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Rating: 
Summary: Good vintage stuff from the pen of a master pulp writer.
Review: This compilation of six of Fredric Brown's rarer mystery stories is volume number five in publisher Dennis McMillan's Fredric Brown Pulp Detective Series. McMillan did a great service in the 1980's and 90's by reprinting a good deal of Brown's pulp fiction magazine mystery and thriller stories. This is one of the more obtainable volumes from that series. Some of the others are quite rare and expensive. Besides the title story, which is a novelette set in the world of the traveling carnival, or "carnie", there is "Double Murder", "Two Biers for Two", "See No Murder", "Fugitive Imposter", and "Client Unknown". While none of these stories rises to the level of Brown's great novels or classic science fiction stories, such as "Arena", all are interesting period pieces, still readable after 60 years. Each has Brown's trademark unusual twist or ending, and in some, such as the title story and "Client Unknown" one can see the beginnings of some of the ideas and characters that would later become the "Ed and Am Hunter" novels. If none of these names mean anything to you, I firmly suggest that you get a hold of as much Fredric Brown literature as possible and start reading. You won't be disappointed. While the novels are probably the best place to start, this collection is certainly a good intro to the early Brown.In addition to the stories themselves, all of which were originally printed in Detective pulp magazines in the 1940's and 50's, there is a wonderful introduction by Richard A. Lupoff, a famed writer in various genres, much as Brown himself was. Lupoff examines the direction the mystery story took in America after the pulp influence of Chandler and Hammett, along with Brown's own comments on how he arrived at his ideas and plots. There is also an interesting comment or two on the differences in character development in the short story vis-à-vis the novel. Once again, highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good vintage stuff from the pen of a master pulp writer.
Review: This compilation of six of Fredric Brown's rarer mystery stories is volume number five in publisher Dennis McMillan's Fredric Brown Pulp Detective Series. McMillan did a great service in the 1980's and 90's by reprinting a good deal of Brown's pulp fiction magazine mystery and thriller stories. This is one of the more obtainable volumes from that series. Some of the others are quite rare ... Besides the title story, which is a novelette set in the world of the traveling carnival, or "carnie", there is "Double Murder", "Two Biers for Two", "See No Murder", "Fugitive Imposter", and "Client Unknown". While none of these stories rises to the level of Brown's great novels or classic science fiction stories, such as "Arena", all are interesting period pieces, still readable after 60 years. Each has Brown's trademark unusual twist or ending, and in some, such as the title story and "Client Unknown" one can see the beginnings of some of the ideas and characters that would later become the "Ed and Am Hunter" novels. If none of these names mean anything to you, I firmly suggest that you get a hold of as much Fredric Brown literature as possible and start reading. You won't be disappointed. While the novels are probably the best place to start, this collection is certainly a good intro to the early Brown.
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