Quirky and Imaginative Mystery Novels and Stories:
A nearly unique pulp writer of the late Golden Age

Fredric Brown (1906-1972) wrote hundreds of short stories, and a few novels, exclusively for the Pulp magazines, mostly between 1938 and the early 1950s. He considered his forté to be science fiction (and many of his fans agree with that), but two-thirds of his output was in the thriller/mystery genre. His reputation among aficionados of pulp detection is well established.

Considering the high quality of his fiction and his truly distinctive approach to plotting, it is shameful that reprints of his works are so rare, and original editions so expensive to collect. If you can find any in used book stores, grab at least one and odds are you will get hooked and collect as many as you can find. He especially deserves to become known to mystery fans under the age of about 40. (We older folks already know him well.) Common themes are hack newspaper reporters, carnival and vaudeville low-lives, heavy drinking, loonies with various levels of eccentricity, gruesome murders -- if those subjects interest you, Brown will become one of your favorites.

Book list (favorites marked *)

• Murder Can Be Fun (1948) -- Rather disappointing (has the rare disadvantage for Brown of being dull). The idea is good: hero is a script writer for a radio soap opera who has started but not yet publicized his own series involving humorous short detective stories, and a real murderer has been basing his crimes on the gimmicks of the script writer, thus making the latter a prime suspect. Part of the problem is that the hero is a drunkard and an obnoxious ass.
  
  
• * The Screaming Mimi (1949) -- Effective and eerie tale of a lunatic mass murderer. The hero is a drunken newspaper reporter, one of Brown's specialties; also some other nice eccentric characters including the bum named God. The Screaming Mimi is the statue of a terrified naked woman, an effective metaphor unifying the plot. The ending is thrilling and scary.
  
  
• ** Night of the Jabberwock (1950) -- Probably Brown's masterpiece (in my mind, anyway), a combination of bizarre events occurs during one night while Doc Stoeger, editor of a small-town weekly newspaper, wishes something would happen for once to make tomorrow's paper a true journal with scoops rather than just a medium for church rummage sales. He gets more than he bargained for with at least three seemingly unrelated dramatic events occurring in his presence, none of which he can use in his newspaper. Stoeger is a Lewis Carroll aficionado, hence it is not surprising that there are many apt quotations from this author to provide a unifying theme.
  
  
• * The Deep End (1952) -- A very fine 'straight' mystery, involving a newswpaper reporter as detective; characters not as eccentrically odd or drunk as Brown's usual, but 'real people'. The sexual sub-plots are truly adult and unusually frank for the early 1950s. Partly takes place in an amusement park. Although this is a subjective judgement, the book reminds me somewhat of a combination of Ambler's 'Coffin for Dimitrios' and Levin's 'Kiss Before Dying'. Brown often unified his stories with a metaphor, in this case a horse-fly obsessed with finding a horse. A very fine mystery novel that deserves the description classic.
  
  
• * The Lenient Beast (1956) -- Nice story about a mass murderer with an unusual motive; interesting narrative technique in having different chapters written by five of the characters (including the murderer) in the first person. What is best about the book, though, is its fine description of Tucson, Arizona in the early 1950s before it became the modern sun-belt horror it is now.
  P.S. As a child, I lived in Tucson from 1951 to 1954 (partially at the same time as Brown lived there, although of course I didn't know him -- his description of the place is right on). Ten miles of desert up to the base of the Catalina Mountains started right behind our back fence, along with snakes, tarantulas, and horny toad lizards. It was great fun to get into the eye of a dust devil and run along with it as it weaved back and forth. That area is now fully built up suburb. -- G.S.
  
