HYMN TIME

 Elvis (ahem) Presley (?) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWSGzpCZP5M

SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY #113: BLACKSHIRT AND THE SECRET OF COREY'S CASTLE (OCTOBER 1957)

 Richard Verrill, the professional thief known as "Blackshirt" turned mystery writer and crime fighter, was created by Graham Montague Jeffries (1900-1982) under the pseudonym "Bruce Graeme."  Jeffries wrote over 100 books over a period of 60 years, ten of which feature the popular hero; twenty additional novels were written by Jeffries' son Roderic under the name "Roderic Graeme."  "Bruce Graeme" had also written three historical crime novels about the character's 16th century French ancestor Monsieur Blackshirt, "a gallant scallywag"; these novels appeared under the name "David Graeme," who was purported to be Bruce Graeme's cousin, but was actually Jeffries himself.  It doesn't end there -- "Bruce Graeme also published three novels about Blackshirt's son, Lord Blackshirt.

Britain's Super Detective Library (All in Pictures) featured Blackshirt in at least thirteen issues for 1956 to 1959.  "Blackshirt and the Secret of Corey's Castle" is credited to Roderic Graeme.

"This is a story of a damsel in distress -- Caroline Simpson.  Because of her father's job she was kidnapped by a big-time underworld racketeer.  Her father was Assistant Commissioner of Police -- but her couldn't help her..

"There was only one man who could help Caroline -- a man who loved adventure, a knight errant in modern dress -- a man who carried on a war against crime with weapons with weapons the police dared not use -- BLACKSHIRT!

"Blackshirt fought the scum of the underworld with their own cunning methods -- and there was no more worthy adversary for him than Brady Stevens -- a racketeer who would stiop at nothing to gain his own ends!

"It was Blackshirt's job to trace the kidnapped Caroline to grim, forbidding Corey's Castle -- -- and to fight Brady Stevens on his own ground -- -- --"

Let's go along for the ride, shall we?

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=95776&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK: CODE OF ARMS

 Code of Arms by Lawrence Block & Harold King, 1981

When Lawrence Block set out to write a World War Ii spy thriller he found himself a bit over his head and thriller writer Harold King was eventually asked to come on board as a co-author.  The result is a detailed and historically accurate (as much as possible for a work of fiction) account that both explains why Hitler never invaded England and why Rudolph Hess tried to broker a peace deal with England without Hitler's knowledge.   Not a typical Lawrence Block book by any means but still chockful of what you would expect from him:  deft characterization, tight plotting, rapid pacing, and a great read.

One of Germany's greatest weapons was the unbreakable Enigma coding machine.  But in a top-secret effort the British have broken the Enigma code.  and now they must do everything they can to prevent the Germans from learning that their code has been broken.  Enter James Carstairs, a totally ruthless and driven man placed in charge of not letting the Germans know that Enigma had been broken.  the British have been selectively using the information they have gathered, but the fear is that the Germans may soon suspect that their enigma messages were no longer safe.  Carstairs set up a phony network of spies in order make the Germans assume that the captured information had come from a high-ranking Nazi collaborator rather than from Enigma.  The Nazi they picked for their unwitting foil was Rudolph Hess, the third in the Nazi government and a close friend of Hitler.  The people chosen for Carstairs' network would have no idea that the network was phony and no idea that they were immanently expendable.

American Ted Campbell was an avowed neutral although he had close ties to both England and Germany.  The son of a famed World War I fighting Ace and now the owner of Campbell Aircraft, with main offices and manufacturing facilities in Germany, he has had a personal relationship with many of the Third Reich's top leaders -- not realizing the he was being used as a useful idiot.  With the death of his father, Ted has assumed a mostly administrative role in the company, waiting for the endless paperwork fostered by the German government to be finished so that he can assume control of his company.  Because of the war,  his two major manufacturing plants have been closed...or so he thinks.  Actually they are being used to secretly supply the Luftwaffe with Campbell airplane motors for the German war effort.  It is only when he discovers that a German plane that had crashed into a British estate. killing his fiancee. had been outfitted with a Campbell engine that Ted realizes he had been a dupe.  Ted is recruited by Carstairs and now must navigate dangerous German political waters without truly what his true purpose in this game was.

Johann Regenhauer is a bloodless, psychopathic SS officer wanting to advance his career.  He is charged by Reinhardt Heydrich to investigate rumors of a group of spies working with someone in the fourth Reich.  He does this in thez bloodiest, most ruthless way possible.  Getting only bits and pieces of the plot through torture, Reganhauer soon determines wrongly that Campbell is intricately involved, b ut he must tread carefully because Campbell is friendly with the still powerful Hess.

Hess, meanwhile, while remaining loyal to his friend Hitler and to Germany, feels that it is a grave error for Germany to invade England.  The true enemy is Russia.  If he can somehow arrange for England to join with Germany in attacking Russia, it would be a glorious victory for Hitler.

