You asked for a wake up call? I've got one you'll never forget. Originally published in 1958 as Dead to the World, Stewart Sterling’s The Blonde in Suite 14 tells the story of a house detective (do those exist anymore?) who thinks two deaths in his hotel—the fictional Plaza Royale—are linked to a beautiful blonde guest. Sterling, who we talked about previously here, had already used house detective Gil Vine in five books and would feature him in two more. The hotel setting gave him a handy platform for introducing scenarios, and his detective character’s prime directive to protect the hotel’s reputation sets up a constant ethical dilemma—i.e., call the police and risk bad publicity, or just cover up the whole mess? Pretty good, but we can’t help but think it could have been spectacular in other hands. The very nice cover art here is by Mort Engel.
Went down down down and the flames went higher. Stewart Sterling, aka Prentice Winchell and several other pseudonyms, began as a writer for radio but eventually branched out into pulp novels and carved out a literary career that lasted almost twenty years. He created two running characters during that time. One of them was Gil Vine, a house detective in a hotel. The other—Ben Pedley—was a fire marshall who relied upon training and experience to foil arsonists (who typically were merely the hired thugs of more highly-placed criminal elements). Fire Marshall Pedley had the drive and toughness you’d expect from a fictional firefighter, as well as the flaws you enjoy in an anti-hero. There were nine Fire Marshall Pedley novels, including Five Alarm Funeral, which you see above, Where There’s Smoke, Fire on Fear Street, Alarm in the Night, Too Hot To Handle, Hinges of Hell, and others. For more detailed information on Sterling and his body of work, visit his page on the website Mystery*File.com.
|
|
The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1910—First Seaplane Takes Flight
Frenchman Henri Fabre, who had studied airplane and propeller designs and had also patented a system of flotation devices, accomplishes the first take-off from water at Martinque, France, in a plane he called Le Canard, or "the duck." 1953—Jim Thorpe Dies
American athlete Jim Thorpe, who was one of the most prolific sportsmen ever and won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football at the collegiate and professional levels, and also played professional baseball and basketball, dies of a heart attack. 1958—Khrushchev Becomes Premier
Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier of the Soviet Union. During his time in power he is responsible for the partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, and presides over the rise of the early Soviet space program, but his many policy failures lead to him being deposed in October 1964. After his removal he is pensioned off and lives quietly the rest of his life, eventually dying of heart disease in 1971. 1997—Heaven's Gate Cult Members Found Dead
In San Diego, thirty-nine members of a cult called Heaven's Gate are found dead after committing suicide in the belief that a UFO hidden in tail of the Hale-Bopp comet was a signal that it was time to leave Earth for a higher plane of existence. The cult members killed themselves by ingesting pudding and applesauce laced with poison.
|
|
|
It's easy. We have an uploader that makes it a snap. Use it to submit your art, text, header, and subhead. Your post can be funny, serious, or anything in between, as long as it's vintage pulp. You'll get a byline and experience the fleeting pride of free authorship. We'll edit your post for typos, but the rest is up to you. Click here to give us your best shot.
|
|