  
  

The Ed and Am Hunter Novels
Ed Hunter and his uncle Ambrose are Brown's only series detectives, and appeared in the following books:

• The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947) -- 18-year old Ed Hunter undertakes the tracking down of his father's mugger/killer with the help of his uncle, a carnival huckster who runs a shooting gallery.
• ** The Dead Ringer (1948) -- Murder victims are a midget, a chimpanzee, and a small boy; the events take place in a small carnival show travelling the lower reaches of Indiana. Not only is this a good detective story with a logically worked-out plot and some scary scenes, but it has a wonderful 'carnie' atmosphere.
• The Bloody Moonlight (1949) -- A werewolf, a mad inventor, and an amusing romance where Ed falls for the wrong woman, as usual. Nice blend of humor, science fiction, and horror.
• Compliments of a Fiend (1950) -- Uncle Am is kidnapped, and the Starlock Detective Agency takes a hand in investigating its agent's disappearance. Nice detection in the 'real' sense (i.e., like skip tracing, tedious and painstaking), but the story mainly concerns gangsters, numbers games, and con men.
• Death Has Many Doors (1951) -- ?
• The Late Lamented (1959) -- ?
• Mrs. Murphy's Underpants (1963) -- Intriguing title, but these last three books, which were to be published by SMPL, have unfortunately not been (the first four are in the SMPL collection Hunter and Hunted).

Short Story Collections

• Mostly Murder (1953) -- First of two anthologies containing stories selected by the author himself as his favorites. Shamefully, long out of print.
  
  
• The Shaggy Dog and Other Murders (1963) -- Second of two anthologies containing stories selected by the author himself as his favorites. Shamefully, long out of print.
  
  Dennis McMillan Publications (Fredric Brown in the Detective Pulps, mid-1980s)
  
  
• Homicide Sanitarium (introduction by Bill Pronzini)
  'Red-Hot and Hunted' (1948)
  * 'The Spherical Ghoul' (1943) (Suberbly original locked-room mystery of the 'Speckled Band' sub-category)
  * 'Homicide Sanitarium' (1941) (premise: Where would a wealthy homicidal maniac hide out? In a private sanitarium. And the surprise ending is brilliant.)
  'The Moon for a Nickel' (1938)
  'Suite for Flute and Tommy-Gun' (1942)
  * 'The Cat from Siam' (1949) (Another loony, one with a very unusual pet cat)
  'Listen to the Mocking Bird' (1941)
  
  
• Before She Kills (introduction by William F. Nolan)
  'A Date to Die' (1942)
  'Mad Dog!' (1942)
  * 'Handbook for Homicide' (1942) (Variation of the classic GAD theme of a small isolated group at the mercy of a killer -- in this case, a desert observatory cut off from civilization by a flash flood. Nice and pulpy with unusual necrophobic detective, Darius Hill.)
  'Before She Kills' (1961) (Ed and Am Hunter story)
  'A Cat Walks' (1942)
  'The Missing Actor' (1963) (Ed and Am Hunter story)
  
  
• Madman's Holiday
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• The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches
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• The Freak Show Murders (introduction by Richard Lupoff)
  'Double Murder' (1942)
  'Two Biers for Two' (1942)
  * 'See No Murder' (1953) (Puzzling mystery with a good private detective and his interesting wife. A bit like Nick and Nora Charles?)
  * 'The Freak Show Murders' (1943) (A wonderful novelette with a carnival background; their is also a nice carney cant or argot glossary.)
  'Fugitive Imposter' (1941)
  'Client Unknown' (1941)
  
  
• 30 Corpses Every Thursday
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• Pardon My Goulish Laughter (introduction by Donald E. Westlake)
  'The Incredible Bomber' (1942)
  'Death Is a White Rabbit' (1942)
  'Death of a Vampire' (1943)
  * 'Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter' (1942) (Neat and concise little mystery thriller.)
  'Twice-Killed Corpse' (1942)
  * 'A Lock of Satan's Hair' (1943) (An attempt to kill Hitler by Voodoo. Surprisingly good.)
  * 'The Ghost Breakers' (1944) ( Exposure of fake mediums? An early version of 'Ghostbusters'!)
  
  
• Red Is the Hue of Hell
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• Brother Monster
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• Sex Life on the Planet Mars
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