Kate Buchanan, is an American war correspondent broadcasting from Germany, well-liked because her reporting has caused no problems with the German censors.  She was once a lover of Ted Campbell, but later married a Communist sympathizer; he husband was killed in the Spanish Civil War and Kate has become allied with an offshoot Communist group working in Germany.  Ted learns that the group will soon be targeted by the Gestapo and, fearing for Kate, urges her to leave; when he tries to leave, her former allies try to blow her up, leaving her permanently blind.  Ted's feelings for Kate resurface and she becomes a pawn in the game between him and Reganhauer.

Meanwhile Ted has to try to stop Germany's planned invasion of England and has get an unwitting Hess to Scotland and into the hands of the British...

A finely-wrought thriller.

Block's co-author, Harold King, was best known for his novel Paradigm Red, which was made into the 11977 television film Red Alert.  His other novels include The Task Master, Closing Ceremonies, and Hahnemann Sequela.  

Code of Arms received only one printing from ists publisher, although the publisher evidently released an eBook version that same year (1981).  It was reprinted once in paperback by Berkley in 1982.  It has not been reprinted since.  It is one of only a few of Block novels that he has not reprinted under his own imprint, LB Books.  In terms of page count, it remains Block's second longest novel, coming in at 441 pages to Small Town's 448 pages.

This may not be the Block you are used to but it is a captivating and thrilling read.  

LUX RADIO THEATRE: IS ZAT SO? (SEPTEMBER 1, 1936)

Is Zat So? began as a play written by James Gleason and Richard Taber and produced by George Brinton McLellan and ran for 634 performances in New York's 39th Street Theatre, and opened the same year at the Adelphi Theatre in London..  The comedy, starring Gleason, Sidney Riggs, and Armstrong, featured two brothers -- a boxer and his manager -- who are hired by a high society gent to teach him how to fight.  Lurking in the wings is an unscrupulous brother-in-law, eager to gain control of the man's and his sister's inheritance.

The play was adapted as a silent film in 1927, featuring George O'Brien, Edmund Lowe, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and directed by Alfred E. Green from a script by Philip Klein.  the only known copies of the film were destroyed in the 1937 Fox film fire, and it is now considered a lost film.

Lux Radio Theatre, ran from 1934 to 1955 on, first, the NBX Blue Network, then consecutively on ABC, CBS, and NBC Radio.  For the first two seasons, the program dramatized Broadway plays, before moving on to recent films;  a singular effort was made to feature the original stars of the plays and films whenever possible, usually paying them $6000 for an appearance.  The hour-long show was recorded in front of a live audience.  The show continued on television as Lux Video Theatre through the 1950s.  Cecil B. DeMille served as host of the show from 1936 to the beginning of 1945.

Robert Armstrong, who appeared in the original Broadway play, is featured in this adaptation, along with James Cagney and Boots Mallory.  

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_UrZ4gpn8M&list=PLlUoyloCGlWzovaTaxVhZfMH9C0StdA95&index=14

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: GYNECOLOGIA

 "Gynecologia" by Gilbert Cannan (from Windmills, A Book of Fables, 1915)

Gilbert Cannan (1884-1955) was a British translator (Rolland's Jean-Christophe, Heine's Memoirs, and books by Chekhov and Larbaud), novelist, essayist, poet, and playwright who managed to published more than thirty titles over fifteen years before he succumbed to insanity and was institutionalized for the last 32 years of his life.  In 1914, near the beginning of his career, Cannan was listed as one of four significant up-and-coming authors by Samual Butler; the other three were D. H. Lawrence, Compton Mackenzie, and Hugh Walpole -- heady company, indeed.  Cannan served as secretary to J. M. Barrie and began a relationship with Barrie's wife whom he eventually married; not only did Cannan get Barrie's wife, he also got Barrie's Newfounsland Luath, who was the inspiration for the Darling's dog Nana in Peter Pan.  An earlier relationship failed when the woman left him for explorer Robert Falconer Scott.  When his marriage ended in divorce, he began an affair with Gwen Wilson ("a show stopping beauty"), and when Wilson married British MP Henry Mond, 2nd Baronet Melchett, the three of them formed a menage a trois.  Cannan's circle included D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, John Middleton Murray, Dora Carrington, Bertrand Russell, Ottoline Morrell, Dorothy Brett, C. R. W. Nevinson, and the artist Mark Gertler.   One of his cousins was the noted mystery novelist Joanna Cannan.  A pacifist and conscientious object, he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1916, in part due to the horror of war but also the possibility that he might be conscripted.   A more significant mental breakdown occurred in 1923 an proved to be incurable; he was sent to the Priory Hospital in Roehampton, and then confined to Hollooway /sanitarium for the rest of his life.

"Gynecologia" appeared as the third story in the collection Windmills, which tells of the fictional (and allegorical) country of Fatland, whose traditional enemy were the Fatters.  This particular tale satirizes in some detail the near-future sexual mores of that dystopia as reported by American Conrad Lewis:

"I, Conrad P. Lewis, of Crown Imperial, Pa., U.S.A., do hereby declare that the following narrative of my adventures is a plain truthful tale with nothing added or taken away.  At the end of a long life I am able to remember unmoved things that for many years I could not call to mind without horror and disgust.  Even now I cannot see the charming person of my daughter without some faint discomfort, to be rid of which (for I would die in peace) I have determined to write my story.

