July 6, 2025 • 33 mins
In this double-feature episode, Eric investigates the mysterious life and work of crime-fiction and boxing-story writer Jack Karney, while also spotlighting S.S. Rafferty, a regular contributor to Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines. The episode also includes a segment on a non-fiction book about MGM Studios, a look at this summer's conventions, and fiction's first colonial continental op.
Check out thousands of book reviews and articles about vintage fiction and crime-noir at Paperback Warrior. Visit me on X, FaceBook, and YouTube.
Check out thousands of book reviews and articles about vintage fiction and crime-noir at Paperback Warrior. Visit me on X, FaceBook, and YouTube.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Paperback Warrior podcast.
My name's Eric, and I'm going to guide you through
this half hour or so of book talk. The purpose
of the show is vintage fiction celebrated through paperbacks, old magazines, pulps, comics.
Sometimes I pill for through some contemporary books and stories
(00:24):
as well, but not too often. You can visit Paperbackwarrior
dot com to find thousands of fiction reviews and articles
about the authors, publishers, and artists that have created this
lovable industry. Now, today's episode, I've got two features for us.
I don't have a review really for this episode, but
I've got two features. The first one's about author Jack Carney. Now,
(00:47):
he was a former pro boxer that wrote stories for
magazines like Argasy and Short Stories Magazine in the nineteen
forties and nineteen fifties. He also wrote eleven paperback original
novels with an emphasis on juvenile delinquents and teenage gangsters.
My other features about an author named John Hurley, but
he's better known by his pseudonym, which was S. S. Rafferty.
(01:11):
He started writing in the nineteen seventies and became a
fixture in the mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock, Ellery, Queen,
Mystery Monthly and so forth. He wrote about fifty four stories,
but he had a couple series characters that I've found
really interesting and I think you will too. So we're
going to have a double feature, and I think there's
going to be a lot to learn about these writers
before we dive into those features. I've got just a
(01:32):
few announcements here for you. The first is the HP
Lovecraft Film Festival schedule for next month. It's going to
be in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. It runs
August twenty second through the twenty fourth. The event will
be showing brand new short and feature films of Cosmic
Carr and it's going to air Stuart Gordon's Reanimator movie
(01:53):
to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of its release. You can
get more information at HPL Film Festival dot com Again
Hplfilmfestival dot com. If any of you go, please send
me your report back. I'd love to share it right here.
There's also the annual PulpFest coming up August seventh through
the tenth. It's gonna be in Pittsburgh. Got the Double
(02:14):
Tree by Hilton every year, PulpFest celebrates a mystery, adventures,
sci fi, romance, other forms of genre fiction in the pulps.
There's panels of discussion, vendors, auctions. It's just a really
good time and I wish I was attending. You can
learn more about PulpFest at PulpFest dot com. Also, we've
(02:35):
got Pulp Adventure Con. It's coming up November one in Langhorn, Pennsylvania.
This festival, of course, emphasizes collectibles from nineteen hundred to
nineteen seventy. It's got tables and vendors celebrating pulp magazines, comics, paperbacks,
pinup magazines, and original artwork. This festival is put on
by Rich Harvey of Bold Venture Press. And there you
(02:57):
have at those three events happening this year. Attending any
of these events, make sure you send me an email.
You can reach out to me on Facebook X let
me know how these events went, what your thoughts were.
I'd really like to hear all right. So I received
an email from Alan. It was about my Wikipedia contribution
project I've been working on for a little bit. You know,
(03:19):
I wasn't aware of it, but Alan runs a comic
book company called Green Archer comics. I checked them out online,
and man, I really love the throwback feel of their comics.
They've got several titles in both print and digital. Some
of their titles include The Clock, The Press, Guardian, Cryptid
Hacker Force. But a couple of their comics may appeal
(03:40):
directly to the paperback warrior crowd. The first one is
Johnny Dollar. It's based on the nineteen forties and nineteen
fifties radio drama. The creator has reimagined this character as
a modern private eye traveling the world to stop cyber credicals.
He's got the tie, the long coat, the fedora hat
man he looks the part four issues out thirty two
(04:01):
pages of full color. You can get more details at
Greenarcher dot io. Another you may like is The Green Archer,
the comic company's moniker. Before you get to the idea
of Green Archer ripping off Green Arrow or something like that,
keep in mind that in nineteen forty one, mort Weisinger
is said to have taken inspiration for the Green Era
(04:22):
character from Robin Hood and the Green Archer movie serials
released the prior year. There's a Green Archer comic anthology.
It's got this hero in different times throughout history. It
looks great. You can get Green Archer number zero in
both print and digital editions. Again. Visit Greenarcher dot io
for more details. So, my good friend Greg Watson, he's
(04:45):
a fan of the show. He listens to every episode.
He always sends me his comments. He was telling me
about this book he's reading, titled The Fixers. It's by E. J. Fleming. Now,
this isn't a new book. It was published in print
and digital back in fifteen. He's really loving this book.
It's a nonfiction account about the early days of MGM's studios. Now,
(05:07):
back then, studios owned their stars. They signed them the contracts,
where the studios controlled every aspect of their lives. Unlike today,
where a star can work with anyone willing to pay
their price and they can decline offers. It's a little
bit different back then. This book's about how Eddie Mannix
and Howard Strickling smoothed over countless incidents involving MGM's megastars,
(05:33):
folks like Clark Cable, Greta Garbo Wallace Bery, Judy Garland.
The list goes on and on. It was the job
of Mannix and Strictling to keep all the secrets, stuff
like Clark Gable fathering an illegitimate child, wallas Bury murdering someone,
Greta Garbo being bisexual. These were things that would have
been disastrous for the studio, could potentially have cost them
(05:56):
millions in earn movie revenue. But thanks to these two controllers,
the handles were kept hidden. Sounds like an amazing book.
It's really interesting. Again. The name is The Fixers by E. J. Fleming,
and my buddy Greg recommends it, and he's rarely wrong.
All right, So let's get into today's first feature and
(06:16):
then I'll do a little intermission afterwards. But I'll hit
that famed tune and like the late great Chuck Woolery said,
I'll be back in two and two, but more like
four seconds instead of four minutes content. Jack might now,
all right, So the reason we're doing two features today
is simply because there isn't a lot of backstory on
(06:39):
the two writers we're discussing. This first feature is on
an author named Jack Carney. As I mentioned in my opener,
he specialized in short stories. In the late forties and fifties.
He wrote eleven paperback originals. I want you to consider this
for a moment when we think about Jack Carney and
his writing. Just let this sink in for a moment.
You open up the November nineteen four forty nine Argacy
(07:01):
and you check out the table of contents. Right there
at the top of the list is Earl Stanley Gardner,
John D. MacDonald, Day Keen, and Jack Carney. How's that
for company. That's Jack Carney with crime fiction Legends in
the same magazine. So the book of my feature is
talking about Jack Carney's literary work, and I find that unusual.
(07:23):
Normally there's a life to discover, but that's not the
case with Jack. His life is mostly just one big mystery.
So here's what we do know about him. He was
born in nineteen eleven in New York City's Lower East Side,
a neighborhood inside Manhattan's Burroughs. Nothing is known about his
upbringing or education. We know Jack was in a teenage
street gang. We also know that he was a boxer
(07:45):
and probably fought as an amateur while running with the gangs.
He tried out for a job in the police department,
but due to an excessive case of flat feet, he
was rejected. He entered the civil service instead. He worked
in the New York District Attorney's office. He was married,
he had three kids, and he spent his entire life
in the same New York City neighborhood he grew up in.
