Created by Bevis Winter
Pseudonyms include Al Bocca, Peter Cagney, Sammy Coburn, Bennet Hill & Gordon Shayne; and the house pseudonym Hyman Zore
(1918-1985)
In a small town in England, ex-Corporal Philip Denton, just back from World War II, discovers the body of his wife in the basement of their farmhouse, and is promptly arrested by the local constabulary for her murde. With nowhere else to turn, he calls in a favour from an old Army buddy, MAJOR MARTIN MYERS, who is now a successful private detective in London.
Rather than turn his back on an old pal, Myers arrives in the sleepy cottage town, with faithful secretary Olivia in tow. That’s the basic scenario of Make Mine Murder, a 1949 standalone from Bevis Winter, but before it’s done Myers will have to also deal with the long-ago murder and rape of a child, blackmail, a reclusive gynecoligist, a murder or two back in London, and his increasing attraction to Olivia.
The author was born Bevis Peter Winter in Birmingham, England (not Australia, as previously reported )in 1918. He was a relatively prolific writer (some say “hack”) writing under a slew of pseudonyms in the fifties and sixties. A veteran of the “Mushroom Jungle” era, he even had a hand in publishing and editing Stag, one of the first British mens’ magazine. He also published a non-fiction booklet, The Naked Truth About Freelance Writing in 1948. He died in 1985 at Haywards Heath, Sussex, England. A purveyor of “gangster novels” and faux American hard-boiled detective fiction, his other private eyes include Steve Craig(by far his most popular creation), Al Rankin, and Mike Strang.
NOVELS
- Make Mine Murder (1949)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
