Marksman and Other Stories

Author: William Campbell Gault
Publisher:  Crippen & Landru
Date: Mar. 2003
Pages: 206

Not currently available in eBook format or paperback

Marksman contains a loving end-piece by Shelly Gault, daughter of William Campbell Gault. In it, she reminisces about how her father would proudly claim that from the moment he began writing up until the early 1980's, he had sold everything he had ever written.

It's no surprise. Gault could write exceptionally well, and was quick to spot opportunities. When he saw dwindling sales of mystery fiction in the 1960's he turned his attention to writing juvenile fiction exclusively and began a long and successful period of his career. As she adds he "loved it when he heard that his titles were among the most stolen from libraries"!

Crippen & Landru have been publishing a series of books in their The Lost Classics Series since 2002. These consist of uncollected stories by great mystery and detective writers of the past. Most are published in hardback, but if you look carefully you can find some in eBook format. This particular issue is currently not available in electronic format yet.

This collection of short literature from William Campbell Gault consists of twelve tales published between 1940 and 1957 in magazines such as Clues, S&S Dectective Story Magazine, Mercury Mystery Magazine and premier titles such as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Blackmask and Manhunt (none of which made it into 2019's The Best of Manhunt if you are wondering). The first six are stories unrelated to each other, and cover the period from 1940 to the middle fifties. A few contain detectives, but most of them involve men-about-town who are involved in strange circumstance. The second half of Marksman contains the complete collection of short tales featuring one of Gault's most famous creations, Private Investigator, Joe Puma that appeared in 1956 and 1957.

Here are my own favourites.

Conspiracy

A story that almost classifies itself as one of Gault's juvenile cannon. Teenage brothers Johnny and Steve are out in the fields of their father's farm drowning gophers when they witness a car crash. One of the passengers staggers out of the wreck holding a suitcase and proceeds to disappear into the woods opposite their land. He reappears soon afterwards minus the luggage and runs off into the distance. When they discover that the car was being used in a getaway from a bank robbery, they mislead the local cops in order to sneak out in the night and search for the loot that has clearly been hidden close by. Gault is wonderful at bringing teenagers to life on the page, highlighting their angst and concerns in a surprisingly dark tale.

Deadly Beloved

Joe Puma is hired by Mrs Grace Engle to locate her husband, Alan. Alan has been anything but faithful to her. She's older than him and wants him back in her life. The only problem is that Puma has a hard time finding the wandering husband. His investigations send him across Bel Air, Malibu and Santa Monica. Everyone he talks to is keen to tell him just how nice a fella Alan Engle is, which just increases the P.I.'s concern about his quarry, and what might befall him. Gault relishes in the snappy dialogue and straight talking attitude of his protagonist. Lots of wonderful characters populate this tale of jealousy.

Death of a Big Wheel

When Puma, relaxing in a bar one night, makes friends with an impressively drunk former film star he remembers from before the War, he is drawn to investigate the actors' sudden murder a few days later. Tracking down the stars former war buddies, and a jilted starlet, the private eye soon uncovers a more seedy side to his recent aquintence. This story has razor-sharp dialogue and is populated with all the usual nasty, petty, vicious people that frequent the fringes of the second-tier film industry. But Gault's prose ellivates it up a notch or two from the norm.

I thoroughly enjoyed Marksman. There are one or two duds in there, but never forget that Gault can write dialogue that feels so amazingly real, even when wrapped inside a Joe Puma story that needs to lean heavily on crime movie tropes. This is also evident in the non-Puma tales in this collection, especially with "Conspiracy" which I was wonderfully impressed with. 

Gault manages his short stories effectively, laying out the principal plot quickly, giving the briefest of descriptions to locations, and populates them with likeable characters. They are dialogue heavy in the main - but that's his strength and if he always writes to his strength like this, then I'm a convert who needs to source more of Gault. I reviewed Death Out of Focus back in May of this year, and although the novel didn't wow me, Marksman has convinced me that I need to read more WCG because I really like his style.

This comes highly recommended from me. If you are interested in further The Lost Classics Series books, look them up in the Kindle shop as some are available, and some even via Kindle Unlimited. I've already added a Craig Rice title to my 'electronic' reading pile.