(08:07):
And that's it, folks. There's no military stuff known, no
war record, no boxing record, there's no scandals, no trips
to Florida to Hobknob with people like Gil Brewer and
Harry Whittingson. There's just nothing out there about this guy.
And that's man, that's frustrating. So what we have left
is just what Jack wrote, and that's all we can
(08:28):
really talk about is his writing. So his first published
novel was There Goes Shorty Higgins. It was published in
hardcover in nineteen forty five. From what I can get
from the fiction mag Index, his first published short story
was titled in This Corner. It was featured in Argasi's
February nineteen forty five issue. The editor in that magazine
(08:51):
states at the beginning of the story that Jack's making
his fiction debut, and also mentions that he boxed professionally,
So there you go. In nineteen forty five, Jack sold
four stories to Argussy. The aforementioned In This Corner followed
by stories Stumblebum, Fighter for Sale, and Loser and New Champion.
(09:13):
Those four stories for nineteen forty five for Argussy. He
also sold two stories to Short Stories Magazine in nineteen
forty five. Those were The Canvas Sustained and Left Hand
Forward and as you can tell, Jack was fascinated with boxing.
In nineteen forty six, Jack's second book was published. It
was called The Ragged Edge. That same year he also
(09:35):
sold two more stories to Short Stories Magazine, and he
sold one to Black Mask, and that was it for
nineteen forty six. In nineteen forty seven he sold two
stories to Argussy and one to Short Stories Magazine, but
no books published that year. Nineteen forty eight he sells
a story to Argussy, one to Short Stories Magazine, again
no books. One story sold in forty nine to Argussy.
(09:58):
One story he sold in ninet teen fifty the Short
Stories Magazine, and that proved to be the last of
his short stories, just the one that he sold in
nineteen fifty and that was it for short stories. I
assumed Jack was submerged in his professional career as a
civil servant in the late nineteen forties because he just
wasn't writing as much, and then comes a little resurgence
(10:21):
in terms of Jack's books. In nineteen fifty one, his
hardcover cop is published by Henry Holt, and his prior
novel The Ragged Edge is reprinted by a Pyramid in
paperback as Tough Town. In nineteen fifty two, his hardcover
cop is reprinted by Pocket Books and also Jack writes
his only novel using a pseudonym. It was titled Halo
(10:44):
for a Heel and the pseudonym was Mike Skelley. The
book was published by Red Seal nineteen fifty three. Nothing's
happening other than Pyramid reprinting Jack's first novel, There Goes
Higgins in paperback nineteen fifty five. His book Knocked Dead
is printed by Ace as one half of a double.
His book Work of Darkness is published in hardcover by
(11:06):
Putnam in nineteen fifty six, and the books later reprinted
by Popular Library in nineteen fifty eight nineteen fifty nine.
Jack is a busy, busy guy. He sees his books
Cry Brother, Cry, Cut Me in the Knave of Diamonds,
Some Like a Tough All published in paperback nineteen fifty nine.
(11:27):
Great year for Jack. His last two novels arrive in
nineteen sixty, Layout for Murder and Yield to the Night,
and that's it. There's nothing after nineteen sixty So did
Jack die? Did he retire from writing? I mean, he
would have only been aged forty nine, So what are
we missing here? It's clear nineteen fifty nine was an
(11:50):
extremely productive year. Then he just seemingly vanishes from the
publishing world. There's just no answers. Unfortunately, the only thing
left is to tell you how Jack's roe writing was,
and the general consensus is that it was actually really,
really good. So let's go into some of his books
and stories and I'll provide just some capsule reviews, and
(12:11):
I'll start with his nineteen fifty nine novel Cut Me In.
This book was originally published by Pyramid Starkhouse Press reprinted
the book in twenty twenty two under their imprint Black
Gat Books. Now, there's been plenty of rags to riches
to criminal empire types of novels. Benjamin Apple did one
called The Life and Times of a Tough Guy. Ed
(12:32):
McBain wrote one titled Big Man under the name Richard Marston.
So Jack Carney uses the same type of formula for
this book. The book's narrative is structured around Coley Walsh.
He's a young beat cop. He's working the New York streets.
His wife died. Now he's raising his crippled son while
living with his mother on swingshifts. Coley's righteous path becomes
(12:53):
corrupt with a simple longing for a patrol car and
a promotion to investigator. But Coley decides to cut some
corners on the way to the top. So Coli learns
that the police priescinct is corrupt, with several key personnel
working hand in hand with the mob. They run the
protection rackets, the gambling joints, and they swindle politicians to
do their bidding. Coley he conceives the idea that he
(13:15):
should assemble a small group of police officers willing to
push the mob out. But these criminal elements would then
be replaced by Coli and his guys, so instead of
looking out for the syndicate, they just become a new
syndicate to The book chronicles Coli'S rise to the ranks
from small time to the big man. The most compelling
portions concerning Colly's relationship with a small business owner named
(13:37):
Joseph and his adopted daughter, Coley looks out for Cancer
and understands he represents everything right about America. Work hard,
build a legitimate owner operator business, serve the community. In
creating his criminal empire, Coley realizes guys like Cancer are
prime targets for protection rackets. Thus, there's an emotional conflict
within Colly's pursuit of fortune, conflict that really propels this
(14:01):
well written narrative. The book re lies heavy on dialogue
to tell the tale, and sometimes that can become daunting
for the reader. But in this case, I felt like
the characters were interesting enough and the story, man, it
just shakes in rattles through all these conversations. The books
beginning and ending are its strongest parts. With the finale, Man,
it's just a real barn burner with these flourishes of
(14:22):
action and cool headed resolve. Cut Me In was a
great book. Again, the originals out there on Pyramid, but
you can get the reprint from Black apt Books and
it's got the same artwork as the original. Again it's
called cut Me In. How about another paperback? I read
the nineteen fifty nine novel Cry Brother Cry. It was
published by Popular Library. It's set on New York's Lower
(14:45):
East Side. Of course, you know what most of his
books were. The book stars a young guy named Joey
Coslo Now two years ago, Joey was an up and
coming welterweight boxer. He threw the leather while working his
way up to a final boss type guy named Ox.
What a name O now? Ox is a fighter groomed
by the Mob to be the next world champ, and
the Mob's greasing his way all the way to the top.
(15:07):
So Joey he refuses to take the dive during the bout. Instead,
he beats Ox. So the Mob they come knocking on
Joey and they nearly beat him to death in an alley.
After a lengthy hospital stay, Joey's released and he immediately
tracks Ox down. He gives this guy a brutal beating
with a poolcu stick, but the police get in. They
(15:28):
bust Joey for attempted murder, and Joey he gets two
years in prison. Now, as the boat begins, Joey's out
and he's returned back home, hoping for a calmer life.
He attempts to reconnect with his younger brother Duke, but
he realizes a harsh reality when he discovers expensive clothes
and a pistol in Duke's closet. Duke's involved with the mob.
(15:50):
Joey attempts to persuade Duke, who's just a high school kid,
to go clean before it's too late. Joey's positive encouragement helps,
but eventually the money is just too darn good to
turn down. Duke goes dirty. Cry Brother Cry is it's
saturated in the teen gangster tropes. It sort of reminded
me a little bit of Edward S. Aaron's Gang Rumble
in a way, but it's far better than that in
(16:11):
this book. The cops need informers, the parents urged discipline,
the boys need maturity. But Jack's writing, which is really
written with a deadpan sort of grimness to it, it
brings to the surface this relationship journey for the main
character and his prior girlfriend, how they reconnect after the prison,
long for each other battle turbulent forces in their lives,
(16:32):
is really a subplot that nearly surpasses the whole teen
criminality angle. It was such an entertaining part of this violent, touching,
unforgettable book. Again, it's Cry, Brother Cry. It hasn't been
reprinted by anyone that I know of, But there's cheap
copies that still exist out on a books, so I
encourage you to go out and get one. All right,
So we haven't reviewed a story yet, so let me
(16:53):
do one of those real quick for you. The stories
called the Bells Are Ringing. The story was published in
the November twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven issue of Short Stories.
