Peter Saxon - Flight Into Fear - Sexton Blake Library -Series 4, Number 360 - Jun 1956

 

Peter Saxon* - Flight Into Fear - Sexton Blake Library - Series 4, Number 360 - Jun 1956  

*`Peter Saxon` was a house pseudonym used by a number of writers. Blakiana credits the writing of this story to W Howard Baker.

This SBL story is definitely towards the pulpy end of the Blake spectrum.

The plot dovetails two stories, one being the story of a young woman plunged unwillingly into a world of mystery by the machinations of her feckless brother, the other concerning a case being investigated by Sexton Blake, involving a group of British-based US airmen involved in drug smuggling.

In the earlier stages, the taut prose helps keep the readers` attention, and the story of the young woman and her crooked brother is pretty strong. 

I have to say that as it progressed my interest did tend to wane. This is partly because the latter part of the story is very much concerned with the action/adventure aspect, rather less with the crime/detection. There is very little or no doubt as to who the main culprit is going to be.

Another failing here is that the Blake of this story is not really distinctively Blake-ish and towards the end the character bringing matters to a close could have been any one of a number of action heroes. 

I don`t want to give the impression that this was a terrible story - it wasn`t - but ultimately it`s just a moderately entertaining late`50s action/adventure/thriller type of thingy that you might read once with some enjoyment and probably never return to again. 

 

 

James Stagg - Crime of Violence - Sexton Blake Library Series 4/403 Apr 1958

 

James Stagg - Crime of Violence - Sexton Blake Library - Series 4, Number 403 Apr 1958   

Published by the Amalgamated Press

Cover art by Carcupino (Fernando Carcupino ?)

Internal sketches by Margaret Higgins

Overall, a pretty good late `50s SBL, but not one of the best.

The story takes Blake to the Cotswolds, to the fictional village of Courton by the Water, which is pretty clearly a thinly disguised Boughton on the Water.

After an absurdly mannered description of Boughton/Courton and it`s model (i.e. miniature) village ("Even the model church clock keeps the time, and the  recorded chimes of the village church itself peal out in a sweet, diminutive cantata"), our man comes back to earth and begins to tell the story.

The story is not a bad one by any means, and is only marred by a few odd details. 

The first is the bizarre account of how the body of a little old lady is found hidden in a miniature Manor House in the model village. If I had a body to conceal, however small it might be, a model village would not be the first place I`d think of. I`ve checked, and the one at Boughton is 1/9 scale, but I would think it would still be a bit tricky. However, I`m prepared to take a relaxed view of this.

Throughout the story, Blake is portrayed as forming impressions of people based on the slightest encounters. 

In the case of one character, Marina Court, he starts off forming an aversion towards her for very little reason ("for himself, he rather disliked the girl on sight") and his attitude towards her does seem a little off-centre in places. A good example is his bizarre observation that after meeting her once for a few minutes at most, he has diagnosed her as suffering from a thyroid problem, and has gained various insights, which make no sense at all, as a result. Best to leave these things to a doctor, I would think. 

Having said that, the story is a solid and intriguing one which holds the attention. We get the return of Inspector Coutts from some of the earlier Blakes and a tale that brings together murder, mystery and much else. 

As is often the case with SBLS, it`s a good story, but with very little effort it could have been much better.

Peter Saxon - The Case of the Missing Bullion - Howard Baker -1969

 

Peter Saxon*  - The Case of the Missing Bullion  - Howard Baker  - 1969

Due to illness I wasn't able to review this while it was fresh in my mind. 

I recall it well enough to say it was a cracking little tale that sees Blake pitting his wits against a villain with aristocratic pretentions known as The Gent as a routine search for a missing young woman turns into something more sinister. 

The Gent is a great creation ;  urbane, courteous and ruthless to the point of psychopathy.

Blake is portrayed as polite and respectful to the people he meets, inclined to make more measured judgements than his assistant, Tinker. Unusually, he is portrayed as rather philosophical about the march of 1960s modernism even when one suspects it doesn't meet with his approval. 

Generally it is reasonably well-written but with attempts at period flavouring  (much talk of "swinging chicks" etc). Occasionally the writing inadvertently invites mockery ("she didn't like the way he glanced at her knees" and "she had never liked swarthy men with very thin moustaches"), but  this is rare.

