Created by Horace Brown
Pseudonyms includeÂ
(1908-96)
SQUIRE ADAMS only appeared in one story, The Penthouse Killings (1950), but it was an action-packed novel with several clever twists. The entire book takes place in a single day, and Squire has until 5 pm to solve a murder case or he will lose his New York P.I. license. That would be a busy enough day by itself, but it is also day Squire is to marry his sweetheart! It’s a little clumsy in parts but still a good, quick read.
Now, about that author… Horace Brown, it turns out, was a Canadian newspaper reporter and editor. In the thirties and forties he wrote radio scripts for the CBC, and began selling short stories to general interest magazines such as Saturday Night and Star Weekly, before starting his own pulp magazine publishing company. Global Publishing Company, located in Pickering, Ontario, put out pulp titles like All-New Western Stories and the short-lived Original Detective Stories, both of which Brown edited and contributed to. In fact, the latter published a story, “Murder à la Carte,” billed as a “Book Length Novel,” which would be revised and published as the standalone novel The Penthouse Killings a couple of years later.
Under the pen name of “Leslie Allen,” Brown wrote Death of a Prime Minister (1948) and a private eye novel Murder in the Rough (1946), featuring Napoleon B. Smith. Under his own name, he wrote The Corpse Was a Blonde (1950), and the novelization of the 1947 film noir Whispering City. He later served as a city alderman in Toronto, where he gained some notoriety in the early seventies for slapping a fellow alderman in the face.
NOVELS
- The Penthouse Killings (1950)
Revised from Murder à la Carte which was published in the April 1948 issue of Original Detective Stories.
Report respectfully submitted by Dale Stoyer, with additional material by Kevin Burton Smith. A special tip of the touque to Brian Busby of The Dusty Bookcase for the trail of breadcrumbs.