You can read the story for free online at archive
dot org. Later this week, I'll post a link to
the story on the Paperback Warrior blog. This story is really,
really cool. It's presented in this unique way by weaving
(17:15):
the rounds of an exciting boxing bout with the prior
events affecting the protagonists Rocky sears before the fight. It's
an unusual storytelling method that blend's in ring action, the
ticking of the rounds with a sort of countdown of
Rocky's turbulent weeks prior to the opening bell So when
the story begins, Rocky's in the ring and he's taking
(17:36):
shots from the champ in the garden. Then the scene
flashes back to the early days of the fight preparation.
Readers learned that Rocky's trainers, this old timer, his name's Pop.
He's on the cusp of retirement, like he's just old
and tired, and he wants to rest. Rocky plans on
marrying Pop's daughter, Virgie, and the two want the old
man to live with him. Once Rocky wins the big
(17:58):
money fight, will how money he can afford a wedding
in a nice house. Fergie and Pop will be happy
with Rocky. The whole thing's going to be perfect. The
story then fluctuates back and forth between Rocky being absolutely
pummeled in the ring by the champ and this broken
heart kind of story concerning Rocky's former lover. It turns
out that his former gal was a girl named Francine.
(18:21):
She was an actress she left Rocky. She left New
York to pursue a film industry in Hollywood. She's now
returned back to New York looking for work or a
sugar daddy since her movie career fizzled out. She heard
about Rocky's title fight and she wants to reconnect with
Rocky prior to the fight to get her talents back
on him now that he could potentially get some money.
(18:42):
But she brought along a boy toy on the side
in case things don't work out with Rocky, there's this
riveting twist where the boy toy has eyes on Virgie.
So there's this weird love triangle that puts Rocky's match
with a champ in perspective. If he could win, then
Francine will follow the money and won't Rocky auto herself,
leaving the boy toy to then aggressively pursue Virgie, thus
(19:05):
affecting Rocky's proposed marriage and the planned a landing spot
for the tired old man Pop. If he loses, Francine
and her boy toy will probably hit the road for
action elsewhere, leaving Virgie back with Rocky but a wedding
and a house that neither can afford because the big
payout of winning the fight won't be there. Jack Carney
can tell a story and the bells are Ringing was
(19:27):
just a remarkable mix of emotions. The comeback from Jack
and the ring pairs well with the storytelling aspect of
this love triangle and how it develops into a conundrum
for all the interested parties. Rocky's a likable character. Pop
plays a minor role in terms of dialogue and presence
in the scenes, but in reality he's the narrative's most
pivotal point. This was a real pleasure to read and
(19:49):
deserves a reprint in some fashion. Again, the story is
the bells are ringing now. Circling back to what we
know about Jack's publishing timeline was the last year he
had anything published. Now, I find this odd because it
seems as though Carney had stumbled upon a serious character
that he could write about. I mean, all the crime
(20:09):
fiction writers have this pattern of writing a bunch of
standalone novels and then they stumble upon a serious character
that they can stick with to write numerous books about
and collect paychecks. Well, Jack found that character in nineteen
fifty nine. His name is Jim Breen. He's an insurance investigator.
He debuted in a book titled The Nave of Diamonds,
which was one half of an ace double. In nineteen sixty,
(20:33):
Jack wrote a second book starring the same character, titled
Layout for Murder Now. Tom read The Nave of Diamonds
back in twenty twenty three, and he had good things
to say about it. He described the fight scenes as
top notch and that brain really gets to kick some ass.
He said the book was solid, if unremarkable, and that
it featured a heart boiled private eye that was perfectly
consistent with the genre output. In nineteen fifty nine, he said,
(20:55):
if you like that sort of thing, then you're bound
to enjoy the novel again. It was called The Nave
of Diamonds from nineteen fifty nine, published by Ace. Now,
I'll say that there have been plenty of two books
series titles through the history of crime fiction. These things happen,
but more often than not, a private eye character can
develop into a long running series between six to twenty
books in some cases. I find it odd that he
(21:18):
created this character, placed him in two books, and then
just stopped writing, which leads me to think that Jack
either died in or around nineteen sixty that's just my guess,
or he left the country and just decided to pursue
something totally different. I've nothing to base any of this on.
If anyone has the answer, then let me know. I'd
love to learn more about this writer and if we
(21:40):
even have a complete list of the books and stories
he wrote. I hope you enjoyed this feature on Jack Carney.
My references for the feature was the Starkhousepress website and
archive dot Org. All Right, Before we jump into the
next feature, I want you to be aware that you
can follow a paperback Warrior on Facebook, x, Instagram, Archive,
dot Org, threads, TikTok, and YouTube. All of these channels
(22:03):
are paperback Warrior and offer far more content and more
frequent postings than what you'll find on the blog. I
also encourage you to follow or subscribe where you can.
I've sent out about five thousand invites this past week
to follow paperback Warrior on Facebook. I've sent these invites
to people that have liked or commented on one of
my posts but don't necessarily follow paperback Warrior. Can you
(22:24):
take a moment to check your notifications. I'll bet you
may have an invite from me, or just go straight
to Facebook and follow paperback Warrior as simple as that.
As I always mentioned on this program, if you have
Medicare that means you're either age sixty five or older
or you're receiving Social Security disability benefits for more than
two years, call me my numbers five four zero three
(22:45):
one two seven zero six two again five four zero
three one two seven zero six two doesn't cost you
a dime. I can be your agent. I can look
after your Medicare interest. The open enrollment season is fast
approaching this October, and you need me to watch your
back as much as Spencer relies on Hawk and a
Robert Parker novel. Don't miss this chance to mix business
(23:07):
with pleasure. Now, how about I hit that intro music
one more time to set us up for today's second feature.
I'll be back right after this familiar tune now, so
way back in July nineteen seventy three, Ellery Queen Mystery
magazine published their three hundred and eighty seventh first story.
(23:31):
This means a first story of a planned series that
would appear in future issues of the magazine. This three
hundred and eighty seventh first story was Murder by Scalping.
The author was John Hurley, but he wrote all of
his stories as SS Rafferty. In this story, again murder
by Scalping, the editor says this quote, this is an
(23:52):
interesting fictional debut that introduces an unusual detective, Captain Cork,
a specialist in what he calls social puzzle. The action
takes place in the eighteenth century in the American colonies
before the Revolutionary War. The author claims that Captain Cork
is the first colonial op on Record. This story was
(24:14):
not only the first Captain Cork story, but it was
also the author's debut publication. Now John Hurley broke into
the fiction writing business in nineteen seventy three, at the
age of forty three. John was born in nineteen thirty.
He lived until two thousand and He produced over fifty
short stories for the mystery magazines. Further, his stories were
frequently printed in book anthologies. For example, he was in
(24:36):
the Alfred Hitchcock anthology books Tales to Make Your Hair
Stand on End nineteen eighty one, Tales of Terror nineteen
eighty six, Hitchcock's Book of Horror Stories six in nineteen
eighty seven, and Hitchcock's Most Wanted the First Lineup in
nineteen eighty eight. He also appeared in Tricks and Treats,
a nineteen seventy six anthology edded by Bill Pronzini. He
(24:58):
was also in anthology's Like The Twelve Crimes of Christmas,
The Mammoth Book of Historical Who Done Its? The Mammoth
Book of Historical Detectives, Best Detective Stories of the Year,
Manhattan Mysteries, New England Crime chowder Man, This Dude Got around?
