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Title: 5:45 to Suburbia

Author: Vin Packer

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

One rode the 5:45 to Westport and was met at the station by his charming wife who dressed in impeccable tweeds and mixed a wicked martini. He also had a long-legged, lovely daughter whom he admired. He was second in command of a vast publishing house and, whats more, he got there without being a hatchet man. Everybody had respect for him; almost everybody liked him.

That was one side of Charlie Gibson.The unhappy side.

One spent every spare minute in the apartment of Marge Mann. She was beautiful and flamboyant and she loved Charlie with passion. It was she who gave him the ideas that took him to the top of the publishing world - although Charlie never realized it. Every minute he spent with her was like being under the influence of a strong drug. He was addicted to Marge and didnt want to break the habit. That was the other side of Charlie Gibson. The happy side.

Members Reviews:

5:45 to Suburbia

Love the old pulp fiction, Vin Packer is one of the best...

What happened to suburbia?

And what happened to the crime novel Packer was known for? Publishing executive Charlie Gibson objects to the Confidential-type expose magazine his

company is planning to publish. Around the office it's nicknamed Vile.

Reason enough for someone to have murderous thoughts about Charlie.

But the reader must not get excited, for this is a straight story that

examines Charlie's life on his 50th birthday. Suburbia like crime is

practically non-existent in this unlikely, unlike Packer story.

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Title: A Killer in the Street

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Christian Rummel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

It was a Tuesday night in November, 1962. Rain fell slow and steady in Manhattan, slanting hard on near-deserted sidewalks and streets pocked by the occasional twin circles of approaching headlamps. Taxis spawned out from Times Square like predatory bugs in search of new feeding grounds, and here and there a truck rolled heavily past sleeping skyscrapers where spotty clusters of bright windows indicated janitors were toiling late on nocturnal rounds. Nature had a conspiracy against Kyle Walker.

Tuesday was the night for his extension course at the university, and it had rained every Tuesday since the course began. Kyle Walker was 30, a civil engineer on the city payroll, and a man of ambition far above his present status. Tall, angular, a bit shaggy in his waterproof and fedora, he hunched awkwardly over the steering wheel of the eight-year-old sedan that was taking him home.

Members Reviews:

What Can An Ordinary Guy Do When He Accidentally Stumbles On A Murder?

Helen Nielsen is one of the great crime writers that few have heard of. Despite her lack of notoriety, Nielsen just happens to be a terrific writer whose stories are professionally crafted masterpieces.

"A Killer In The Street" is an understated piece that tells the story of Kyle Walker, an everyman thirty-year old civil engineer, living in New York City with a beautiful wife (Dee), and on his way to a great career and a great life. What happens to Walker when life sneaks up on him and he finds himself through no fault of his own involved in a murder as a witness.

Rather than report the matter to the police, Walker decides that, as a witness to a professional killing, he decides his best course of action is to pretend he never saw anything and, when the first opportunity comes around to get out of town, grabs it and takes his wife and his future and heads out to Arizona to make a new life for himself.

Five years go by and Walker is successful, more successful than he could have dreamed of, but what if something from that past has suddenly appeared in his headlights. What if the man he witnessed doing that professional kill is in Arizona? What does Walker do? How does he protect his family and his future? How can he go to the police with his suspicions when he never came forward years earlier and, if he does come forward now, doesn't that put his family at risk?

Writing in the most understated manner, Nielsen has crafted a great piece of literature, capturing Walker's fear and anxiety. She has given the reader a host of great characters, including the clever detective, the concerned wife, the bachelor best friend Van, and the man with the steel-rimmed glasses who is determined to do a professional job, but can't keep his eyes off the bikini-clad teenager at the motel.

I highly recommend this top-notch crime novel. Nielsen is deserving of far more acclaim than she has thus far received.

By the way, "A Killer In The Street" is not one of the books in the Simon Drake series although it is often listed as such.

Four Stars

Not a Simon Drake novel

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Title: After Midnight

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Christian Rummel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

A beautiful suspect with an intense desire to kill. The murder of Roger Warren seemed like an open-and-shut case. The evening before, Roger and his dazzling wife Wanda had moved from one bar to another, fighting loudly and publicly. The next morning, the dead figure of Roger was slumped in a living room chairwhile Wanda lay sleeping in bed, a bloodied knife on the pillow beside her.At the District Attorneys office, the bereaved beauty could remember nothing...except an intense desire to kill.