I  am not a huge fan of 5th series Blake but I can't imagine many  fans of the great man being disappointed with this. 

* On the cover the book is credited to Peter Saxon, a house pseudonym. However, Peter Gordon is credited as author on the half-title page, title page and reverse of the title page. Blakiana  credits it to W Howard Baker. I'm no expert, but my money is on the mysterious Peter Gordon.

W A Ballinger - The Strange Face of Murder - Mayflower Dell - 1965 - Paperback

 

W A Ballinger*  - The Strange Face of Murder  - Mayflower Dell  - 1965

Paperback book, stated to be Sexton Blake Library,  5th Series, Number 20

*I gather W A Ballinger was a `house pseudonym` used by a number of different writers. I`ve checked on Blakiana but apparently the true author is unknown. Although I`ve read SBLs by a number of writers, I would hesitate even to make an educated guess.  

Ignore the atrocious artwork, this is actually an entertaining read. 

A comedy thriller, one could imagine this being adapted to be made into an Ealing film. As it is, unfortunately it's likely to languish in obscurity, saved from total neglect only by the Blake connection.

Which brings us to a question. Does it really deserve to be regarded as part of the Blake saga  ? In my view, yes,  but only by the skin of it's teeth. 

Blake appears repeatedly throughout the story, sometimes taking an active part in proceedings, but mostly it is concerned with Graham Sykes and his sidekick Johnny Hammond, two down-at-heel artists who make an ill-advised decision to set themselves up as private investigators and soon find themselves completely out of their depth. 

One has to wonder if it is actually some writer's unpublished novel that has simply been adapted into an SBL title, either to make a quick buck or simply to avoid it remaining unpublished. 

It is inevitably dated, with Sykes himself being portrayed as a 'lovable rogue' and Hammond as his 'hapless sidekick', and generally it is difficult to imagine it finding much of a readership today, not least because, as far as I know  it is only available as a  cheaply produced 1960s paperback. 

The ending does seem a little rushed, with some of the eventual explanations really not making much sense

Overall,  I enjoyed it but there again I am easily amused.

If you can pick up a cheap copy in reasonable condition  it  would  be  a good purchase, with the proviso that it's not likely to endear itself to Sexton Blake purists. 

Pierre Quiroule (W W Sayer) - The Vanished Millions - Sexton Blake Library 330/1924 and 467 Feb 1935

 

Pierre Quiroule (W W Sayer)- The Vanished Million - Sexton Blake Library 330/1924 (reprinted as SBL 467/Feb 1935)

Author`s pseudonym sometimes misprinted as Pierre Quirole

This is not one I have in my own collection, I read it online on the Comicbookplus site. 

It is some time since I read it, but I remember it tolerably well hopefully.

This story features not only Sexton Blake and Tinker but also Mr Sayer`s own characters Granite Grant and Mademoiselle Julie. The action is set in both England and Latvia. 

The plot is sufficiently involved to hold the readers` interest, but not so involved as to become convoluted. 

The portrayal of Blake is very much as it should be - both a man of action and a thinking man, a determined purser of wrongdoers but also a man capable of compassion. 

As a general thing, my particular interest is in the Blake of the post-war years but it doesn`t pay to be dogmatic about these things and I would say this was an enjoyable read for me and one I would like to revisit at some point. 

Rex Dolphin -Walk in the Shadows - Sexton Blake Library 437/Oct 1959

 

Rex Dolphin - Walk in the Shadows - Sexton Blake Library 437/Oct 1959

Cover art by Fratini (Renato Fratini)

An enjoyable and absorbing tale from Rex Dolphin (actually Reginald Charles Dolphin).

The strangely-named Mr Dolphin was not prone to enlivening his prose with unexpected literary flourishes, evocative descriptive passages or an array of quirky characters.

His strength is in his "keep the reader guessing" approach to his craft. 

Walk in the Shadows sees Sexton Blake investigating a murder in a workplace. As his enquiries continue, almost everyone he encounters has something to hide, a motive to have committed the murder or both.

A second murder, that takes place while his investigation is ongoing, does little to provide clarity. 

I very much doubt that many readers will arrive at the solution to the case ahead of Blake. 

Recommended reading, which made me want to seek out more of Rex`s writings. 