"The whole civilized world will remember how, during the years when Europe was sunk under the vileness of a scientific barbarism, there was suddenly an end of news from Fatland.  Our ships that sailed for her ports did not return.  Her flag had disappeared from the high seas.  Her trade had entirely ceased.  She exported neither coal nor those manufactured goods which had carried her language, customs, and religion to the ends of the earth.  Her colonies (we learned) had received only a message to say that they must in future look after themselves, as, indeed, they were capable of doing as any other collection of people.  In one night Fatland ceased to be.

"It was at first assumed that her enemies the Fatters had invaded and captured her, but, clearly, they would not destroy her commerce.  Moreover, the Fatters were at that time and for many years afterwards living in a state of siege, keeping nine hostile nations at bay upon their frontiers.  This was the last of the great wars, leading, as we now know, to the abolition of the idea of nationality, which endowed a nation with the attributes of a vain and insolent human being, so that its actions were childish and could only be made effective by force.  When that idea died in the apathy and suffering and bitterness of the years following the great wars then the glorious civilisation which we now enjoy became possible."

So, if it wasn't the Fatters. then what could have had such a devastating effect on the once glorious Fatland?

Allegory and satire is always tricky, perhaps even more so when read nearly 110 years after the fact.  nonetheless, this is an enjoyable tale and, for some reason, I felt is appropriate to present it to you now...

The entire book, Windmills, a Book of Fables, is at the link.  the three other stories in the book are "Samways Island", "Ultimus", and ""Out of Work".

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t3513wd0s&seq=1

OVERLOOKED OATER: UNDER WESTERN STARS (1938)

Selected for admission to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 2009 as being 'culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and worthy of being preserved for all time, Under Western Stars also marked the first starring role for Roy Rogers, made under contract to Republic Pictures after a walkout by singing cowboy star Gene Autry.  The film's song, "Dust", was nominated for an Academy Award for best song.

John Fairbank (Guy Usher, The Case of the Black Cat, The Spanish Cape Mystery, Buck Rogers), who runs the local water company, has refused to allow free water for farmers and ranchers, forcing Roy rogers and his men to overpower guards at the dam and release a water valve.  A sympathetic judge fines Roy only one dollar, while also convincing him to follow in his father's footsteps and run for congress.  Elected to the House of Representatives. Roy brings the misery of the "Dust Bowl" plight to the attention of the politicians.  Roy is secretly helped by Fairbanks' daughter, Eleanor (Carol Hughes, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, Renfrew of the Royal Mounted, The Border Legion).  When Roy needs the backing of a key congressman, he arranges for an inspection trip, but the congressman is unimpressed.  So slyboots Roy gets the inspection party stranded without water to make a point.

Also featuring a familiar cast of faces and character actors:  Smiley Burnette, Tom Chatterton, Kenneth Harlan (he of nine[!] wives -- there may have been more wives, but they weren't his), Stephen Chase, Earl Dwire, Dick Elliott, Slim Whitaker, Jack Rockwell, and the Maple City Four (Frits Meissner, Al Rice, Art James, and Pat Petterson(.  Among those in uncredited roles are George Montgomery (Philip Marlowe in The Brasher Doubloon), Henry Hall, Jack Ingram, and (of course) Trigger (his first film).

Directed by Joseph Kane from a script by Dowell McGowan, Stuart McGowan, and Betty Burbridge.

As hinted above, Under Western Stars was meant to be a vehicle for Gene Autry under the title Washington Cowboy.

 Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwmCvndTNl0&list=PLpAGnumt6iV4zCl3zeB75j6eKEPmDBSYC&index=31

BITS & PIECES

Openers:  Being convinced that his end was nearly come, and having lived long on earth (and all these years in Spain, in the golden time), the lord of the Valleys of Arguento Harez, whose heights are not Valladolid, called for his eldest son.  And so he addressed him when he was come to his chamber, dim with its strange red hangings and august with the splendour of Spain:  "O eldest son of mine, your younger brother being dull and clever, on whom those traits that women love have not been bestowed by God; and know my eldest son that here on earth , and for ought I know Hereafter, but certainly here on earth, these women be the arbiters of all things; and how this be so God knoweth only, for they are vain and variable, yet it is surely so:  your younger brother then not having been given those ways that women prize, and God knows why they prize them for they are vain ways that I have in mind and that won me the Valleys of Arguento Harez, from whose heights Angelico swore he saw Valladolid once, and that won me moreover also...but that is long ago and it is all gone now...ah well, well...what was I sating?"  And being reminded of the discourse, the old lord continued, sating, "For himself he will win nothing, and therefore I will leave him these my valleys, for not unlikely it was for some sin of mine that his spirit was visited with dullness, as Holy Writ sets forth, the sins of the father being visited upon the children; and thus I make him amends.  but to you I leave my long, most flexible, ancient Castilian blade, which infidels dreaded if old songs be true.  Merry and lithe it is, and its true temper strength when it meets another blade as two friends sing when met after many years.  It is most subtle, nimble nd exultant, and what it will not win for you in the wars, that shall be won for you by your mandolin, for you have a way with it that goes well with the old sirs of Spain.  And choose, my son, rather a moonlight night when you sing under those curved balconies that I know, ah me, so well; for there is much advantage in the moon.  In the first place maidens see in the light of the moon, especially in the Spring, more romance than you might credit, for it adds for them a mystery in the darkness which the n ight has not when it is merely black.  And if any statue should gleam on the  grass near by, or if the magnolia be in blossom, or even the nightingale singing, or if anything be beautiful in the night, in any of these things also there is advantage; for a maiden will attribute to her lover all manner of things that are not his at all, but are only an outpouring of the hand of God.  there is the advantage also in the moon, that, if interrupters come, the moonlight is better suited to the play of a blade than the mere darkness of night; indeed but the merry play of my sword in the moonlight was often a joy to see, it so flashed, so danced, so sparkled.  In the moonlight also one makes no unworthy stroke, buy hath scope for those fair passes that Sevastiani taught, which were long ago the wonder of Madrid."