Members Reviews:

Move Over Perry Mason; Here Comes Simon Drake

After Midnight by Helen Nielsen, published in 1967, begins in the most hardboiled fashion. In fact, there are countless hardboiled novels that begin with the protagonist waking up after a night of drinking and other debauchery only to find the bloody body of a beautiful blonde, redhead, etc, in their bed and no answers nearby as to what happened. Often even the protagonist is not sure if he did it, but all the clues scream in one direction.

The difference here is that the person who wakes up confused after a night of drinking is a woman, Wanda Warren to be precise, and the bloody corpse at the kitchen was her husband. What's more they fought all night after Wanda was found in a seaside bar in a booth with three sailors, indulging in drink after drink with her laughter ringing out above all other noise. She was a go-go girl in a glass cage shaking it every weekend evening when they met and her husband came from big money.

The story then morphs into a legal drama with society attorney and Bon vivant Simon Drake offering his services and, against all belief, fighting to prove his lovely client's innocence.

The story may not be as heavy on the action as others in the crime fiction arena, but it is an excellent mystery that takes the reader on a legal and investigative journey as Drake explores one clue after another. The cast of characters is quite good including a retired admiral who lived on a yacht, a proper nurse who took long walks and quotes poetry, Drake's confidant Hannah, and an ambitious district attorney.

It was an compelling read that couldn't be put down and was really enjoyable.

Helen Nielsen was a terrific writer and deserves far more recognition than she currently has.

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Title: Obit Delayed

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

The melody of death....

Down at the edge of Mexican town, where the pavement gives out and the yellow dust drifts ankle deep over the hard packed adobe, a radio is moaning a dreamy beat into the night. It is the kind of music that needs two people, but only one is listening - a long legged blonde who keeps time to the music while brushing her glistening hair She drops the brush and reaches for the tall glass that stands on the dressing table - and then she hesitates, peering into the blackness of the room beyond. There is no doubt about the sound

Frank? She stands up and moves through the doorway, the name still on her lips. And then she dies horribly.

Members Reviews:

Small town California 50s murder mystery

Publication date: 1952

"Mitch had a very vivid recollection of Virginia's body. Sheer savagery had killed her, and Frank Wales didn't look dangerous enough to butcher a lamb chop. But pictures can lie, and nosy people could get hurt asking too many questions in Dave Singer's circle. It was much wiser to go back to the office and pretend to be useful. It was much easier to go home at night and plan on nothing more exciting than a cool bath and a long session with the mattress."

Mitch Gorman is middle-aged, the editor of a small town newspaper. When a local waitress is brutally murdered, he suspects the story his ambitious younger rival is chasing- a jealous ex-husband hiding out from the law- doesn't fit the facts. Against his own inclination, Mitch begins to dig deeper. His only ally is the paper's gossip columnist, known as the Duchess.

It was the telephone speaking out with an uncanny sense of timing, and three rings later they located it at the end of the divan.

"Answer it," Mitch whispered.

"Are you crazy?"

"Go ahead, answer it. Sound sleepy and whoever's on the other end will take you for Rita. We may learn something."

The Duchess was reluctant but curious, and curiosity won out. Behind a beautifully faked yawn she drew out a languid "--yes?" and Mitch, standing close enough to hear anything that might break up that waiting silence, helped her listen for an answer. But the silence didn't break. Instead, there was only a click, sudden and decisive, and then the phone went dead. This time Mitch said it first. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

I thought it was a smooth, witty, solidly plotted 50s murder mystery, neither noir, nor hard-boiled, nor strictly a 'thriller,' although it had elements of all three. Enjoyable.

An excellent long-forgotten mystery

Virginia Wales, waitress at a local diner, always looking for a good time, was bludgeoned to death in her room. The prime suspect is her ex-husband Frank, a quiet man now on the run from the law. The only person who thinks Frank is innocent is his current wife, a worried woman who begs newspaperman Mitch Gorman for help. Mitch isnât so sure about Frankâs innocence, but he is fascinated by the case, even as his younger editor starts taking control of his story. Itâs those niggling details that pique Mitchâs interest: why did Dave Singer, one of the local gangsters, all but panic after hearing of Virginiaâs death? Singer has ties to the local arm of organized crime, an organization that trades in seedy nightclubs and narcotics.