 

Arthur Kirby - High Summer Homicide - Sexton Blake Library/Fleetway - 503/1962 - Hank Janson

 

Arthur Kirby - High Summer Homicide - Sexton Blake Library 503/1962 - Fleetway

Credited to "Arthur Kirby as told to Richard Williams". In fact, it was written by Stephen Frances (aka Hank Janson) with revisions by W Howard Baker and George Paul Mann.

Artwork credited to `Camps` (full name Angel Badia Camps)

High Summer Homicide reads like two stories welded together. I can`t help thinking that too many authors were involved in this, seemingly with no-one taking an overall view.

The first section begins in a mildly Chandleresque vein, slightly laughable as the story is set somewhere near Worthing. 

Quite quickly this gives way to plain bad writing ("her long, silver-blonde hair jogged provocatively in a pony tail with every step that she took") as the fictitious storyteller, Blake`s journalist friend Arthur `Splash` Kirby leers lasciviously and longingly over an assortment of females. He seems surprised to find that women have legs, and this gives him great pleasure, though in my experience, it`s not that unusual  for them to possess these appendages. 

Unfortunately all this excitement doesn`t progress the story, which concerns a friend of Kirby`s who is missing, presumed murdered. 

I was about to give up, but on page 26 Blake takes charge of the case and the style of writing changes, so much so that one character has a complete personality transplant.

The story that emerges from this point on is really not too bad - maybe not great, but good enough.  There is a very well-written account of an undersea search for a body which gives a glimpse of the story this could have been. 

Really, it would have taken very little time effort to have made a better job of this. It`s not the worst story I`ve ever read, it`s certainly not the best. It could very easily have been better. 

 

     

W Howard Baker - Walk in Fear - Sexton Blake Library 4/396 1957

W Howard Baker - Walk in Fear - Sexton Blake Library - Series 4, Number 396 - 1957

A very classy performance from SBL editor W Howard Baker here, not necessarily the kind of thing I associate with him.

Walk in Fear is partly a  mildly humorous detective story, partly a satire on the publishing industry. More than once I wondered if some characters were drawn from life, especially the more scathing portrayals.

The writing is often witty, with some very keen insights here and there, as in this portrayal of one characters` wartime RAF service ;

"They had been boys in 1940, contemptuous of death because they did not truly understand it ; unafraid because they were unable to appreciate that they were not immortal. They had taken risks because they hadn`t really divined the risks they were taking. They had lived dangerously, and the business of living had been a grand and glorious game.

But 1940 was seventeen years behind them now. They were all mature, reasonable, thinking men. Only John Bovis remained.

He was not mature. Often he was not even reasonable. Rarely did he consciously think."

There are one or two in-jokes here and there ; at one point Blake comments "I had some dealings with Edgar Wallace long ago." Shortly afterwards, one character expresses what may be Bakers` own experience of editing the SBL ; "Most of the trouble in my life, it seems to me, has been caused by one damned writer or another."

The plot is quite ambitious in its` scope, and the writer seems reluctant to stay within the confines of one genre - is it satire ? comedy thriller ? traditional whodunnit ? . I thought I detected the hand of Jack Trevor Story here and there, an impression re-inforced when a character from his The Season of the Skylark makes an unexpected appearance. Having said that, better men than me accept WHBs` claim to sole authorship, and I am far from being an expert on either mans` work.

Perverse though it may sound, I would not like every Blake story to be like this, but it is a personal favourite.


Footnote - after Amalgamated pulled the plugs on the SBL, WHB carried on with the series for a time. During this period an expanded version of Walk in Fear appeared with the title Every Man an Enemy (SBL Series 5, Number 22, 1966).

Every Man an Enemy was published repeatedly - by Mayflower in 1966, by Zenith Publishing (London, date unknown) and in the US by MacFadden-Bartell. It was also included in The Fifth Sexton Blake Omnibus (Howard Baker Books, 1969).

Desmond Reid - High Heels and Homicide - Sexton Blake Library 4/405 1958

DESMOND REID - HIGH HEELS AND HOMICIDE - SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 4/405 1958

Two beauty contestants are kidnapped and Blake is asked to investigate. Along the way he uncovers an espionage ring and encounters again a face from the past.

This story, actually written by John Purley and revised by George Paul Mann (aka Arthur MacLean), is another example of the `Reid` name being attached to work by (one presumes) an unknown writer. It is interesting in that it marks the return of one of the pre-war Blake villains, Huxton Rymer.