Chances are you've probably read one of his stories. I
bet so. Who was this guy? Hurley was a native
(25:20):
New Englander who grew up immersed in colonial history. He
was raised just a few blocks from where the British
came ashore to burn Newhaven, and he spent many of
his summers building sand castles on the site of the
Battle of Compo Beach. He's setting Hallary Queen Mystery magazine. Quote.
I had to pass Noah Webster's old house every day
on the way to high school and read his book
(25:42):
every chance I got, since we were neighbors of a
sort end quote. But like our last feature, we just
don't know much of anything about this guy Hurley, who
again used the name ss Rafferty. He doesn't populate the
Internet with entries. There's the fiction mag Index, there's the
Alfred Hitchcock Wick, there's a blog entry, and that's really it.
(26:03):
So what we have are just the facts, and that's
the writing he left for us all to read. So
let's dig into the first series that he wrote, which
was the aforementioned Captain Cork series. I think you'll like this. So,
beginning in nineteen seventy three, Hurley wrote fifteen stories starring
Cork through nineteen seventy nine, just a six year publishing
run of this character, and these were all Ellery Queen
(26:24):
Mystery Magazine, other than one story that ran in Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in seventy nine. There were also two
original stories that were included in a book titled Fatal Flourishes,
which we'll talk about in a moment. The six foot
six inch tall Captain Jeremy Cork is a fictional eighteenth
century inventor, speculator, and amateur sleuth. His sidekick as a
(26:46):
former English bond slave turn accountant named Wellman Oaks. Oakes
tells the story and first person perspective similarly to Watson's
accounts in the Sherlock Holmes novels. Additionally, wherever Cork goes,
he's got a Native America Quinnipac. I don't even know
if I'm saying that name, right, Quinn a Pac warrior
named Tunksus with him. This Tunksus character stays in the shadows.
(27:08):
He never goes indoors. He lives and remains outside. In
all the Cork adventures, there's a little humor with a
rivalry between Oaks and tunksus That adds some minor fund
of these murder mysteries. Now, these Captain Cork stories are
very similar to a series we talked about here on
the show interviewed on the blog. That's Edward Hawke's Simon
Ark stories. In that series, Arc travels around with a
(27:30):
companion to investigate strange occurrences believed to be supernatural. Arc
is hoping that they are supernatural Vince that will lead
to the devil himself, but Arc is always able to
determine there isn't any ghost or goblins, and the mystery
just boils down to a mere human engaged in some
type of criminal element. Like the end of a Scooby
Doo episode, the same sort of thing happens in these stories,
(27:51):
with Cork and his accompanying duo visiting the original Thirteen
Colonies to uncover some type of mystery that's involving voodoo,
African superstitions, witchcraft, and various other forms of devilry. But
in reality, it's nothing supernatural, just the clever scheme to
swindle steel or murder. The author injects a lot of
real historical relevance to these stories and thrust the reader
(28:14):
back into this important chapter in American history. So how
do you read these stories? Well, the easiest way is
to hit eight Books or your local favorite used book
dealer and get a nineteen seventy nine avon paperback titled
Fatal Flourishes. This book's got an awesome cover, but I
don't know who the artist is. Almost all the Cork
stories are in this book, plus two additional original stories
(28:35):
written exclusively for the book. If you can't find that one,
then get another book titled Cork of the Counties, the
First American Detective. It was published in nineteen eighty four.
You should be able to get at least one of
those books. Otherwise you can hit archive dot org and
read the stories in Ellery Queen. There Now, we talked
about the Captain Cork story, but there's another character that
Hurley wrote about as well. The character is named Chick
(28:58):
Kelly or eighteen Chick Kelly murder mystery stories published between
nineteen seventy four through nineteen eighty two. All but six
of these were printed in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine The
Restaurant Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. In the first Chick Kelly story,
hang in Chick readers learned that Chick is a traveling
stand up comedian of moderate success. As the series continues,
(29:21):
Chick weaves in and out of various lifestyles based on
his career trajectory. The early stories have Chick as a
stand up comedian, and then later he gets involved in
some comedy films and plays. Then the later stories has
Chick sorta retired from the comedy business and he's managing
a nightclub in New York. I like the way that
the character evolves in these stories. It's sort of like
(29:42):
watching Matthew scudder age under Lawrence Block's keystrokes. These stories
are fairly simple. There's some sort of murder or robbery
involved behind the scenes that puts the spotlight on Chick
to prove his innocence, he's got to become the amateur sleuth.
In some stories, it can be murderers or theft at
the nightclub or Chick performs, and other stories that's Chick
dealing with criminal elements while trying to manage his accounts
(30:04):
or the nightclub business. And the police. They know who
Chick is and they're constantly coming in and out of
his life. The whole series is done in a humorous way,
and Chick, of course, is the wise, cracking detective comedian
you would expect. For the most part, the Chick Kelly
stories seem to be well liked by mystery readers. In fact,
the series' last installment, Tall Tommy and the Millionaire, was
(30:26):
nominated for an Egger Award for Best Short Story in
nineteen eighty two. So again, how do you read these stories?
While you can get yourself a book titled Chick Kelly
Die Laughing in Other Shick by ss Rafferty. It was
published as a crime Classic by International Polygonics Limited in
eighty five. Otherwise, you're going to hop on archive dot
(30:46):
org and read the stories there. You can also read
the book there too. They have got it scanned for
you in case you can't fight a used one. Someone
really should reprint all this author's work, just my opinion.
Besides these two series titles, there's another series of story
starring a New York City police captain named Finley. I
believe there were at least five of these stories, and
they all have the word Hawk and the title like
(31:07):
The Hawk and Dome of Hell, for example. I'm not
familiar with these stories, but I know in this story
The Hawk Spoils a Broth. Finley is seen reading through
a six volume series of crime novels starring a character
named Hawk. Some of the book titles that Finley reads
off is The Hawk Screams for Blood, The Hawk of
New York, and one called The Hawk Claus for Clues.
(31:31):
And I don't know how this series of Hawk books
that are in the stories play into the actual crimes
that Finley solves. It's confusing. If you have the answer
to this mystery, please let me know. The author also
wrote at least seventeen standalone short stories that appeared in
the Mystery magazine, so he was really active. Only he
didn't write any novels that I knew of. And that's
(31:52):
going to wrap up my feature on John Hurley, the
writer known as ss Rafferty. My references for this feature
was the Fiction Maggie Index, the Pretty Sinister Book Blog,
and of course archive dot Org. And that brings me
to the end of this episode. Hope you had a
great time listening to this one. There was lots of
research that went into it, lots of time spent on
(32:12):
this one. If you enjoyed it, please consider donating. You
can go to the desktop version of the Paperback Warrior
dot com blog. On the right side. You'll see the
donate link, or you can always PayPal me at AB
eight seven zero sixty three at gmail dot com. Again,
that's a like Alpha B like Bravo eight seven zero
sixty three at gmail dot com. If you want to contribute, great,
(32:34):
If not, that's okay too. Cheers to superfans like Derek Wallace,
Robert Dice, James Seeger, Peter Roebel, kr Training, David Kowwski,
and Ida Umpers for their contributions. Also a shout out
to guys like Greg Salas, Jared Keen, David Loranger, Kurt Middleman,
Ben guest Stand Wagner. I always see your names with
(32:55):
my post as a comment or like, and I really
appreciate it. All Right, So I'm done for this episode.