-- Don Rodrigues:  Chronicles of the Shadow Valley by Lord Dunsany (1922)

And so begins the wandering, episodic adventures of Rodrigues in an ancient Spain that never existed.  The dreamlike, mystical, romantic fantasy, embued with a rich lyrical language and infused with a sly wit, owes not a little of Cervantes and his Don Quixote; to the point where Rodrigues eventually gets his own Sancho Panza before the successful conclusion of his quest.

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett (1878-1957), eighteenth Baron Dunsany, was a man of many parts:  "peer, soldier, novelist, poet, sportsman, globetrotter, playwright, translator, essayist,", one-time chess champion of Ireland, and "the worst-dressed man" in the country.   A master of Anglo-Irish fantasy, Dunsany penned hundreds of short stories, including those set in the invented world of Peguna (with its own unique pantheon of gods), and the adventures of Joseph Jorkens (who would relate his many fantastic experiences for a drink).  Of his more than ninety books, fourteen  were novels (some published posthumously), and Don Rodigues:  Chronicles of Shadow Valley, to be followed by his most famous novel, The King of Elfland's Daughter.   A sequel to Dom Rodrigues, The Charwoman's Shadow, was published in 1926.  Dunsany's short story "Two Bottles of Relish" (Time and Tide, November 12, 1932) has been an enduing classic crime story and has been reprinted at least 43 (!) times.

  

Incoming:

• Gary A. Braunbeck, Mr. Hands.  Horror novel.  It was an odd doll, carved out of wood, with stubby legs but long arms and huge hands.  So little Sarah named it Mr. Hands.  She love that doll...until the day she was murdered.  Now her mother, Lucy, has discovered something amazing about her daughter's doll -- it allows her to control another Mr. Hands.  But this one is no doll.  He's a living, terrifying being with tremendous power.    Mr. Hands's deadly power is at Lucy's command.  He will do whatever she tells him -- even kill.  To Lucy this is a rare opportunity, a chance to see that justice is done.  Her justice.  She decides who will live and who will suffer a horrible death, and Mr. Hands carries out the sentence without mercy.  But once Mr. Hands is unleashed, will anyone be able to stop him?"  This edition incudes the International Horror Guild award-winning novella, "Kiss of the Mudman."
• Lawrence Block, a bunch of early novels, mostly erotica originally published by Midwood or by Midnight Reader  (and associated lines):  Candy (originally by "Sheldon Lord"), Carla (originally by "Sheldon Lord"; Block's first published book); College for Sinners (originally by "Andrew Shaw"; also published as The Libertines); Four Lives at the Crossroads (originally published as Crossroads of Lust by "Andrew Shaw"); Sex Takes a Holiday (originally by "Howard Bond"; a long-lost novel -- for years Block did not known if the book was published, or if so, under what title or what name); Sin Bum (originally by "Andrew Shaw");  Tramp (originally by "Andrew Shaw"); The Wife Swapper (originally by "Andrew Shaw"); and A Woman Must Love (originally by "Sheldon Lord."  Also, As Dark as Christmas Gets, a Chip Harrison story originally released as a booklet by the Mysterious Bookshop.  (I'm not done with Block yet -- see Cornell Woolrich, below.)  Block has released much of his backlist lately under his own imprint, LB Books.
• Larry Correia, Monster Hunter International.  Fantasy novel, with high-powered weapons.  "Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer.  It turns out that monsters are real.  All the things from myth, legends, and B movies are out there, waiting in the shadows.  Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry.  On the other side are people who kill monsters for a living.  Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business.  And now Owen is their new recruit.  Business is good..."  The first of (thus far) eight novels in the series; there are also a number of short stories and additional books in the franchise.
• Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad.  2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with some fantastic elements.  "a set of thirteen interrelated stories with a large set of characters all relating to Bernie Salazar, a record company executive, and his assistant, Sasha.  The book centers on the mostly self-destructive characters of different ages who, as they grow older, are sent in unforeseen, and sometimes unusual, directions by life.  The stories shift back and forth in time from the 1970s to the present and into the near future."  The book also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2010.  a sequel, The Candy House, was published in 2022.
• Loren D. Estleman, Adventures of Johnny Vermillion.  Western.  "Johnny Vermillion's theater troupe brings masterpieces tot he wild west.  The four actors are versatile enough to wear many costumes and play many roles.  A few props, a little makeup, a costume and  -- voila -- applause on the rugged frontier.  Johnny also arranges a special attraction in each town.  While his actors bustle on and off the stage in many roles, one plays the villain in the bank.  Then the troupe takes the curtain calls and makes its escape aboard a train.  Johnny Vermillion is one of the most entertaining rogues ever to turn a dishonest dollar.  Any audience will love a troupe that can transform A Midsummer's Night Dream into grand larceny."
• John Farris, Soon She Will Be Gone.  Thriller.  "To the outward eye the billionaire Trevillion family appears to be the paradigm of culture and class.  But when hot young artist Sharan Norbeth is taken under their wing, she discovers that family loyalties have become horribly twisted, and hidden evil festers below the surface.  Sharan must pry apart the mystery hidden in the family's innermost core -- and fast, if she doesn't want to disappear into a traceless oblivion."
• Chester Gould, Chester Gould's The Complete Dick Tracy, Volume 20:  1961-1962, Dailies and Sundays.  Compilation of the newspaper comic strip.  Along the way we meet such characters as Spready, Happy Voten. Keip Choppin, Trusty, Mona the Mouthpiece, and Little Boy Beard.  There were, I believe, 26 volumes in this series, covering Tracy's career from 1931 to 1977, when Max Allan Collins took over the writing chores and breathed new life into the strip.
• Peter Haining, The Compleat Birdman:  An Illustrated History of Man-powered Flight.  Nonfiction.  "The amazing history of man's search for flight is recounted in texts and a wealth of illustrations.  Drawing on old legends, folklore, eye-witness reports, newspaper cuttings, literature, and much unpublished material, and including many illustrations and engravings of considerable rarity, the author has produced the first full history of this phenomenon, from the days of the cave man to the space age.  It is a glorious panorama of centuries of near achievement, and often heartbreaking failure, culminating in man's latest aeronautical enthusiasm, hang-gliding.  The author comments o  such provocative issues as whether the witches of tradition could fly, as rumour maintained, whether Leonardo da Vinci, who played such a significant role in the development of aeronautics, actually tried to fly himself, and whether there might be any truth in the theory that the first men possessed the ability to fly, and then lost it through their own folly."   A lot of bushwah covered here, folks.  Haining was best known as an indefatigable (and sometimes flawed) anthologist.
• Gar Anthony Haywood, All the Lucky Ones Are Dead.  An Aaron Gunnar mystery, the sixth in the series.  "Young gangsta-rap superstar C. E. Digga Jones has everything to live for -- respect, money, and a beautiful family.  so when he commits suicide, questions need asking.  But it turns out the dead man's perfect life was far from perfect -- and the more questions came up, the more answers point to a motive for murder."
• Janet Hutchins, editor, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2021 and September/October 2023 issues.  Every nonce in a while someone donates copies of EQMM to our local library, where they are sold for a quarter apiece.   No fool me, I pick them up when I can.  These issues include stories by Jerome Charyn, Joyce Carol Oates, Liza cody, Bill Pronzini, and Twist Phelan, among others.
• Cathleen Jordan, editor, Alfred Hitchcock's Shrouds and Pockets.  Mystery anthology of 29 stories from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, first published from 1966 to 1981; also issued as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Anthology #26 (Winter 1988).  Authors include Edward D. Hoch, John Lutz, Bill Pronzini, Jack Ritchie, Lawrence Treat, Kaye Nolte Smith, Richard Deming, Arthur Porges, Edward Wellen, and Joe l. Hensley.
• Stuart Kaminsky, CSI:NY:  Dead of Winter.  Original tie-in novel.  "The body of a middle-aged man is found in the elevator of a ritzy doorman building on the Upper East Side.  Mac Taylor and Aiden Burns's initial investigation yields no bullets, no DNA evidence, and no motive.  Could this be the perfect crime?  Meanwhile, only a few blocks away, Stella Bonasera and Danny Messer investigate the murder of a witness being held in protective custody.  The law enforcement officers on duty swear that the victim spent the night in a locked hotel room -- only to be found dead in the morning.  From the heart of Midtown to the outer boroughs, the New York CSI team must piece together the evidence and solve two puzzling crimes in the city that never sleeps."
• Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise.  Crime novel.  "In hindsight, Victoria's Secret model Kelly Barr thinks maybe it wasn't such a great idea to accompany her callgirl roommate Chloe to Tony Paradiso's house.  The wealthy, eighty-four-year-old retired Motor City lawyer's idea of fun was innocent enough; watching old Michigan football games on TV while a sexy companion shakes her pom-poms and prances around topless in a U of M cheerleader's outfit.  On this particular night, though, two killers decide to get into the action, leaving Chloe and 'Mr. Paradiso' dead in the old man's living room while Kelly is elsewhere with Tony's right-hand man.  there is a bright spot, an opportunity for a very profitable score, provided Kelly can convince the cops she's somebody else.  But Homicide Detective Frank Delsa isn't stupid, even if he is lonely, good-hearted...and about to sign up for more trouble than he ever bargained for."
• James Reasoner, Fear on the Fever Coast.  Sword and sorcery, Book 2 in the Snakehaven series.  "Young adventurer Jorras Trevayle is back, penetrating deeper into a dangerous world of giant serpents, sorcerers, pirates, and madmen.  A dead.ly plague is laying waste to the land, and the secret to its cure lies within the sanctum of a vengeful wizard.  Together with a group of brigands and cutthroats, Trevayle sets out to obtain that cure, but the real question is which is the biggest threat to his continued survival:  the sorcerer who wants to settle a score with him, the swamp surrounding the old plantation house known as Ophidionne, or the giants serpents that roam the night searching for prey!"
• Selden Rodman, editor, 100 American Poems.  An old Penguin Signet paperback from 1948.  Covering poets from Edward Taylor (1644?-1729) to Robert Lowell (1917-  )  [SPOILER ALERT:  Lowell died in 1977, but Rodman had no way of knowing that in 1948]  An interesting display of the eve-changing, yet always American, poetry landscape.  Some of there will surely show up in my Bits & Pieces posts on this blog.
• John Saul, Creature.  Horror novel.  "A powerful high-tech company.  A postcard-pretty company town.  Families.  Children,  Sunshine.  Happiness.  A high school football team that never -- ever -- loses.  And something else.  Something horrible...Now, there's a new family in town.  A shy nature-loving teenager.  A new hometown.  A new set of bullies.  Maybe the team's sports clinic can help him.  Rebuild him.  Then they won't hurt him again.  They won't dare."  A best-selling author of psychological suspense and horror novels, Saul has been big beans in the horror genre since his start in 1977, although his popularity faded somewhat in recent decades.  His earlier works, especially, were sometimes criticized for doing bad things to children.  Creature (1989) would most likely fall into that category.
• "Dell Shannon" (Elizabeth Linington), Appearances of Death, Crime File, Deuces Wild, Felony at Random, and Spring of Violence.  All mysteries featuring LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza.  Linington wrote 37 novels featuring Mendoza, plus six other novels as "Dell Shannon."  She also wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms "Lesley Egan," "Egan O'Neill," and "Anne Blaisdell."  In all, she published 82 novels (if I counted correctly).  She was one of the first female writers of the police procedural novel, and has been dubbed the "Queen of Procedurals."   Two of the books in the Mendoza series (as well as Nightmare by "Anne Blaisdell") were nominated for Edgars.  I have to admit to never having read her work, in part because of my severe antipathy of her having been an active member of the John Birch Society.
• "Richard Stark" (Donald E. Westlake) , Backflash.  A Parker novel.  "Parker's got a couple of rules that have helped him keep alive throughout his long career.  One of those is never to work on a boat.  But with a gambling boat cruising down the Hudson, stuffed to the gunwales with cash, Parker's got a plan, a team, and a new rule:  a shot at a big enough score makes any rule worth breaking.  Parker and his crew hit the boat, but as always, there are a lot of complications -- and a lot of bodies -- before this one's in the bag."
• Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash.  Science fiction, the British Science Fiction and the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning novel.  "In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CasaNostra Pizza, Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince.  Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring the infocalypse.  Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately."
• James White, Double Contact.  Science fiction, a Sector General novel.  "Sector general.  It's the massive hospital space station out on the Rim, where human and alien medicine meet.  Now, in the latest adventure, the empathic Dr. Prilicla, a veteran of Sector General for years, is put in command of an expedition answering three distress beacons.  What he finds is two hitherto-unknown intelligent species, one of which has nearly wiped out the other.  And he also finds evidence of a botched first contact -- along with a rare opportunity to set matters right.  Assuming, as always, that he make an accurate diagnosis..."  The Sector General stories are some of the best, and most imaginative,  in science fiction, made all the more remarkable by their innate core of decency.  Always worth reading.
• Cornell Woolrich & Lawrence Block, Into the Night.  Suspense novel.  An unfinished novel at the time of Woolrich's death, the book was missing a beginning, and end, and a few minor parts in the middle.  It fell to block to fill in the blanks and the book was originally published in 1887, however "better editing might have expunged the book's conflicting statements, anachronisms and unbelievable coincidences, but one suspects Woolrich knew exactly what he was doing when he put is aside."  Now a new edition has come out this year in which Block tweaked the original novel as published and provided a new ending more in keeping with Woolrich's vision (Block had originally given the story a happier ending).  The book remains 90% Woolrich and 10% Block.
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, The Palace.  Historical horror novel, the second in a series of  26 novels (and one collection) featuring the vampire Count of Saint-German.  "This spell-binding novel weaves an unforgettable tale of love, power and corruption in 15th-century Florence.  The rich collection of characters includes Laurenzo deMedici, who suffers from a mysterious and lingering ailment, Laurenzo's friend Botticelli, and Botticelli's cousin Estasia, a woman tortured by her own unquenchable desire.  Inextricably linked with these three is a stranger -- a very wealthy, mysterious newcomer to Florence named Francesco Rogoczy da San Germano.  Franceso builds himself a house that rivals the most sumptuous in the city.  No one knows for sure what rituals take place in his palace, but people suspect many things.  The stranger never eats in public; has no mirrors in his home -- even his manner of lovemaking is strange.  Francescos most powerful enemy is the fanatical monk named Savonarola -- an obsessed ascetic whose hypnotic effect on the citizens of Florence has led to the burning of Botticelli's paintings on the grounds of profanity.  Savonarola's influence is so malevolent that people have been burned at the stake.  Francesco must decide to flee with his life or to risk all to save a woman he loves from certain death."  Once upon a time a time I read everything I could fins by this author then I stopped.  I don't know why.