Criminally-inclined former surgeon Huxton Rymer, the creation of writer G H Teed, appeared in various Blake stories 1913 - 36, with a short break while Teed served in the army during World War One. Some question whether the last of the Rymer stories was Teeds` work but as he died in 1938 we can`t very well ask him.

I have done a bit of checking and find that an earlier SBL, the Mansion on the Moor (3/43), was credited to John Purley and during that year Collectors Digest magazine described him as a 43-year old Worcester-based freelance journalist contributing on a one-off basis.  

The return of Rymer enables Blake to expand on the mans` character and attitudes ;

"If you`d blundered in on him he would have killed you. You know that as well as I do ! He`d have done it regretfully, but he`d have done it just the same. I think he`s fond of us - both of us - in his own odd way, but if it was your life or his liberty, it would be your life !"

On that cheerful note the investigation begins in earnest.

Does it work ? Not 100%. There is considerable humour to be extracted from the opening chapters, in which a bevy of petulant starlets and their over-ambitious parents and managers descend on a long-suffering hotel manager, but that joke is soon run into the ground.

There are one or two changes of pace and mood, all of which seem to breeze in out of nowhere. Various fruitful directions are indicated, particularly as Blake and Tinker begin to show signs of strain, and even to despair of saving the kdnapped girls, but none is really explored. The story lasts well under the usual 64 pages but still seems over-long.

It`s not too bad, but one wonders why George Paul Mann couldn`t have ironed out a few faults.

It`s certainly not the worst story I`ve read, but equally, it`s not the best either.

Richard Williams - Somebody Wants Me Dead - Sexton Blake Libray 4/500 1960

Richard Williams - Somebody Wants Me Dead - Sexton Blake Library - 4/500 - 1960

Credited to `Richard Williams`, this story was in fact the work of Stephen Frances, better known as Hank Janson.

In the first part of the book, the central character is the marvellously-named Harry Snogg, a professional detective story writer, author of the hard-boiled Ryley Steele series of crime novels.

He is also as impressionable as wet putty, so when he stumbles upon an ongoing bank robbery by chance, it isn`t long before he becomes Ryley Steele - in his own mind, if not to anyone else !

Soon Sexton Blake is involved, and growing more than a little weary of hapless Harrys` attempts at sleuthing.

If the first part of the story is concerned largely with Harry/Ryley, the second is more concerned with Blake. While the first part has its` flashes of humour and the odd writerly flourish ("The first hint of approaching night blunted the brightness of the day."), the second is more terse, the action more hard-hitting.

Its` interesting how Mr Williams/Jansen seems to have adapted himself well to writing SBLs. Had I read this blindfold (so to speak), I would have assumed it was the work of W Howard Baker. Jansen was the author of another `Richard Williams` Blake tale,  The Iron Box, and that also fits seamlessly into the genre.

I`ve read this several times, which is why my copy is falling apart, and always enjoyed it. If you`re looking for a blend of humour, crime and detection, this is very likely the one for you.

The Mark Hodder Interview. Part One - An Initial Encounter ; "THIS was Sexton Blake !"

As I`ve mentioned before, celebrated Saville-Row-suited sleuth Sexton Blake has been reborn, re-invigorated and and renewed by the undoubted skills of Mark Hodder and the determination of  Stuart Douglas.

It is with great pleasure that I bring you this interview with the redoubtable Mr H, whose penmanship is equalled only by his courtesy and his commitment to the cause of Sextonianism.

The interview will be delivered to you in instalments, hopefully at very regular intervals but interspersed with other items relating to the excellent Mr Blake.

It may enhance your reading pleasure if you try to imagine this meeting of minds taking place in some appropriate fictitious setting. I personally would want to imagine the encounter occurring in a dimly-lit basement bar somewhere near Londons` dockland in the immediate post-war period.

Q) I believe your initial encounter with a Sexton Blake adventure was not exactly encouraging ?

A)  It was the Sexton Blake Library fifth series novel `The Witches of Notting Hill` by W A Ballinger (actually W Howard Baker).

I`d come to Blake by way of the modern-day Robin Hoods (or `Durable Desperados`) ; characters like The Saint, Bulldog Drummond, Tiger Standish, Nighthawk, Blackshirt, The Toff and so forth. Among them I`d encountered Norman Conquest and Zenith the Albino, both of whose origins lie in Blake tales.
 