I'm going to go to work on the next one.
I'll see you again in a few weeks. Take care
and enjoy whatever it is you're doing. Bye Bye.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Paperback Warrior podcast.
My name's Eric, and I'm going to guide you through
this half hour or so of book talk. The purpose
of the show is vintage fiction celebrated through paperbacks, old magazines, pulps, comics.
Sometimes I pill for through some contemporary books and stories
(00:24):
as well, but not too often. You can visit Paperbackwarrior
dot com to find thousands of fiction reviews and articles
about the authors, publishers, and artists that have created this
lovable industry. Now, today's episode, I've got two features for us.
I don't have a review really for this episode, but
I've got two features. The first one's about author Jack Carney. Now,
(00:47):
he was a former pro boxer that wrote stories for
magazines like Argasy and Short Stories Magazine in the nineteen
forties and nineteen fifties. He also wrote eleven paperback original
novels with an emphasis on juvenile delinquents and teenage gangsters.
My other features about an author named John Hurley, but
he's better known by his pseudonym, which was S. S. Rafferty.
(01:11):
He started writing in the nineteen seventies and became a
fixture in the mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock, Ellery, Queen,
Mystery Monthly and so forth. He wrote about fifty four stories,
but he had a couple series characters that I've found
really interesting and I think you will too. So we're
going to have a double feature, and I think there's
going to be a lot to learn about these writers
before we dive into those features. I've got just a
(01:32):
few announcements here for you. The first is the HP
Lovecraft Film Festival schedule for next month. It's going to
be in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. It runs
August twenty second through the twenty fourth. The event will
be showing brand new short and feature films of Cosmic
Carr and it's going to air Stuart Gordon's Reanimator movie
(01:53):
to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of its release. You can
get more information at HPL Film Festival dot com Again
Hplfilmfestival dot com. If any of you go, please send
me your report back. I'd love to share it right here.
There's also the annual PulpFest coming up August seventh through
the tenth. It's gonna be in Pittsburgh. Got the Double
(02:14):
Tree by Hilton every year, PulpFest celebrates a mystery, adventures,
sci fi, romance, other forms of genre fiction in the pulps.
There's panels of discussion, vendors, auctions. It's just a really
good time and I wish I was attending. You can
learn more about PulpFest at PulpFest dot com. Also, we've
(02:35):
got Pulp Adventure Con. It's coming up November one in Langhorn, Pennsylvania.
This festival, of course, emphasizes collectibles from nineteen hundred to
nineteen seventy. It's got tables and vendors celebrating pulp magazines, comics, paperbacks,
pinup magazines, and original artwork. This festival is put on
by Rich Harvey of Bold Venture Press. And there you
(02:57):
have at those three events happening this year. Attending any
of these events, make sure you send me an email.
You can reach out to me on Facebook X let
me know how these events went, what your thoughts were.
I'd really like to hear all right. So I received
an email from Alan. It was about my Wikipedia contribution
project I've been working on for a little bit. You know,
(03:19):
I wasn't aware of it, but Alan runs a comic
book company called Green Archer comics. I checked them out online,
and man, I really love the throwback feel of their comics.
They've got several titles in both print and digital. Some
of their titles include The Clock, The Press, Guardian, Cryptid
Hacker Force. But a couple of their comics may appeal
(03:40):
directly to the paperback warrior crowd. The first one is
Johnny Dollar. It's based on the nineteen forties and nineteen
fifties radio drama. The creator has reimagined this character as
a modern private eye traveling the world to stop cyber credicals.
He's got the tie, the long coat, the fedora hat
man he looks the part four issues out thirty two
(04:01):
pages of full color. You can get more details at
Greenarcher dot io. Another you may like is The Green Archer,
the comic company's moniker. Before you get to the idea
of Green Archer ripping off Green Arrow or something like that,
keep in mind that in nineteen forty one, mort Weisinger
is said to have taken inspiration for the Green Era
(04:22):
character from Robin Hood and the Green Archer movie serials
released the prior year. There's a Green Archer comic anthology.
It's got this hero in different times throughout history. It
looks great. You can get Green Archer number zero in
both print and digital editions. Again. Visit Greenarcher dot io
for more details. So, my good friend Greg Watson, he's
(04:45):
a fan of the show. He listens to every episode.
He always sends me his comments. He was telling me
about this book he's reading, titled The Fixers. It's by E. J. Fleming. Now,
this isn't a new book. It was published in print
and digital back in fifteen. He's really loving this book.
It's a nonfiction account about the early days of MGM's studios. Now,
(05:07):
back then, studios owned their stars. They signed them the contracts,
where the studios controlled every aspect of their lives. Unlike today,
where a star can work with anyone willing to pay
their price and they can decline offers. It's a little
bit different back then. This book's about how Eddie Mannix
and Howard Strickling smoothed over countless incidents involving MGM's megastars,
(05:33):
folks like Clark Cable, Greta Garbo Wallace Bery, Judy Garland.
The list goes on and on. It was the job
of Mannix and Strictling to keep all the secrets, stuff
like Clark Gable fathering an illegitimate child, wallas Bury murdering someone,
Greta Garbo being bisexual. These were things that would have
been disastrous for the studio, could potentially have cost them
(05:56):
millions in earn movie revenue. But thanks to these two controllers,
the handles were kept hidden. Sounds like an amazing book.
It's really interesting. Again. The name is The Fixers by E. J. Fleming,
and my buddy Greg recommends it, and he's rarely wrong.
All right, So let's get into today's first feature and
(06:16):
then I'll do a little intermission afterwards. But I'll hit
that famed tune and like the late great Chuck Woolery said,
I'll be back in two and two, but more like
four seconds instead of four minutes content. Jack might now,
all right, So the reason we're doing two features today
is simply because there isn't a lot of backstory on
(06:39):
the two writers we're discussing. This first feature is on
an author named Jack Carney. As I mentioned in my opener,
he specialized in short stories. In the late forties and fifties.
He wrote eleven paperback originals. I want you to consider this
for a moment when we think about Jack Carney and
his writing. Just let this sink in for a moment.
You open up the November nineteen four forty nine Argacy
(07:01):
and you check out the table of contents. Right there
at the top of the list is Earl Stanley Gardner,
John D. MacDonald, Day Keen, and Jack Carney. How's that
for company. That's Jack Carney with crime fiction Legends in
the same magazine. So the book of my feature is
talking about Jack Carney's literary work, and I find that unusual.
(07:23):
Normally there's a life to discover, but that's not the
case with Jack. His life is mostly just one big mystery.
So here's what we do know about him. He was
born in nineteen eleven in New York City's Lower East Side,
a neighborhood inside Manhattan's Burroughs. Nothing is known about his
upbringing or education. We know Jack was in a teenage
street gang. We also know that he was a boxer
(07:45):
and probably fought as an amateur while running with the gangs.
He tried out for a job in the police department,
but due to an excessive case of flat feet, he
was rejected. He entered the civil service instead. He worked
in the New York District Attorney's office. He was married,
he had three kids, and he spent his entire life
in the same New York City neighborhood he grew up in.
(08:07):
And that's it, folks. There's no military stuff known, no
war record, no boxing record, there's no scandals, no trips
to Florida to Hobknob with people like Gil Brewer and
Harry Whittingson. There's just nothing out there about this guy.
