a young Spanish girl knocked up by the son of the most powerful man in town. Whittington weaves a story so well with such characters, they just pop off the page. Ballard in particular is a man who knows his past is not all clear but cloudy, and sees if he can redeem himself anyway once it all hits the fan.

Stark House is the Criterion of the pulp world. They’ve done it again, providing the world with some much-valued reissues. They use top-quality material that’s not going to fall apart like the ones you can pay top dollar for at a used store. Not only that, but you get an exhaustive bibliography for all of Whittington’s writings, including for all his pseudonyms. Also included are two essays by Bill Crider and David Laurence Wilson. Each gives a history lesson about Whittington, but Crider’s focuses on the publishing side, going into details of advances and certain titles to be on the lookout for.

And with this one, Stark House improves upon the cover art. Stick with the photos of girls on the covers, guys! –Bruce Grossman

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