My initial research into Blake wasn`t promising. "A cheap Sherlock Holmes rip-off" about sums it up (a judgement I now know to be totally erroneous). As a huge Holmes fan I wasn`t much enthused.

It kept nagging at me, though ; "I ought to read some Sexton Blake". So when I saw `Witches...` in a secondhand bookshop I snapped it up and... God it was awful ! I couldn`t understand how such drivel could have such an incredibly long history.

After recovering from that wasted reading time I thought I should give it another chance and perhaps look out for some of the earlier material. Not long after, a complete set of 1919 Union Jack magazines came up on E-Bay. It co-incided with me having a bit of cash to spare so I bid and won. The moment I eased open one of those browned and crumbly pages with its` tiny print and advertisements promising manly moustaches  and cures for blushing , I was hooked. THIS was Sexton Blake ! 

The next instalment follows shortly. In the meantime you can learn more of the activities of Hodder and Douglas by clicking on these links ;


http://obversebooks.co.uk  

www.mark-hodder.com

Walter Tyrer - A Writers` Life

 

Regular visitors to this blog can hardly be unaware of my fondness (some would say fascination) with the works of Walter Tyrer. Whether it`s The Strange Affair of the Shotgun Sniper, The Crime at Fenton Towers or one of his many other SBL titles, Walt`s the man for me.

Until recently, I have known little about the life of our witty wordsmith but now I am in a position to do something I`ve long wanted to do, which is to provide the world with a potted biog of Mr Tyrer.

I`ve previously referred to Walter as having grown up "in a tough part of Liverpool" and engaging in a highly lucrative writing career which eventually saw him  set up home in swish Kingston Upon Thames.

I`ve since been fortunate to hear from one of his daughters, retired journalist Jennifer de Fries, who was able to correct the impression I had formed ;

"It wasn`t quite the rags-to-riches story the blog mentions but the family did struggle when his mother was widowed. He must have won a scholarship (I never thought to ask) and became a 16 year old Midshipman in the Royal Navy in World War One."

War service over, Walter turned his hand to writing, initially penning some of the schoolboy stories which were popular at the time. I believe he had his first book published in 1921.

 He was later to reflect with wry amusement on the stories he wrote at that time, stories which reflected a world he had, presumably, never encountered in real life ;

"For years I wrote about mysterious public schools with neither discipline nor lavatories, where everything happened in the same queer place called the Quad and my characters never emerged from an odd form called the Shell."

Having cut his teeth on schoolboy stories it was soon time for some stylistic diversification. He pursued a lucrative career as a freelance writer of short stories, embracing a number of different genres as he did so. While it`s true that he penned a number of novels, it seems that his work for short story magazines financed his upward mobility. He contributed cowboy stories to the Western Library series and romances to the Miracle Library.  He also wrote for the Lucky Star Library under the name Raven Head*.

Now came World War Two. I am indebted once again to Jennifer de Fries  for her recollections ;

"When we moved (to Kingston Upon Thames) I was aged seven, my sister eleven ,and we spent nights of the Blitz in the large wine cellar in the garden, complete with electricity and tiny cooker. My father did ARP (acted as an Air Raid Precaution warden) and fire-watching but worked in Fleet Street most days, not forgetting the Press Club."

In the post-war period writers like Walter Tyrer and John Hunter may have begun to seem a little old-fashioned. The Sexton Blake Library was also undergoing something of a crisis. The world had seen  Hitler and Stalin and had no more appetite for super-villains. SBL mysteries became lower-key, often with regional settings and crimes that were less exotic than in the past.

Many freelance writers of the pre-war period found a new home writing for the SBL, but few did so with the wit and ingenuity that characterised Walters` works at this time. It`s true, as Jennifer de Fries comments "he was never at a loss for a plot and I think he was very good at dialogue" but to my mind it`s more than that  - he had class.  

                                                      Walter Tyrer 1900 - 1978






   
Footnotes

*Other pseudonyms used by Walter are J T Lang and Oliver Seed. I am not aware of any others.

As ever, thanks to Keith `Chap O`Keefe` Chapman, Ray Elmitt and Jennifer de Fries.