And that's man, that's frustrating. So what we have left
is just what Jack wrote, and that's all we can
(08:28):
really talk about is his writing. So his first published
novel was There Goes Shorty Higgins. It was published in
hardcover in nineteen forty five. From what I can get
from the fiction mag Index, his first published short story
was titled in This Corner. It was featured in Argasi's
February nineteen forty five issue. The editor in that magazine
(08:51):
states at the beginning of the story that Jack's making
his fiction debut, and also mentions that he boxed professionally,
So there you go. In nineteen forty five, Jack sold
four stories to Argussy. The aforementioned In This Corner followed
by stories Stumblebum, Fighter for Sale, and Loser and New Champion.
(09:13):
Those four stories for nineteen forty five for Argussy. He
also sold two stories to Short Stories Magazine in nineteen
forty five. Those were The Canvas Sustained and Left Hand
Forward and as you can tell, Jack was fascinated with boxing.
In nineteen forty six, Jack's second book was published. It
was called The Ragged Edge. That same year he also
(09:35):
sold two more stories to Short Stories Magazine, and he
sold one to Black Mask, and that was it for
nineteen forty six. In nineteen forty seven he sold two
stories to Argussy and one to Short Stories Magazine, but
no books published that year. Nineteen forty eight he sells
a story to Argussy, one to Short Stories Magazine, again
no books. One story sold in forty nine to Argussy.
(09:58):
One story he sold in ninet teen fifty the Short
Stories Magazine, and that proved to be the last of
his short stories, just the one that he sold in
nineteen fifty and that was it for short stories. I
assumed Jack was submerged in his professional career as a
civil servant in the late nineteen forties because he just
wasn't writing as much, and then comes a little resurgence
(10:21):
in terms of Jack's books. In nineteen fifty one, his
hardcover cop is published by Henry Holt, and his prior
novel The Ragged Edge is reprinted by a Pyramid in
paperback as Tough Town. In nineteen fifty two, his hardcover
cop is reprinted by Pocket Books and also Jack writes
his only novel using a pseudonym. It was titled Halo
(10:44):
for a Heel and the pseudonym was Mike Skelley. The
book was published by Red Seal nineteen fifty three. Nothing's
happening other than Pyramid reprinting Jack's first novel, There Goes
Higgins in paperback nineteen fifty five. His book Knocked Dead
is printed by Ace as one half of a double.
His book Work of Darkness is published in hardcover by
(11:06):
Putnam in nineteen fifty six, and the books later reprinted
by Popular Library in nineteen fifty eight nineteen fifty nine.
Jack is a busy, busy guy. He sees his books
Cry Brother, Cry, Cut Me in the Knave of Diamonds,
Some Like a Tough All published in paperback nineteen fifty nine.
(11:27):
Great year for Jack. His last two novels arrive in
nineteen sixty, Layout for Murder and Yield to the Night,
and that's it. There's nothing after nineteen sixty So did
Jack die? Did he retire from writing? I mean, he
would have only been aged forty nine, So what are
we missing here? It's clear nineteen fifty nine was an
(11:50):
extremely productive year. Then he just seemingly vanishes from the
publishing world. There's just no answers. Unfortunately, the only thing
left is to tell you how Jack's roe writing was,
and the general consensus is that it was actually really,
really good. So let's go into some of his books
and stories and I'll provide just some capsule reviews, and
(12:11):
I'll start with his nineteen fifty nine novel Cut Me In.
This book was originally published by Pyramid Starkhouse Press reprinted
the book in twenty twenty two under their imprint Black
Gat Books. Now, there's been plenty of rags to riches
to criminal empire types of novels. Benjamin Apple did one
called The Life and Times of a Tough Guy. Ed
(12:32):
McBain wrote one titled Big Man under the name Richard Marston.
So Jack Carney uses the same type of formula for
this book. The book's narrative is structured around Coley Walsh.
He's a young beat cop. He's working the New York streets.
His wife died. Now he's raising his crippled son while
living with his mother on swingshifts. Coley's righteous path becomes
(12:53):
corrupt with a simple longing for a patrol car and
a promotion to investigator. But Coley decides to cut some
corners on the way to the top. So Coli learns
that the police priescinct is corrupt, with several key personnel
working hand in hand with the mob. They run the
protection rackets, the gambling joints, and they swindle politicians to
do their bidding. Coley he conceives the idea that he
(13:15):
should assemble a small group of police officers willing to
push the mob out. But these criminal elements would then
be replaced by Coli and his guys, so instead of
looking out for the syndicate, they just become a new
syndicate to The book chronicles Coli'S rise to the ranks
from small time to the big man. The most compelling
portions concerning Colly's relationship with a small business owner named
(13:37):
Joseph and his adopted daughter, Coley looks out for Cancer
and understands he represents everything right about America. Work hard,
build a legitimate owner operator business, serve the community. In
creating his criminal empire, Coley realizes guys like Cancer are
prime targets for protection rackets. Thus, there's an emotional conflict
within Colly's pursuit of fortune, conflict that really propels this
(14:01):
well written narrative. The book re lies heavy on dialogue
to tell the tale, and sometimes that can become daunting
for the reader. But in this case, I felt like
the characters were interesting enough and the story, man, it
just shakes in rattles through all these conversations. The books
beginning and ending are its strongest parts. With the finale, Man,
it's just a real barn burner with these flourishes of
(14:22):
action and cool headed resolve. Cut Me In was a
great book. Again, the originals out there on Pyramid, but
you can get the reprint from Black apt Books and
it's got the same artwork as the original. Again it's
called cut Me In. How about another paperback? I read
the nineteen fifty nine novel Cry Brother Cry. It was
published by Popular Library. It's set on New York's Lower
(14:45):
East Side. Of course, you know what most of his
books were. The book stars a young guy named Joey
Coslo Now two years ago, Joey was an up and
coming welterweight boxer. He threw the leather while working his
way up to a final boss type guy named Ox.
What a name O now? Ox is a fighter groomed
by the Mob to be the next world champ, and
the Mob's greasing his way all the way to the top.
(15:07):
So Joey he refuses to take the dive during the bout. Instead,
he beats Ox. So the Mob they come knocking on
Joey and they nearly beat him to death in an alley.
After a lengthy hospital stay, Joey's released and he immediately
tracks Ox down. He gives this guy a brutal beating
with a poolcu stick, but the police get in. They
(15:28):
bust Joey for attempted murder, and Joey he gets two
years in prison. Now, as the boat begins, Joey's out
and he's returned back home, hoping for a calmer life.
He attempts to reconnect with his younger brother Duke, but
he realizes a harsh reality when he discovers expensive clothes
and a pistol in Duke's closet. Duke's involved with the mob.
(15:50):
Joey attempts to persuade Duke, who's just a high school kid,
to go clean before it's too late. Joey's positive encouragement helps,
but eventually the money is just too darn good to
turn down. Duke goes dirty. Cry Brother Cry is it's
saturated in the teen gangster tropes. It sort of reminded
me a little bit of Edward S. Aaron's Gang Rumble
in a way, but it's far better than that in
(16:11):
this book. The cops need informers, the parents urged discipline,
the boys need maturity. But Jack's writing, which is really
written with a deadpan sort of grimness to it, it
brings to the surface this relationship journey for the main
character and his prior girlfriend, how they reconnect after the prison,
long for each other battle turbulent forces in their lives,
(16:32):
is really a subplot that nearly surpasses the whole teen
criminality angle. It was such an entertaining part of this violent, touching,
unforgettable book. Again, it's Cry, Brother Cry. It hasn't been
reprinted by anyone that I know of, But there's cheap
copies that still exist out on a books, so I
encourage you to go out and get one. All right,
So we haven't reviewed a story yet, so let me
(16:53):
do one of those real quick for you. The stories
called the Bells Are Ringing. The story was published in
the November twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven issue of Short Stories.
