At the risk of sending Lee Goldberg to abebooks again, I thought I'd mention Marvin H. Albert. He wrote for Gold Medal (and others) under various names, including Al Conroy, Nick Quarry, Tony Rome, and of course Marvin H. Albert. He wrote crime novels, adventure novels, p.i. novels, and westerns (the Tony Rome books and several westerns were made into movies). The book in the picture looks like a typical '50s juvie, but it's far from it. It's a "big caper" novel that Lionel White might have been proud of. A cop is led astray by the title character and gets involved in a bank heist, which (surprise!) goes wrong. At that point, things take a violent turn. There are scenes of sadistic sex and sadistic torture along the way to the inevitable noir ending. Albert might be in the same league with some of the top GM writers, but he was certainly good enough to look for under any of his various names.
7 comments:
I stumbled on Marv Albert on my own about a year ago...after catching a double feature of TONY ROME and LADY IN CEMENT. I ran out and bought a bunch of his books... but so far, all I've found are his STONE ANGEL series and a few westerns. I haven't read'em yet, either. Along the way, I discovered hes written a ton of novelisations, including the one for the feature version of THE UNTOUCHABLES.
I haven't started looking for his work yet under "Albert Conroy" or "Nick Quarry." By the way, Fox made a unsold pilot called "Nick Quarry" (loosely based on TONY ROME) that never aired... Jerry Goldsmith did the terrific score and it was recently released as a bonus feature on the soundtrack for "The Stripper."
Damn you Bill Crider!
I just went to abebooks and bought three PI novels he wrote as "Anthony Rome."
I'm going to have to dedicate a whole shelf in my office just to stuff YOU and Ed made me get... though, despite my whining, I'm grateful. Harry Whittington has been a revelation to me. The guy is fantastic.
Well, at least we hit on Harry Whittington. So even if you hate all the others, I figure we did OK.
I just read RIVER GIRL today... and I was very disappointed in it. I don't think it compares to, say, Harry Whittington's simiarly-themed MOMENT TO PREY. The writing also struck me as uninspired. The story would have played much better with leaner prose...I thought it dragged in lots of spots. Then again, I am definitely in the minority on Williams, I know that. I'll give a couple of his other books a try.
I just read RIVER GIRL today... and I was very disappointed in it. I don't think it compares to, say, Harry Whittington's simiarly-themed MOMENT TO PREY. The writing also struck me as uninspired. The story would have played much better with leaner prose...I thought it dragged in lots of spots. Then again, I am definitely in the minority on Williams, I know that. I'll give a couple of his other books a try.
Your latest post on Marvin Albert drove me back here. I have since acquired just about every book he's written under his various names. His westerns are particularly good.
I agree. I like his non-series westerns best, but the Blackburn books aren't bad, either.
Post a Comment