First Published: 1956
Pages: 128
Carter Brown sold a hell of a lot of books in his lifetime. We are talking in the region of a 100+ millions. That is outstanding. During the fifties and sixties this guy lorded over the paperback world like no other. At his peak he was writing 20 books a year, with sales in the US alone reaching towards 350,000 per book! If you don't believe me just do a simple search on your internet browser. Its staggering.What adds to this phenomenal achievement is that he was actually born in Essex, a county of the United Kingdom, before emigrating to Australia - the guy never even set foot in America till he was an established author, but the majority of his works were set in American towns and cities (or fictional versions of them)!
Brown, real name Alan G Yates, was prolific. As well the Al Wheeler series he also wrote various others, among them novels starring characters such as Andy Kane, Rick Holman, Danny Boyd, Mike Farrell, Larry Baker and Zelda Roxanne. Some of his books sported fantastic Robert McGinnis covers. Many others have images of famous females from the sixties and seventies like Joan Collins and Elke Sommer on them. I would recommend a visit to the Carter Brown website to learn more.
I read The Wench is Wicked, book 1 of the Al Wheeler series. I purchased a great edition in eBook format by Stark House which actually consists of the first three Wheeler stories. The physical and digital editions has a pretty great cover in my opinion and I've included it here. It cost me £4.49, and I think that's pretty fair for three stories considering the other versions I saw.
The story revolves around Lieutenant Al Wheeler's investigation of a murdered Hollywood screenwriter. The body is discovered by a motor-cycle cop, seemingly dumped in a pit. Wheeler is sent to take a look by his station boss, and this pretty quickly links up to a film crew making a Western movie in the area. They are all staying in the same hotel in town. A Hotel with a shooting range out back (I kid you not). One of the stars is a very famous and glamorous woman - Wheeler get interested. Wheeler gets interested in all the women (especially the blondes). He's also interested in ta nightclub singer he has been chasing for a while. Wheeler is popular with the 'gals'.What follows is a neat, tightly plotted little mystery. Brown's text and dialogue are great. I love this type of detective fiction, and you can certainly see why it resonated with so many people at the time. You can sense the beginnings of noir and hard-boiled fiction; wise cracks; witty banter between detective and suspects; the embittered station captain; corrupt district attorneys and sleazy secrets that everyone is trying to hide pepper the story throughout. Reading a book that is over 60 years old and yet makes you feel like you are part of that time and space is rewarding.
Wheeler winds his way through the investigation with panache and charm, leaving you in no doubt who is in charge. Any action, and there isn't really that much to be fair is well handled. But this is not about the guns and the fist-fights, this is about the characters and their flaws. It might not take a genius to work out who the killer is - but you will certainly feel it was well worth the effort after finishing.
I'm looking forward to reading the next two Wheeler stories - but like my first encounters with Chandler, I will want to savour them.
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