You can read the story for free online at archive
dot org. Later this week, I'll post a link to
the story on the Paperback Warrior blog. This story is really,
really cool. It's presented in this unique way by weaving
(17:15):
the rounds of an exciting boxing bout with the prior
events affecting the protagonists Rocky sears before the fight. It's
an unusual storytelling method that blend's in ring action, the
ticking of the rounds with a sort of countdown of
Rocky's turbulent weeks prior to the opening bell So when
the story begins, Rocky's in the ring and he's taking
(17:36):
shots from the champ in the garden. Then the scene
flashes back to the early days of the fight preparation.
Readers learned that Rocky's trainers, this old timer, his name's Pop.
He's on the cusp of retirement, like he's just old
and tired, and he wants to rest. Rocky plans on
marrying Pop's daughter, Virgie, and the two want the old
man to live with him. Once Rocky wins the big
(17:58):
money fight, will how money he can afford a wedding
in a nice house. Fergie and Pop will be happy
with Rocky. The whole thing's going to be perfect. The
story then fluctuates back and forth between Rocky being absolutely
pummeled in the ring by the champ and this broken
heart kind of story concerning Rocky's former lover. It turns
out that his former gal was a girl named Francine.
(18:21):
She was an actress she left Rocky. She left New
York to pursue a film industry in Hollywood. She's now
returned back to New York looking for work or a
sugar daddy since her movie career fizzled out. She heard
about Rocky's title fight and she wants to reconnect with
Rocky prior to the fight to get her talents back
on him now that he could potentially get some money.
(18:42):
But she brought along a boy toy on the side
in case things don't work out with Rocky, there's this
riveting twist where the boy toy has eyes on Virgie.
So there's this weird love triangle that puts Rocky's match
with a champ in perspective. If he could win, then
Francine will follow the money and won't Rocky auto herself,
leaving the boy toy to then aggressively pursue Virgie, thus
(19:05):
affecting Rocky's proposed marriage and the planned a landing spot
for the tired old man Pop. If he loses, Francine
and her boy toy will probably hit the road for
action elsewhere, leaving Virgie back with Rocky but a wedding
and a house that neither can afford because the big
payout of winning the fight won't be there. Jack Carney
can tell a story and the bells are Ringing was
(19:27):
just a remarkable mix of emotions. The comeback from Jack
and the ring pairs well with the storytelling aspect of
this love triangle and how it develops into a conundrum
for all the interested parties. Rocky's a likable character. Pop
plays a minor role in terms of dialogue and presence
in the scenes, but in reality he's the narrative's most
pivotal point. This was a real pleasure to read and
(19:49):
deserves a reprint in some fashion. Again, the story is
the bells are ringing now. Circling back to what we
know about Jack's publishing timeline was the last year he
had anything published. Now, I find this odd because it
seems as though Carney had stumbled upon a serious character
that he could write about. I mean, all the crime
(20:09):
fiction writers have this pattern of writing a bunch of
standalone novels and then they stumble upon a serious character
that they can stick with to write numerous books about
and collect paychecks. Well, Jack found that character in nineteen
fifty nine. His name is Jim Breen. He's an insurance investigator.
He debuted in a book titled The Nave of Diamonds,
which was one half of an ace double. In nineteen sixty,
(20:33):
Jack wrote a second book starring the same character, titled
Layout for Murder Now. Tom read The Nave of Diamonds
back in twenty twenty three, and he had good things
to say about it. He described the fight scenes as
top notch and that brain really gets to kick some ass.
He said the book was solid, if unremarkable, and that
it featured a heart boiled private eye that was perfectly
consistent with the genre output. In nineteen fifty nine, he said,
(20:55):
if you like that sort of thing, then you're bound
to enjoy the novel again. It was called The Nave
of Diamonds from nineteen fifty nine, published by Ace. Now,
I'll say that there have been plenty of two books
series titles through the history of crime fiction. These things happen,
but more often than not, a private eye character can
develop into a long running series between six to twenty
books in some cases. I find it odd that he
(21:18):
created this character, placed him in two books, and then
just stopped writing, which leads me to think that Jack
either died in or around nineteen sixty that's just my guess,
or he left the country and just decided to pursue
something totally different. I've nothing to base any of this on.
If anyone has the answer, then let me know. I'd
love to learn more about this writer and if we
(21:40):
even have a complete list of the books and stories
he wrote. I hope you enjoyed this feature on Jack Carney.
My references for the feature was the Starkhousepress website and
archive dot Org. All Right, Before we jump into the
next feature, I want you to be aware that you
can follow a paperback Warrior on Facebook, x, Instagram, Archive,
dot Org, threads, TikTok, and YouTube. All of these channels
(22:03):
are paperback Warrior and offer far more content and more
frequent postings than what you'll find on the blog. I
also encourage you to follow or subscribe where you can.
I've sent out about five thousand invites this past week
to follow paperback Warrior on Facebook. I've sent these invites
to people that have liked or commented on one of
my posts but don't necessarily follow paperback Warrior. Can you
(22:24):
take a moment to check your notifications. I'll bet you
may have an invite from me, or just go straight
to Facebook and follow paperback Warrior as simple as that.
As I always mentioned on this program, if you have
Medicare that means you're either age sixty five or older
or you're receiving Social Security disability benefits for more than
two years, call me my numbers five four zero three
(22:45):
one two seven zero six two again five four zero
three one two seven zero six two doesn't cost you
a dime. I can be your agent. I can look
after your Medicare interest. The open enrollment season is fast
approaching this October, and you need me to watch your
back as much as Spencer relies on Hawk and a
Robert Parker novel. Don't miss this chance to mix business
(23:07):
with pleasure. Now, how about I hit that intro music
one more time to set us up for today's second feature.
I'll be back right after this familiar tune now, so
way back in July nineteen seventy three, Ellery Queen Mystery
magazine published their three hundred and eighty seventh first story.
(23:31):
This means a first story of a planned series that
would appear in future issues of the magazine. This three
hundred and eighty seventh first story was Murder by Scalping.
The author was John Hurley, but he wrote all of
his stories as SS Rafferty. In this story, again murder
by Scalping, the editor says this quote, this is an
(23:52):
interesting fictional debut that introduces an unusual detective, Captain Cork,
a specialist in what he calls social puzzle. The action
takes place in the eighteenth century in the American colonies
before the Revolutionary War. The author claims that Captain Cork
is the first colonial op on Record. This story was
(24:14):
not only the first Captain Cork story, but it was
also the author's debut publication. Now John Hurley broke into
the fiction writing business in nineteen seventy three, at the
age of forty three. John was born in nineteen thirty.
He lived until two thousand and He produced over fifty
short stories for the mystery magazines. Further, his stories were
frequently printed in book anthologies. For example, he was in
(24:36):
the Alfred Hitchcock anthology books Tales to Make Your Hair
Stand on End nineteen eighty one, Tales of Terror nineteen
eighty six, Hitchcock's Book of Horror Stories six in nineteen
eighty seven, and Hitchcock's Most Wanted the First Lineup in
nineteen eighty eight. He also appeared in Tricks and Treats,
a nineteen seventy six anthology edded by Bill Pronzini. He
(24:58):
was also in anthology's Like The Twelve Crimes of Christmas,
The Mammoth Book of Historical Who Done Its? The Mammoth
Book of Historical Detectives, Best Detective Stories of the Year,
Manhattan Mysteries, New England Crime chowder Man, This Dude Got around?
