STEEGER BOOKS SALE, Day 1 !!!

Yeah, it's my favorite time of year (along with July), the Steeger Books/Altus Press annual Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sale. These ten brand new books debuted today, and many more (including one by me) will be unleashed upon the world over the next couple of days. All these, including the hundreds of great books already available, are 30% OFF during the sale. 

I'm especially stoked about his one, Volume 1 of the Complete Cases of Satan Hall, a guy who's even wilder than Race Williams! This volume includes Satan's very first adventure (heretofore unreprinted anywhere), thanks to the archeological efforts of famous author and pulp collector Stephen Mertz. Take a bow, Steve!

Stay tuned for more new books tomorrow. You can see the whole library at https://steegerbooks.com/.

 

SATAN HALL in "Satan Sees Red" by Carroll John Daly (1932)

Here's the setup for this cover from June 25, 1932: Satan is out to get a murderer named Bowers. Bowers has a classy nightclub, political influence and cops in his pocket. To intimidate visitors to his office, Bowers sits them under a hot light across from his desk. Satan pays Bowers a visit, making it clear he's carrying a rod but has no intention of using it - and sits in the chair under the light. Later, after things have escalated, Satan returns. Bowers now has reason to fear him. Before allowing Satan into his office, he takes away Satan's gun and places it in the open drawer of his desk. Bower's bodyguard remains in the room, keeping a gun on Satan. Here's what happens next:

Satan's hands dug deep down at his sides. His fingers seemed to clutch spasmodically at the heavy upholstery of the chair. At least, it seemed that way to Bowers, who couldn't see that far down from his desk . . . 

"You misunderstand me, Bowers. I'm not threatening to watch for an opportunity to kill you - hunt you down in some alley. When I say I'm going to kill you, I mean just that. On the open street - in the lobby of a hotel - at Forty-second Street and Broadway. In plain words, the first time I see you, no matter what the place. Even in this room here . . . That's why I came to see you. I wanted to let you know. It will be the first time I ever shot a man down in cold blood, but it's fact just the same. I'll give you time to talk - while I count ten."

Bowers draws Satan's gun from the desk and points it at his chest. Satan explains the gun is not loaded, then thrusts himself out of the chair. As Bowers claws at his armpit for his own rod, Satan shoots the bodyguard between the eyes and pistol whips Bowers across the face. Satan, you see, had stuffed a snub-nose revolver into the chair cushions on his earlier visit. And his real goal, rather than killing Bowers, was to make him burn in the electric chair.

This story was included in The Adventures of Satan Hall, published by Mysterious Press in 1988.

Otto Penzler Auction Results: CARROLL JOHN DALY Books

$10,625

Here's what the Daly books brought in last week's Heritage auction. There was a LOT more stuff, but I've shown you most of what I found interesting. Starting tomorrow, we return you to your regularly scheduled programs. 

 $3,000 (inscribed)

$1,875

$781.25

$875

$400

$2000

$3,000 (In error, Heritage said this was the second Race Williams book. Actually, it's the one and only Three-Gun Terry Mack novel, of comparatively minor importance. Will this buyer be wanting his money back?)

$1,125

$1,125

$1,125

$812.50

$550 for this one and the Satan Hall novel below

For Sale: Otto Penzler's CARROLL JOHN DALY Books

I posted pics of Otto's Race Williams books last week, and you can view them here. There'll all up for bid on the Heritage auction site, which will close March 16 (and which I know about thanks to Mr. Art Scott). There are many, many more, on view HERE.

The White Circle, Daly's first novel, does not feature a detective, but the guy is very Race-like. I yapped about that one HERE. Daly is credited as only co-author on Two-Gun Gerta, but it reads like genuine Daly (reviewed HERE). The Smoking Gun and Ready to Burn star my favorite Daly hero Satan Hall (HERE and HERE). 

Murder Won't Wait (HERE) and The Emperor of Evil feature Vee Brown, a cross between Race Williams and Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Strang (HERE) is a crazy pulp hero. The Man in the Shadows is a return engagement with Daly's very first hardboiled detective, Three-Gun Terry Mack. And Murder at Our House, the only Daly book I do not possess (sob!), is a stand-alone mystery. 

Forgotten Books: SATAN'S VENGEANCE by Carroll John Daly (1936)

Here's a book so forgotten it's never actually been a book. Seventy-five years after its pulp appearance, "Satan's Vengeance" did finally appear in a book, but only as part of the complete (or Compleat) saga of Satan Hall.

Sporting the fine cover above, "Satan's Vengeance" began its eight-part run in the March 7, 1936 issue of Detective Fiction Weekly. It was the last of three novel-length Satan adventures, the others being The Mystery of the Smoking Gun (reviewed HERE) and Ready to Burn (HERE). Why this one was not promptly issued in hardcover remains a mystery. Story-wise, it's not up to the high standard of Smoking Gun (one of my favorite Daly novels) but is at least as good as Burn.

As usual, New York City is dang near under the thumb of a dang near invincible crime boss, and the only thing standing in this master villain's way is Detective Frank "Satan" Hall. While the rest of the police department is hamstrung by politics, Satan has a free hand. He reports directly to the incorruptible commissioner. It's the next best thing to having a license to kill.

Daly's evil masterminds are fond of melodramatic names such as The Hidden Hand or The Head Tag, and this one calls himself The Other Man. The secret of his success is that he's somehow privy to all the dirt on folks in respectable society, and is able to blackmail them into providing alibis for his hired killers. As you might expect, Satan Hall - the Dirty Harry of his time - is not happy with the situation.

When one of The Other Man's minions threatens to tell tales to the cops, he's slated for a rub-out. Luckily for him, Satan knocks him cold and takes his place (above). When the two gunsels close in, Satan fires both guns through his overcoat and renders them defunct. 

Dan Gargan, one of the city's most vicious killers (on his last job, he aced two children as collateral damage), is The Other Man's head stooge until Satan takes a hand.

So Gargan lures Satan into a trap, where a coldblooded tommy-gun expert waits to take him out. Guess who gets taken out?

Part of The Other Man's racket is selling protection to delicatessen owners. Satan goes undercover long enough to send three more bodies to the undertaker.

Pillar of society Glenn E. Nostrom is providing alibis for The Other Man's killers, so Satan drops in to ask him why. 

Most of Daly's early stories feature a convenient set of curtains for good guys or bad guys to hide behind. In this case, Satan does the hiding, and gets the scoop. The Other Man is holding Nostrom's daughter hostage. 

And as if holding her hostage isn't bad enough, they lay her at the bottom of the grave and begin filling it with dirt, letting her breathe through a tube. In this scene The Other Man finally makes an appearance, and we discover he shares a tailor with The Shadow. 

Satan has practically made a career out of walking into traps and coming out shooting. This time he wears his Doc Savage shirt, but the result is the same. The Other Man, though he doesn't yet know it, is having his last laugh. 

"Satan's Vengeance" occupies about 80 of the 530 king-size pages in The Satan Hall Omnibus (aka The Compleat Adventures of Satan Hall) published in 2011 by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. Copies run about a hundred bucks, and are well worth it (I reviewed that HERE). You may direct inquiries to George A. Vanderburgh at gav@cablerocket.com.