Screw Drivers of 1940:  Probably not what it sounds.  Here's an educational film from Shell Oil about reckless driving and pedestrian safety, shot in and around Los Angeles.  Oh, the traffic woes of eight decades ago...

You may recognize Fox Movietone News comedian Lou Lehr or Jack Benny's announcer Don Wilson.  then again, maybe you won't.

https://archive.org/details/6062_Screw_Drivers_of_1940_01_00_48_26

Chicken Chowder Two-Step Rag:  The song was written in 1905 by Irene Giblin.  This undated recording by Ossman Dudley Trio (Vess Ossman, Audley Dudley, & George Dudley) features banjo, mandolin, and harp-guitar.  Banjoist Ossman (1868-1923) began recording in 1893 and became one of the most recorded musicians of his day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AefVy6Xv-4A

And here's the song performed via piano roll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOCFzPaUe4I

Today Is World Elephant Day:  Celebrate by taking your piano to Elephants World in Thailand and playing Debussy's "Clair de Lune" to an eighty-year-old elephant.  Or you can let Paul Barton do it while both you and Ampan -- that's the elephant's name -- enjoy the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qQOGCyRbY

It's Also National Gooey Butter Cake Day:  Gooey butter Cake has been with us sine the 1930s when it was accidentally invented by a baker in St. Louis who goofed by mixing the proportion of butter in a coffee cake.  His oops was a boon to future taste buds.

Here's a simple four-step recipe to make this divine treat:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014032-st-louis-gooey-butter-cake

King Philip's War:  Today marks the 348th anniversary of the effective end of King Philip's War, between a group of indigenous natives in Northern New England and the New England colonies, lasting from 1675 to1676.  The name came from Metacom, the Pokanoket chief and Wampanoag sachem, who had adopted the name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Plymouth Colony.  Metacom became tribal chief in 1663 following his father's death, but he rejected his father's alliance with the colonies because of many flagrant violations.  In 1675 three Wampanoags were hanged in Plymouth Colony for the murder of another Wampanoag, inflaming the situation.  Native raiding parties began to attack homes and villages throughout New England.  The colonies gathered the largest armed force that New England had yet mustered -- 1000 militia and 150 Native allies; the militia made a devastating attack on the Wampanoag's allies, the Narragansetts, killing some 600 in the Great Swamp Fight near Kingston Rhode Island.. As the Narragansetts retreated, they burned communities along the way, including Providence.  John Alderman, a Wampanoag 'Praying Indian" -- a Native american who had converted to Christianity -- had been an ally of king Philip, but turned against him when Philip killed his brother.  Alderman shot and killed Philip on August 12, 1676, effectively ending the war, although sporadic fighting continued until the Treaty of Casco Bay was signed on April 12, 1678.  As a reward, Alderman was given Philip's head and one hand, keeping them in a bucket of rum and exhibiting them for a fee.

King Philp's War was the bloodiest war of Colonial times, resulting in the deaths of 1000 colonists and 3000 natives.  It also marked the beginning of a new era for the colonies -- for the first time they fought without aid from Britain, in initiating a sense of independence that would grow over the next century.

Dad Joke:  What's the difference between a lion and a tiger?  A lion won't golf, but a Tiger wood.

Happy Birthday, Gladys Bentley:  Bentley (1907-1960) was a Black, lesbian, cross-dressing  Harlem Renaissance blues singer who as often backed by a chorus line of drag queens.  Following Prohibition she relocated to Los Angeles where she was known as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs", but her career began to decline.  Although openly lesbian, she claimed to have been "cured" during the McCarthy Era by taking female hormones.  nonetheless, her deep booming voice expressed a talent that can not be denied.