Philip Chambers

Once again this blog is indebted to Keith Chapman, this time for drawing my attention to a posting about Philip Chambers, who wrote a number of Sexton Blakes in the `60s, from Finnish blogger Juri Nummelin.

Keith has been able to add valuable information in a comment, which will no doubt be of interest to Sextonians.

To see the posting ;

http://pulpetti.blogspot.com/2014/05/philip-chambers-and-sexton-blake.html

John Hunter - The Crime on the French Frontier - Sexton Blake Library - Number 312

John Hunter - The Crime on the French Frontier - Sexton Blake Library - 3rd Series, Number 312 - 1954


A slightly disappointing effort by one of the best Blake writers of the immediate post-war period.

The annoying thing about this one is that it`s a little below par whilst having a great deal going for it. The plot is great - a motorist is shot dead on the Franco-Spanish border, an old lady in England is killed with a hammer. Blake becomes involved and soon finds the two are linked.

By the standards of this kind of thing there is quite an array of characters - a husband-and-wife team of nightclub entertainers, a crooked solicitor, an alcoholic doctor, a ruthless businessman, a pair of over-ambitious hired killers. Blake is portrayed as a rather more reflective character than usual, and this adds interest.

The problem, I think is with the writing. The plot has more than its` share of action, but the writing never really brings it to life, and the feeling one gets is of a tired writer. I am not using that as a  metaphor for a world-weary hack, I actually mean a writer who happened to be tired !  This can be seen in one or two errors - using the word `surety` when he obviously means `certainty` for instance. There`s also a scene where it takes two or three sentences to explain that Blakes` assistant has witnessed certain events through an open inner door. As the reader already knows he`s in an adjacent room, a few words would have done the trick.

It doesn`t help that Hunter obviously never expected the story to fit on 64 pages (post-war austerity measures meant a reduction in size of the SBL). Consequently the typeface used is rather too small for ease of reading and even then, the story has to end on the inside back cover.

All in all, there are plenty of worse stories about, and it doesn`t need major surgery, but a Hunter on top form could have delivered it better.

Tales From the Tainted Archive

Its` always interesting to encounter another Walter Tyrer fan online, particularly when said fan is also complimentary about this blog.

Such is the case with Gary M Dobbs, who has recently blogged about the joys of finding Walters` 1952 Sexton Blake Library title  `The Hire Purchase Fraud` in a second-hand bookshop in Cardiff recently (see http://tainted-archive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sexton-blake-and-secondhand-books.html ) .

I`m sure Garys` blog will be of interest to many Sextonians and booklovers generally, so give it a look when you have a couple of minutes to spare.

Additionally, his comments have served to remind me that this blog hasn`t been getting my full attention lately.

There are reasons for that, but none that I choose to share with you ! Instead, I shall apply myself to the matter of rectifying the situation.


Happy detecting,

Nick

Thanks to Keith Chapman (aka Chap O`Keefe) for drawing my attention to Garys` blog.

W A Ballinger - Murder in Camera - Sexton Blake Library- Series 4, Number 522 - Fleetway, 1963

W A Ballinger was one of a number of pen-names adopted by Sexton Blake Library editor W Howard Baker, possibly influenced by his childhood hero Charles Hamilton aka Frank Richards aka Owen Conquest aka many other people, a writer of 1930s school stories.

Having previously written one or two Blakes, Baker became editor in the late `50s and is credited with having rescued the then-flagging SBL from possible extinction, attracting new writers like Jack Trevor Story and Martin Thomas and incorporating new characters into the stories.

By the time this story appeared in 1963, publishers and copyright holders Fleetway were getting ready to abandon the SBL. Baker must have been a worried man, but there`s nothing in this story to give that away.

The story is reminiscent of his earlier Walk in Fear (aka Every Man an Enemy), except that in  this instance, Blake is brought into contact with the film world rather than the publishing industry.

Although there is an element of satire, this one falls more firmly into the `traditional whodunnit` category, but is a pretty good example of that genre nonetheless.

There are some good lines, particularly when Blake assures one character that he doesn`t, as the other imagines, think of him, as a `shark`, then stands back to allow him through a doorway. "Now you swim ahead" he says courteously.

There are also one or two good pen-portraits ;

"Geoffrey Tithe had lank, thinning grey hair and a face like a camel : haughty eyes, proud nose and lips seemingly ready to spit.