Chances are you've probably read one of his stories. I
bet so. Who was this guy? Hurley was a native
(25:20):
New Englander who grew up immersed in colonial history. He
was raised just a few blocks from where the British
came ashore to burn Newhaven, and he spent many of
his summers building sand castles on the site of the
Battle of Compo Beach. He's setting Hallary Queen Mystery magazine. Quote.
I had to pass Noah Webster's old house every day
on the way to high school and read his book
(25:42):
every chance I got, since we were neighbors of a
sort end quote. But like our last feature, we just
don't know much of anything about this guy Hurley, who
again used the name ss Rafferty. He doesn't populate the
Internet with entries. There's the fiction mag Index, there's the
Alfred Hitchcock Wick, there's a blog entry, and that's really it.
(26:03):
So what we have are just the facts, and that's
the writing he left for us all to read. So
let's dig into the first series that he wrote, which
was the aforementioned Captain Cork series. I think you'll like this. So,
beginning in nineteen seventy three, Hurley wrote fifteen stories starring
Cork through nineteen seventy nine, just a six year publishing
run of this character, and these were all Ellery Queen
(26:24):
Mystery Magazine, other than one story that ran in Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in seventy nine. There were also two
original stories that were included in a book titled Fatal Flourishes,
which we'll talk about in a moment. The six foot
six inch tall Captain Jeremy Cork is a fictional eighteenth
century inventor, speculator, and amateur sleuth. His sidekick as a
(26:46):
former English bond slave turn accountant named Wellman Oaks. Oakes
tells the story and first person perspective similarly to Watson's
accounts in the Sherlock Holmes novels. Additionally, wherever Cork goes,
he's got a Native America Quinnipac. I don't even know
if I'm saying that name, right, Quinn a Pac warrior
named Tunksus with him. This Tunksus character stays in the shadows.
(27:08):
He never goes indoors. He lives and remains outside. In
all the Cork adventures, there's a little humor with a
rivalry between Oaks and tunksus That adds some minor fund
of these murder mysteries. Now, these Captain Cork stories are
very similar to a series we talked about here on
the show interviewed on the blog. That's Edward Hawke's Simon
Ark stories. In that series, Arc travels around with a
(27:30):
companion to investigate strange occurrences believed to be supernatural. Arc
is hoping that they are supernatural Vince that will lead
to the devil himself, but Arc is always able to
determine there isn't any ghost or goblins, and the mystery
just boils down to a mere human engaged in some
type of criminal element. Like the end of a Scooby
Doo episode, the same sort of thing happens in these stories,
(27:51):
with Cork and his accompanying duo visiting the original Thirteen
Colonies to uncover some type of mystery that's involving voodoo,
African superstitions, witchcraft, and various other forms of devilry. But
in reality, it's nothing supernatural, just the clever scheme to
swindle steel or murder. The author injects a lot of
real historical relevance to these stories and thrust the reader
(28:14):
back into this important chapter in American history. So how
do you read these stories? Well, the easiest way is
to hit eight Books or your local favorite used book
dealer and get a nineteen seventy nine avon paperback titled
Fatal Flourishes. This book's got an awesome cover, but I
don't know who the artist is. Almost all the Cork
stories are in this book, plus two additional original stories
(28:35):
written exclusively for the book. If you can't find that one,
then get another book titled Cork of the Counties, the
First American Detective. It was published in nineteen eighty four.
You should be able to get at least one of
those books. Otherwise you can hit archive dot org and
read the stories in Ellery Queen. There Now, we talked
about the Captain Cork story, but there's another character that
Hurley wrote about as well. The character is named Chick
(28:58):
Kelly or eighteen Chick Kelly murder mystery stories published between
nineteen seventy four through nineteen eighty two. All but six
of these were printed in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine The
Restaurant Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. In the first Chick Kelly story,
hang in Chick readers learned that Chick is a traveling
stand up comedian of moderate success. As the series continues,
(29:21):
Chick weaves in and out of various lifestyles based on
his career trajectory. The early stories have Chick as a
stand up comedian, and then later he gets involved in
some comedy films and plays. Then the later stories has
Chick sorta retired from the comedy business and he's managing
a nightclub in New York. I like the way that
the character evolves in these stories. It's sort of like
(29:42):
watching Matthew scudder age under Lawrence Block's keystrokes. These stories
are fairly simple. There's some sort of murder or robbery
involved behind the scenes that puts the spotlight on Chick
to prove his innocence, he's got to become the amateur sleuth.
In some stories, it can be murderers or theft at
the nightclub or Chick performs, and other stories that's Chick
dealing with criminal elements while trying to manage his accounts
(30:04):
or the nightclub business. And the police. They know who
Chick is and they're constantly coming in and out of
his life. The whole series is done in a humorous way,
and Chick, of course, is the wise, cracking detective comedian
you would expect. For the most part, the Chick Kelly
stories seem to be well liked by mystery readers. In fact,
the series' last installment, Tall Tommy and the Millionaire, was
(30:26):
nominated for an Egger Award for Best Short Story in
nineteen eighty two. So again, how do you read these stories?
While you can get yourself a book titled Chick Kelly
Die Laughing in Other Shick by ss Rafferty. It was
published as a crime Classic by International Polygonics Limited in
eighty five. Otherwise, you're going to hop on archive dot
(30:46):
org and read the stories there. You can also read
the book there too. They have got it scanned for
you in case you can't fight a used one. Someone
really should reprint all this author's work, just my opinion.
Besides these two series titles, there's another series of story
starring a New York City police captain named Finley. I
believe there were at least five of these stories, and
they all have the word Hawk and the title like
(31:07):
The Hawk and Dome of Hell, for example. I'm not
familiar with these stories, but I know in this story
The Hawk Spoils a Broth. Finley is seen reading through
a six volume series of crime novels starring a character
named Hawk. Some of the book titles that Finley reads
off is The Hawk Screams for Blood, The Hawk of
New York, and one called The Hawk Claus for Clues.
(31:31):
And I don't know how this series of Hawk books
that are in the stories play into the actual crimes
that Finley solves. It's confusing. If you have the answer
to this mystery, please let me know. The author also
wrote at least seventeen standalone short stories that appeared in
the Mystery magazine, so he was really active. Only he
didn't write any novels that I knew of. And that's
(31:52):
going to wrap up my feature on John Hurley, the
writer known as ss Rafferty. My references for this feature
was the Fiction Maggie Index, the Pretty Sinister Book Blog,
and of course archive dot Org. And that brings me
to the end of this episode. Hope you had a
great time listening to this one. There was lots of
research that went into it, lots of time spent on
(32:12):
this one. If you enjoyed it, please consider donating. You
can go to the desktop version of the Paperback Warrior
dot com blog. On the right side. You'll see the
donate link, or you can always PayPal me at AB
eight seven zero sixty three at gmail dot com. Again,
that's a like Alpha B like Bravo eight seven zero
sixty three at gmail dot com. If you want to contribute, great,
(32:34):
If not, that's okay too. Cheers to superfans like Derek Wallace,
Robert Dice, James Seeger, Peter Roebel, kr Training, David Kowwski,
and Ida Umpers for their contributions. Also a shout out
to guys like Greg Salas, Jared Keen, David Loranger, Kurt Middleman,
Ben guest Stand Wagner. I always see your names with
(32:55):
my post as a comment or like, and I really
appreciate it. All Right, So I'm done for this episode.
I'm going to go to work on the next one.
I'll see you again in a few weeks. Take care
and enjoy whatever it is you're doing. Bye Bye.
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