"Worried Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIVgbyLfJhk

Boogie'n My Woogie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIVgbyLfJhk

"Big Gorilla Man"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aJ5gQVWO0A

"Red Beans and Rice"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uebXJFgw-0s

'How Long how Long Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I4n5ql23mA

"Lay It on the Line"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1ZccLiEsmg

"Wild Geese blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkEouYyNtcs

"How Much Can I Stand?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njiJYbeTeKM

"Moanful Wailin' Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrXKOKuYYw

Florida Man:

• Florida Man and Convicted Murderer Anthony Todt, 48, is suing the Osceola country sheriff's Office, the Osceala County Jail, former Sheriff Russell Gibson, and other officials for releasing the contents of a letter he wrote to his father while incarcerated.  Todt had pleaded guilty to murdering his wife and three children, aged 13, 11, and 4, along with the family dog, Breezy; in his confession he detailed exactly how he had done it.  The letter to his father details a much different story and blames the deaths of his children and his dog on his wife.  Jail officials typically scan outgoing letters from prisoners for security reasons.  Todt claims that the release of this letter violated his due process rights and constituted illegal search and seizure.  The murders happened in 2019 and Todt was convicted in 2022.  the case drew some attention when it was revealed that, when he was 4, Todt witnessed his father attempt to kill his mother, who survived the attack.
• Florida Man with Very Weird Facial Tattoos Wade Wilson, 30, has had his death penalty sentencing delayed.  Wilson was convicted of the 2019 murders of Kristin Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, and was due to be sentenced last month, but his lawyers have said that doctors needed for more time to evaluate him.  A new Florida law requires that at least eight out of twelve jurors must recommend the death penalty before it is given; nine of twelve jurors recommended the death penalty for Wilson in the murder of Kristine Melton, while ten out of twelve recommended it for Ruiz's death.  the hearing is now scheduled for August 27.  Wilson is also facing two additional charges stemming from separate incidents while he was incarcerated -- an attempted jail break and an attempt to smuggle drugs.  Meanwhile Wilson's jail inbox has been flooded with over 3900 messages from women and fans, and he has been sent 754 photos -- 163 of which have been rejected by prison officials because of "inappropriate content."  Go figure.  A woman who had dated Wilson in 2018 )pre-face tattoos) said that he was nice and was never violent to her -- until he wasn't; they argued when he started using cocaine and he choked her "two or three times," threw her on the floorboard of her car, cut off her clothes with a knife and sexually assaulted her; ; she claimed the hospital took over 200 photos of the alleged abuse, but the photos have disappeared.  When she filed a complaint with the police, an officer told her that Wilson told him that she she was sexually "into that kind of thing," and no charges were filed.  a year later, much the same thing happened with Kristine Melton, with far more tragic results.   It should be noted that this Wade Wilson has no connection to the fictional Wade Wilson who is Deadpool.
• Florida Man Jasiel Menfarrol, 33, tried to abscond with over $30,000 in Pokemon cards but was stopped by two Mixed Martial Arts coached who restrained him until the police arrived.  the store's general manager told the thief to drop the cards but he "simply looked back, laughing."  The the MMA coaches from the studio next door came...
• An unnamed Florida Man has been caught on live video climbing a cell tower in Miami and disconnecting the power, causing damage estimated to be between $100,000 and $500,000.  The man evidently posed as a T-Mobile worker.  The man, whoever he was, knew what he was doing and avoided touching any boxes that might have been dangerous.  No motive has been given for the act, although this is Florida -- do we really need a motive?

Good News:

• New Bandages heal wounds 30% faster.       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-electric-bandages-heal-wounds-30-quicker-than-conventional-dressings/
• Another $600 million to fund medical students -- this time for historically Black colleges.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/bloomberg-gives-away-another-600-million-to-fund-medical-students-this-time-for-hbc-and-universities/
• 12-year-old girl earns fishing "black belt."       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/12-year-old-girl-earns-black-belt-of-fishing-becoming-master-angler-of-maryland/
• Farmer helps troubled youth to grow and sell food for the disadvantaged.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/4th-generation-farmer-helps-youth-flunking-out-of-school-to-grow-and-sell-food-for-disadvantaged-in-minnesota/
• Officer "Macgyvers" a save for toddler at bottom of a ten-foot hole.   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/macgyver-minded-officer-saves-kansas-toddler-from-bottom-of-10-foot-hole-with-makeshift-catchpole/
• Doctor removes lung tumor using robot from 3000 miles away.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chinese-doctor-removes-patients-lung-tumor-using-robot-from-3000-miles-away/
• Community comes together to rebuild brick wall of mosque damaged by rioters.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/community-comes-together-to-rebuild-brick-wall-of-mosque-damaged-by-rioters/

Today's Poem;

Red Is the Rose

Come over the hills, my bonnie Irish lass

Come over the hills to your darling

You choose the road, love, and I'll make the vow

And I'll be your true love forever.

Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows

Fair is the lily of the valley

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

But my love is fairer than any.

'Twas down by Killarney's green woods that we strayed

When the moon and the stars they were shining

The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair

And she swore that she'd be my love forever.

Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows

Fair is the lily of the valley

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

But my love is fairer than any.

It's not for the parting that my sister pains

It's not for the grief of my mother

'Tis all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass

That my heart is breaking forever.

Red is the rose that in yonder garden grow

Fair is the lily of the valley

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

But my love is fairer than any.

-- words attributed to Tommy Makem, to the tune of "The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomand"

but the song itself dates back to at least 1934

This past weeks marks the second anniversary of Kitty's death.  This was one of her favorite songs.  I was privileged to have 52 wonderful years of marriage and wish it could have been longer.  But I am happy to have had that much and, today, she still lives within me.  A blessing and a win.

Here's the song, as performed by Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KPfB_PRYlY

Love you always, Kitty.