DOUBLE IN TROUBLE
By Richard S. Prather & Stephen Marlowe
Gold Medal Giant
Copyrighted 1959 Fawcett Publications, Inc.
Second Printing 1960
286 pages
In 1960, we were a thirteen-year-old freshman in high school. We are also a veracious reader, having been weened on comic books at an early age. We loved reading and by that year were devouring every kind of paperback book we could get our hands on, from the Ace versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy adventures to the hard-boiled private eye series that seem to proliferate the drug store spinner racks. In that genre, abided some rather heady material for a shy, nerdy teen. Covers sporting sexy femme fatales in skimpy attire alongside tough-guy shamus were the norm and through them we entered the seedy world of such colorful heroes as, Mike Shane, Johnny Liddell, Mike Hammer, Rocky Steele, Stuart Bailey and Nick Carter to name few. Our personal favorite was Shell Scott. With his white hair and wise-cracking wit, Scott operated out of sunny Los Angeles, California; a far cry from the mean streets of the East Coast metropolises.
Scott was created by writer Richard Scott Prather (Sept. 9, 1921 – Feb. 14, 2007). His cases were Prather’s most successful series. He also wrote under the pen-names David Knight and Douglas Ring. The first Shell Scott mystery, Case of the Vanishing Beauty, was published in 1950. There would be more than three dozen to follow. Before his death, Prather donated his papers to the Richard S. Prather Collection at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, Wyoming. The only thing we remember about those .25 cent paperbacks was Scott’s wry humor and weakness for beautiful dames.
Another private eye series from Fawcett at that time were the Chester Drum books by Stephen Marlowe. Drum operated out of Washington, D.C. and was a no-nonsense guy always ready with both his fists and his .45 Magnum. Marlowe was Milton Lesser, (Aug. 7, 1928) born in Brooklyn, New York and died (Feb 22, 2008) in Williamsburg, Virginia. Unlike Prather, his own work covered a wider field including science fiction and fictional autobiographies of Goya, Columbus, Miguel de Cervantes and Edgar Allan Poe. He also wrote under various pseudonyms and was awarded Life Achievement Award by the Private Eye Writers of American in 1997. His first Chester Drum mystery appeared in his 1955 novel, The Second Longest Night.
Now imagine our surprise when we were looking at the latest paperback releases on the rack when we came across a thick book with both Shell Scott and Chester Drum on the cover. Both writers’ credits appeared under the saucy looking redheaded painted there. We couldn’t believe it. Someone had come up with the idea of teaming these two highly popular characters in one book aptly titled, Double in Trouble. Naturally we plunked our .50 cents on the counter and rushed home eager to read it. That was sixty-five years ago. Whether we liked it or not back then, is a lost memory in time. What was cemented into our still developing brain was the uniqueness of pairing two characters from two successful series. At 13, it was like Thor fighting the Hulk. Over the years we lost our copy and had forgotten the book until, while online, some twenty years ago, we got into a discussion with other private eye enthusiasts and the title was mentioned. We chimed in with our recollection and bemoaned the fact that no other publisher had ever thought to reprint such a ground-breaking book. Several weeks later, we received a dog-eared copy of Double in Trouble in the mail. It was a gift from fellow writer, Mark Ellis. We were extremely grateful, put it up on a bookshelf and vowed not to lose that one. Four days ago, at long last, we picked it up and read it again. Honestly, it was pretty much like a first time, as we truly had no actual memories of that first experience.
So now, the review. One would imagine writing a book where the two stars would narrate their adventures in first person would be tricky to say the least. How Prather and Marlowe managed it, we can only guess. Each chapter is by either Scott in L.A. or Drum in D.C. Both, through different circumstances, get involved via a mysterious and beautiful woman. They are drawn mystery that revolves around a Senate Sub-Committee investigating criminal activities in a nationwide trucker’s union. As is typical, within the early chapters, both are threatened by either gunfire or badly knocked around by Neanderthal-like goons. At some point in the back-and-forth orations, Scott learns of Drum and vice-versa. Then when the two connect on a long-distance phone call, rather than explain their participation in the case, each fumbles his words so as to give the other the impression they are part of the nefarious activities the other is looking into.
Now this misstep continues all the way to the book’s last act in which they come face to face on a stormy night out in an abandoned Virginia country airport. At which point, they attack each other, and Prather and Marlowe proceed to give us one of the most brutal, detailed and savagely funny fistfights ever put on paper. It alone is worth the price of admission. Thus resulting in both finally awakening to the fact they are actually on the same side and have to team-up to beat the bad guys once and for all. The conclusion is brilliant and, in the end, delivers what the entire premise promised. As for this reviewer, it is now obvious we were much too young to appreciate Double in Trouble when it was first released. Today, we soundly applaud two skilled pulp scribes; masters of their genre and thank them for what is truly a wonderful treasure from the past. Now somebody please reprint the darn thing!