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Title: Fall Girl

Author: Richard Deming

Narrator: Caroline Shaffer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Velda toyed with men. Sometimes she gave them what they wanted - sometimes not. But her games were somewhat limited by her marriage. For every time her husband found out about one of her flings, there were jealous rages. If he got mad enough, no allowance that week.

Velda was, in fact, becoming tired of the whole mess.

Then suddenly the husband was dead and Velda was a rich widow.

So, if you were a cop, what would you think....

Members Reviews:

Great Murder Mystery

Kindly ignore the publisher's blurb implying that the book is all about a wanton wife who hops in every bed. That's not what this book is about. Not at all. It's a story about a con man and a murder mystery.

Jim Horton checks into a hotel in Rice City. Belle Jarvis sees him in the lobby and wants to know what kind of con he's running. She travels with "Colonel" Robert Desmond and together are con artists in their own right.

Jim has some kind of bum check scam going and he's working used car dealers. At Honest John Quincy's car lot, Jim sees the owner arguing with an absolutely stunning blonde. After looking her over, Jim realizes that she is the owner's wife, Velda. After Velda drives off, the talk about the sale of a Jaguar and, when Jim steps into the restroom, Honest John is gunned down. Realizing he's being set up as a patsy to take the fall, Jim tries to skip town ahead of the police. Failing that, he sticks around to try to clear his name. Who did the shooting? Was it the local mob trying to give a civics lesson? Was it the hot blonde trying to wriggle out of a divorce?

A great pulp era mystery about a con man who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's fast paced easy reading not clogged up with endless descriptions. Highly recommended.

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Title: The Return of Marvin Palaver

Author: Peter Rabe

Narrator: Ray Chase

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Marvin Palaver dies at the worst possible moment in life, just when he is coming out even with his nemesis, fellow scrap seller Sidney Minsk. He is so close. The contract is signed and Sydney has just bought back his own scrap, the deal of a lifetime. Marve knows happiness supreme. But as the tears of joy make his eyes swim, there comes a bump in his chest, and he is dead before he hits the floor. But death doesnt stop Marvin. His masterful schwindel must be complete. So Marve finagles his way back to the material plane for a bit of artful ghosting. Sidney has hidden the contract away, confident that hes the only one who knows about it. All Marve needs to do is get him to reveal it - he should live so long!

Members Reviews:

If You Are In The Middle of the Deal of a Lifetime, Why Would You Let A Little Thing Like Death Get In Your Way?

At 58 pages, this barely qualifies as a novel and perhaps should not have been released by itself. "The Return of Marvin Palaver" was one of several works Rabe wrote late in his life before he passed away in 1990 and was not published until eleven years later in 2011 in one of Stark's two-fer collections. It is a clever bit about a man who has a heart attack in the middle of a business deal with another scrap dealer who he has been at odds with for years and returns to complete the swindle. It's an odd story for a well known pulp writer and feels nothing like the crime fiction that Rabe is most known for, but it is a clever, comedic approach, including the disconcerting efforts to grab at a contract only to have one's ghostly hand unable to grasp it. The dialogue made it a bit diificult to follow and this doesn't measure up to the best of Rabe's significant body of work.

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Title: Shot on Location

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Lucien Dodge

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

The filming of an American movie set on location in Greece becomes the stage for a far more sinister production in this unputdownable political suspense. Rich and famous movie directors like Harry Avery dont ordinarily disappear - especially when on a routine flight in a private plane seeking location shots for another film. Yet why was Avery flying so close to the Albanian border? Why had his hitherto reliable plane crashed so unpredictably? And why - once the rescue party reached the spot in the Greek mountains - wasnt his body found among the wreckage?

Brad Smith, back in Los Angeles after active duty in Vietnam, is determined to find Avery. Brad has his own scores to settle with the millionaire director, for not only has Avery stolen some of his original TV scripts, written just before he left for the service, he has also stolen his girlfriend, the now famous actress, Rhona Avery.

Upon arrival in Greece, Brad soon realizes that Averys ominous disappearance has far greater implication than he anticipated. Soon he is caught up in a dangerous web of plot and counterplot as eh discovers he is not alone in the manhunt: the beautiful actress he once loved seems to have more on her mind than wifely devotion in her frantic search; the CIA as well as the undercover agents of another world power are equally determined to find the missing director. And each, for different reasons, is desperate to track him down first.