He wore a faded green jacket and a derelict pair of corduroy trousers like twin badges of virtue."

Baker`s work seems to be a mixed bag. This is not quite as good as his very best stories, but is still streets ahead of his worst. The writing has pace, and carries the reader along very agreeably, and the eventual outcome is a surprise (or was to me at any rate).









 

W J Passingham - The Case of the Ace Acomplice - Sexton Blake Library - 3rd Series, Number 298

"The moon came up as twilight closed in over the River Thames. Shadows deepened along the banks on each side of the broad ribbon of water, so that wharves and warehouses, familiar enough in daylight, became shrouded in mystery."

With this splendidly atmospheric opening sentence, we are plunged into a vintage crime caper set in post-war London. I assume from the likely age of this SBL that it was quite contemporary at the time.

Journalist and author William John  Passingham (1897 - 1957) wrote fantasy and science fiction stories during the 1930s (dinosaurs in a lost world beneath the streets of London, that sort of thing) and was active in the Science Fiction Association* . In the post-war period he wrote a couple of `proper` books and, more importantly from our point of view, also penned a couple of titles for the Sexton Blake Library.

This is a creditable attempt at a `jewel heist` thriller , turned in by an author not known for this kind of thing. It is marred only by a certain tendency to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix, and, it has to be said, by a certain amount of carelessness on the part of the author. The fact that it turns out OK on balance is a credit to the author`s abilities, though one is left wth the feeling it could have been so much better.

As the story begins we encounter two of Passingham`s own characters, Inspector James Reck of the Thames Police (aka `Reck of the River`) and another officer, Inspector Clayton. Reck is a good, strong character with a lot of potential. I`d be interested to know if Passingham wrote any other `Reck of the River` tales. Clayton is a less developed character but a good foil for Reck and we do get some sense of who he is.

You might wonder if it was wise to have other fairly strong detective characters in a story devoted essentially to Sexton Blake  but to my mind the author does in fact pull that off.

He has less luck elsewhere. First we are introduced to a sharp-shooting expert on precious stones known as Diamond Willie (I`m not making this up !). A lot of time is spent on this character, and I feel that was a mistake. Next, roughly half-way through we have a gratuitous Cold War element thrown in for no good reason. The story is beginng to get a bit cluttered  and this is all the more regrettable given that the two main villains are not developed at all and remain simply names and descriptions.

There is also a problem of consistency. Blake periodically starts to talk like an American gangster ("I`ll bust this place wide open - and everybody in it.") and at another point a minor character, criminal Larry Parkes,  comes over all grammatical in an equally incongruous way ("I simply dared not open my mouth. Things look altogether different now, though, and I`ve had time to think the matter over carefully.")

I make no complaint about the many implausibilities that litter the plot - it`s a far-fetched tale, but it`s fun. I just can`t help feeling that Passingham could have turned in something great if he`d put his mind to it.

* http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/passingham_w_j

Obverse Books Acquires License to Sexton Blake From IPC Media

It gave me great pleasure earlier this week to receive a Press Release from Obverse Books announcing  their "acquisition from IPC media of the license to the famous Baker Street detective Sexton Blake."

The release goes on to give a quick summary of the history of our fictional sleuth before explaining their plan "to resurrect the famous Sexton Blake Library, commencing with a new novella by best-selling genre author George Mann entitled `Sexton Blake and the Vengeful Dead` , combined in one hardback and electronic volume with a reprint of a rare, classic Blake story from the inter-war years. "

For more information contact Stuart Douglas at Obverse Books via their website www.obversebooks.co.uk .

I for one will be very happy to see a  re-invigorated SBL with new titles by current authors. I personally would hope that they will also seize the chance to reprint some of the more interesting post-war Blakes as well as the pre-war stuff, but that may be just me.

Anyway, it`s a worthy venture which I hope all Blake fans will support.

Arthur Kent - Inclining to Crime - Sexton Blake Library

Arthur Kent - Inclining to Crime - Amalgamated Press - Sexton Blake Library - Series 4, Issue 364, 1956

Not a bad effort from one of the lesser-known SBL writers.

As far as I know Arthur Kent was his real name, though he may have used pen-names at times. If anyone can clarify this I`d be glad to hear from you. Allegedly he typed his own stories despite having only one arm !

