Welcome to another color-coordinated column. We run the gamut in this one with the start of a detective series, a pulp hero making a welcome return, and a CIA operative who likes to travel. When put together, you have a very patriotic color palette.
THE BABY BLUE RIP-OFF by Max Allan Collins — This 1983 book is the first in a series on Mallory, a mystery writer who, on occasion, becomes a detective. Collins does a great job informing the readers of Mallory’s background without forcing the matter, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The whole of the book is Mallory relating this tale and explaining it was all because of an ex-girlfriend that he got involved.
Mallory has become a Good Samaritan of sorts, delivering hot meals to the senior citizens of his city. He gets very close to one woman in particular, named Mrs. Jonsen, enjoying her stories and the cookies she would bake. One fateful night. when Mallory comes to deliver the meal and spend time with her, he walks into a robbery. He is kicked and beaten by the robbers, who scare the old woman to death by accident.
Mallory makes it his job to find these robbers, despite the sheriff telling him not to get involved. It’s at this point that Collins eases in the backstory of Mallory really well, from his time in Vietnam to being a former cop and now a writer. The mystery itself is not the most complex, but has enough twists and turns to throw a few readers. Mallory not only has to deal with finding the robbers, but also a former high school flame and her psychotic, jealous husband.
Collins peppers this novel with some truly great characters, including one that most people will hope Mallory will just punch in the face every time he turns up. It seems Collins might have taken a small nod from THE ROCKFORD FILES, since Mallory sets up camp in a trailer and seems to be on the receiving end of a few beatings. This is a series that hopefully will get reissued, since I’ve only ever come across this book and another from the series.
DOC SAVAGE: THE RED SKULL by Kenneth Roberson — Doc Savage books are always a bit of fun, and this 1933 episode is one big shoot-’em-up from start to finish. The story opens with a group of men landing on, of all places, a golf course, laying in wait to capture a guy who seems to have some important information. This man is chased all the way to Doc Savage’s home base, only to die of poison.
See, the man had a letter for Doc, calling him to Arizona to look into a mining operation in Red Skull Canyon. Before they can even head out that way, Doc and his crew are attacked by a group of thugs who all seem to be either Edward G Robinsons or James Cagneys — all of them sound like they are about to call each other Mugsy. Actually, one of the thugs is called Buttons, so I’m not that far off.
The book flies at such a clip that the whole reason people are trying to stop Doc is over-the-top and rushed; it will leave a few readers deflated. It has something to do with a new type of natural gas that burns hotter than anything else. The man behind it all wants to dam up the area so no one else can get at it.
There are so many coincidences and just plain you-gotta-be-kidding-me moments that you will just laugh. It’s definitely not one of the strongest Doc Savage books I’ve read. But with all the old-time gangster-type characters, it still kept me glued. The only person missing was Bugs Bunny to push some of these mugs in the oven whenever cops showed up. There are plenty of other Doc Savage adventures to pick up before you come to this one in your travels. Just go in with your expectations set low and enjoy the goofy fun.
ASSIGNMENT WHITE RAJAH by Edward S. Aarons — Another in the long running Sam Durell spy series, this 1970 ASSIGNMENT finds our Cajun superspy under gunfire. Southeast Asia is the location this time out, and there seems to be a double agent within the American counsel. Sam not only has to ferret out that mole, but also track down missing Navy jets. But even from the start, people are on Sam’s case faster than you can say “Col. Kurtz.”
The reason for the Kurtz reference is that of a man named Hammond, who once was a top agent and Durell trainer. Now he plays by his own rules, including sleeping with the very young daughter of the premier. I was waiting for a scene where Durell sits in a darkened room while Hammond starts quoting T.S. Eliot. Another stumbling block for Durell is the title character: the White Rajah, a man who was thrown out of his position of power years ago, but still lives in the region as some sort of figurehead that the people look at as a sign of the old times.
The Rajah is a grandfather to twins who are extremes of each other — the son looks as though he just came out of Oxford, while the girl could easily pass for a native. The reason that Durell is forced to deal with these people is that their land is the same that Durell needs to investigate.
This again is straight-up, old-school spying. There are plenty of scenes of guns and chases, with just enough titillation to keep readers engrossed — nothing too graphic or blunt, but you don’t read Aarons for that type of stuff. You read Aarons for the top-notch storytelling that, at some points, is a bit dated. Nevertheless, he is the one I’ll go back to with full expectations of pulse-pounding fun.
Next time: SST in the world of pulp. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF EDWARD S. AARONS:
• ASSIGNMENT BANGKOK by Edward S. Aarons
• ASSIGNMENT BLACK VIKING by Edward S. Aarons
• ASSIGNMENT BURMA GIRL by Edward S. Aarons
• ASSIGNMENT SCHOOL FOR SPIES by Edward S. Aarons
• ASSIGNMENT SORRENTO SIREN by Edward S. Aarons
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MAX ALLAN COLLINS:
• BLACK HATS by Patrick Culhane
• BYLINE: MICKEY SPILLANE edited by Max Allan Collins and Lynn F. Myers Jr.
• DEADLY BELOVED by Max Allan Collins
• DICK TRACY by Max Allan Collins
• DICK TRACY GOES TO WAR by Max Allan Collins
• THE FIRST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins
• THE GOLIATH BONE by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
• A KILLING IN COMICS by Max Allan Collins
• THE LAST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins
• MY LOLITA COMPLEX AND OTHER TALES OF SEX AND VIOLENCE by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens
• QUARRY’S LIST by Max Allan Collins
• RED SKY IN MORNING by Patrick Culhane
• ROAD TO PARADISE by Max Allan Collins
• STRIP FOR MURDER by Max Allan Collins
• TOUGH TENDER by Max Allan Collins
• THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER by Max Allan Collins
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF KENNETH ROBESON:
• THE AVENGER #22: THE BLACK DEATH by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE / THE DEVIL GENGHIS by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE #19: PIRATE OF THE PACIFIC by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE CZAR OF FEAR by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE SPOOK LEGION by Kenneth Robeson
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The Mallory books are pretty good, but these days it seems like someone watched The Big Chill wayyyy to many times while writing it.
The first Mallory published was THE BABY BLUE RIP-OFF, but the second one published (NO CURE FOR DEATH) actually was written first, at the Writers Workshop in Iowa City, where my instructor (and mentor) was Richard Yates (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD). For the record, Mallory lived in a trailer long before Jim Rockford, but Rockford got onto TV slightly before Mallory hit print.
Cool! I like the Mallory books, but where Collins is really at his best is in his Nolan and Quarry series’ and his Nate Heller books, which deal with real historical mysteries, like the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and whatever happened to Amelia Earhart (sp?). I love ‘em all. I’ve got a big box full of Edward S. Aarons “Assignment” novels at my mom’s cabin–will have to break one out and give it a try someday.
I wrote those books ten or twelve years before THE BIG CHILL came out, a movie I didn’t particularly like then and still don’t. (I do like BODY HEAT and even WYATT EARP from Kasdan, though.)
The first two Mallorys were written for Curtis Books and sold to them in ‘71 and ‘72, but they never published ‘em, getting swallowed up by Popular Library before they could. Pop Library put them into “inventory” and never put them out. When I got the rights back, I was able to sell them to Walker in the early ’80s.