No one knows better than Helen Nielsen how to keep a complex plot going at a faster-than-the-eye-can-see pace. Danger, intrigue and the guessable conclusion - hallmarks of Miss Nielsens suspenses - are evidenced yet again.

Members Reviews:

Movie Producers, Revolutionaries, and Secret Agents

This is a fine espionage adventure novel that takes place in the midst of the Cold War. Brad Smith was a hayseed from Iowa trying to make it in Hollywood. He fell in love with a knockout, but when he returned from Vietnam, she and his Hollywood scripts had been stolen by Harry Avery, who was now a world famous producer and who had just disappeared after a small plane crash on the Greek-Albanian border. Desperate to win her back and get credit for his stolen ideas, Smith flies to Athens and somehow gets caught up in a revolution brewing against a brutal dictatorship and a struggle between secret agents. Throw in a wealthy producer and his wife and there's quite a story with all kinds of wild twists and turns. It's a story of a young innocent caught in a web of intrigue.

Be forewarned that it's a little confusing in the beginning what exactly the book is about since it cuts Back and forth between two seemingly unconnected stories. However, if you persevere, you will find how it all tied together.

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Title: Benny Muscles In

Author: Peter Rabe

Narrator: Brian Holsopple

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Benny Tapkow has worked as a crime boss Pendletons chauffeur for seven years, but hes itching to get ahead. He feels like he serves a piece of the action, but Pendleton wont budge. So Benny strikes a deal with Big Al Alverato to kidnap Pendletons daughter Pat to get him in with the rival gang. But the snatch doesnt come off as planned, and now Benny is stuck with Pat, a hellion with a temper and plenty of mood swings. Pendeltons men are after him and he has to dope her just to keep her in line. The last thing he figured on was falling in love.

Members Reviews:

He got what he wanted...

Publication date: 1955

"So I ask you again: you been pretty thick with Pendleton?"

"What do you mean, thick?"

"I mean thick! What in hell's the matter with you, Tapkow? You don't know American or something?"

Benny wasn't sure just how to play it. If he knew the angle, what Alverato wanted, then he could play it right. But Alverato hadn't said a thing.

I thought that line was rich, coming from a Rabe character (Rabe was born in Germany, and was 17 when he came to the US). Although his dialogue is generally good, it isn't always idiomatic.

"While you're just sitting there, Tapkow, go get us a cabin." She leaned back and looked at Benny with her cold eyes.

"And don't tell me this is news to you. You've known for the past hour we'd end up in bed."

She was playing it his way, and he didn't like it.

"Go on, Benny. Or I'll do it with the waiter if you won't." She didn't even blink.

(Which makes it sound as if the girl wanted Benny to do it with the waiter)

I could also cavil about the details of the drug smuggling operation, which struck me as far-fetched, not that I know more about drug smuggling than Rabe. The drug smuggling scene itself, the climax of the book, is actually very well told (not to give away much, it is a sort of double catastrophe).

Rabe is strange, and yet strangely effective. Tapkow and Pat, Big Al Alverato and Pendleton are all quite beleivably drawn, and the plot is a satisfying, if stark, weaving of chance with inexorable fate. Recommended offbeat noir.

second Rabe's novel

Petty crook Benny with a funny last name Tapkow is tired of being a valet for his boss Pendleton. For seven years Benny was a driver for Pendleton, and now Benny wants to climb the criminal ladder. Only Pendleton does not want that, and when Benny shows independence, boss puts Benny into his place. Angered, Benny wants to get even with the boss, knowing his weakness, his daughter Pam, a wild thing, accustomed that her father in no way denies her wishes. Benny comes up with a plan of the kidnapping of Pam, enlisting the help of another crime boss, Big Al Alverato. But the kidnapping plan goes awry, and Benny plunges into the sea of problems.

The title ÂBenny Muscles In was coined not by Rabe but his publisher. Initially the book was called ÂThe HookÂ, and it is more appropriate to that history. On the surface this is a gangster novel, but in fact it is only the outer casing. ÂBenny Muscles In is the story of a man who is struggling with his own emotions. To become a gangster, you need to disable feelings, and feelings are a drug, which is hard to get off. Emotions have ruined more than one gangster, Benny knows it. Hate, love, fear, and uncertainty - you need to get rid of it all.

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Title: Edge of the Law

Author: Richard Deming

Narrator: Paul Christy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Jud Sands lived on the edge of the law. When he blew into Ridgeford he had exactly twenty-four dollars in his pocket - it had cost a lot of money just to stay alive after hed been fingered by Big Mark Fallon . . .But he had his gun.He had his wits.