Blake  is retained by the marvellously named New Hope and Trust Insurance Company to investigate a series of suspicious fires but soon realises his suspects are involved in much more than fraud.

By this time, the series was absorbing influences from `the other side of the pond`, so we encounter an array of characters influenced by US detective fiction - an Italian gangster, a drug addict, a crooked boxing promoter. Criminals you might well meet in earlier Blakes, but probably not all in the same story.

In Kent`s hands they do not seem like beings from another genre grafted on to an SBL format, their presence seems reasonably natural, except for their extraordinary taste in clothes. Gangster Don Ricardo wears a sky-blue tuxedo to a boxing match at one point, which must surely be an offence in itself !

In a nice touch, the debt to US pulp fiction is explained away by personal vanity - Ricardo has changed his name from Luigi to Don as he rose through the ranks of the underworld, junky Michael Banion`s use of American slang is an affectation.

The story manages to pack insurance fraud, a rigged boxing match and a number of murders into the stipulated 64 pages, which is no mean feat. The pace of the thing alone is enough to keep the attention, but there is little to raise it from `good` to `great`. The odd classy phrase ("Daylight chased shadows from the empty hall") or piece of wry humour ("When I was a recruit" comments a detective "it was enough that you gave your superiors the facts. Now they want to give you their personal opinions.") only really offset the occasional amateurish touches and incongruities (at one point a character refers to the killing of a man with a pick "a clean job" !).

There is a nifty plot twist towards the end, and generally the latter part does seem a little more ingenious than the rest.

I wouldn`t call it inspired, but I would call this a creditable effort from our man Kent and overall it`s worth a read.

Peter Saxon - Danger Ahead - Sexton Blake Library 3/353

Peter Saxon - Danger Ahead - Sexton Blake Library

3rd Series, Number 353, Feb 1956

Trivia ; This was the first SBL to carry the distinctive red stripe along the left-hand side. In this instance, `Peter Saxon` was SBL editor W Howard Baker, though I believe that Peter Saxon was a `house pseudonym` used by a number of different writers. As ever, I`m indebted to the Blakiana website for this information, but any mistakes/misunderstandings are my own.

W Howard Baker had been SBL editor for about a year when he penned this tale under the pseudonym Peter Saxon.

Very different in style to his classy Walk in Fear, this is a classic tale of plucky chaps doing daring deeds. Surprisingly for an editor who introduced many changes that older fans did not like, it is actually a very traditional blend of two-fisted action and intelligent detection. It`s none the worse for that !

Set in Angola, at that time occupied by the Portugese, the plot concerns a mysterious gangster known only as Salar, employed by an unscrupulous mining company to sabotage a rivals` operation. Britain`s interests are threatened and Blake is despatched. Africa and the Africans hardly get a look in though, and for the most part it could just as well have been set in Portugal itself.

The fast-paced story never fails to hold the attention, but contains some echoes of the traditional whodunnit. (There are five characters likely to be unmasked as the mysterious Salar. I sailed through the story blissfully convinced that I knew who it was, only to be proved wrong on the next-to-last page ! )

It would be easy (and irresistible !) to poke fun at the odd dated passage ("Her flame-coloured skirt was riding high, and a pair of smoothly-rounded knees were plainly visible." Blimey ! Is it hot in here, or is it me ?), but generally it is a good story told well.

Baker only briefly shows what he is capable of, in a short but effective passage where Blake, his assistant Tinker and a representative of the Portugese Security Services have been keeping observation for hours together one night ;

"They all looked tired, these men : they had talked intermittently since...before nine o`clock, and now they had exhausted the available topics of conversation. So they sat around the table silently, and the passing minutes were translated into tiny lines of strain and fatigue which etched the corners of their eyes."

Blake seems a tolerably rounded figure in  Baker`s hands, made more real by his innate decency and sense of humour. The supporting cast of Portugese officials and gangsters are all more interesting than usual. The only excessively cliched character is one of the best, a sadistic thug called Serilla who is given to saying things like "Right, Mister Clever Sexton Blake ! Now you`re going on that long, last walk." An obvious nod to the villains of the pre-war `Golden Age` of Blake adventures.

This may not be Baker at his best, but it`s certainly not Baker at his worst. I personally enjoyed it as much as any Blake story I`ve read.