And there was nowhere else to go . . .Then there was the beautiful red-head, Bridge ORourke. She helped Jud in more ways than one . . .But Fallons boys were closing in for the kill. Not all the Bridgets in the world could save his hide if they got their hands on him . . . which they would .

Members Reviews:

Semi-lawless

Publication date: 1960

When the car stopped and the doors slid back, she swung her face toward him and said with mocking sweetness, "Thirty-six, twenty-two, thirty-five, Mr. Judd."

"Cold statistics hardly tell the story," he said. "It would take poetry."

Jud Sands is edgy, all right. Except he isn't. A mobster and gambler on the run for shooting his ex-boss, he gets a job in Ridgeford, but switches sides the minute he learns the bar owner he's leaning on is married to an old flame. The hero, and the book, as it turns out, are both fairly decent.

A smoothly written standalone, a blatant "mantasy," as so many midcentury paperbacks are. Principally interesting as a sort of halfway-to-Parker character study. Westlake was surely taking note of dialogue like this:

Joey shrugged. "I don't ask questions. He says go get you. So I get you."

Sands cosidered this. "Suppose I say no?"

The thin bodyguard straightened away from the wall. He dropped his cigarette and carefully stepped on it.

"When Renzo tells me to do something, I do it."

Sands let his eyes narrow. "He tell you to bring me, or just to ask me?"

Joey studied him with dislike. With a touch of reluctance he said, "To ask you."

Sands grinned bleakly. "But you've got to make a thing out of it. You can't just relay the message. You have to throw your weight around."

Joey's nostrils flared. In a carefully controlled voice he said, "You coming?"

"Sure," Sands said. "Long as it's such a polite invitation. Where is he?"

"Just follow me," Joey snapped. Abruptly he turned and stalked toward the Kit Kat Inn.

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Title: Man-Killer

Author: Talmage Powell

Narrator: Joe Geoffrey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Her real name was Vicky Hustin, but to the people of Big Hominy she would always be ''that uppity mountain gal, that piece of hill trash who thinks shes so high and mighty.'' And when her ex-husband was found brutally murdered, they had still another name for her: Man-killer!

They also had a name for someone like Wade Calhoun, who dared to believe in Vickys innocence. Crazy, thats what he was. Shell-shocked from the war, probably. Just ignore him till the trials over and that no-good gals had her comeuppance on the gallows!

But Wade Calhoun wasnt giving up that easily. Hed turn up the one bit of evidence the town couldnt ignore. Because even if it meant pitting his life against that of a killer, he was determined once and for all to balance the scales of Big Hominys justice!

Members Reviews:

Great Country Pulp

"Man-Killer" is a short novel of country pulp by Tampa Bay writer Talmage Powell. You won't go wrong picking up anything by Powell. His writing style is not filled with fancy prose and probably most of his books don't stand out from the pack as being unique, but he is certainly a great writer. He knows how to tell a story and, in the end, that's what is most important.

The plot here consists of the following: Wade Calhoun is head over heels in love with Vicky Hustin, who while waiting for her two-years of spousal desertion to run its course has split her time between Calhoun and a rich, dapper gentleman from the City. Vicky is from the McCalls, hillbilly trash from up in the hills. No one in this small-town thinks she is any good to begin with and, when her husband comes back and is soon killed, she is the only suspect. It doesn't help that she is seen leaving the murder scene and her fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. It doesn't help that she was pretty much forced to marry Rock Hustin, who was pretty much a pathological criminal.

The town, just about every last one of them, is ready to see her hang for this crime. Calhoun, however, isn't going to give up on her even if everything he does to save her turns against him.

Powell does a great job in this novel of painting this small mountain town and the insular community there. As a reader, you really get a feel for Calhoun being alone with no one else he can really count on.

It is a story about trust and loyalty and betrayal. It is also a story about cages and finding a way out of cages. Although as a reader you are never quite sure of whether or not you should be rooting for Vicki, you feel her pain as she tries to escape from all the cages of her life, beginning with being born into the no-good McCalls and being forced into a marriage with Rock, who was himself no-good in his way. Being locked in the county jail seems almost to her like being locked away in the final cage.

One of the things about reading Talmage Powell's novels is that he writes so smoothly that, before you even realize it, you've rocketed your way through the book.