Vintage Pulp | Dec 21 2010 |
Stewart Sterling, aka Prentice Winchell and several other pseudonyms, began as a writer for radio but eventually branched out into pulp novels and carved out a literary career that lasted almost twenty years. He created two running characters during that time. One of them was Gil Vine, a house detective in a hotel. The other—Ben Pedley—was a fire marshall who relied upon training and experience to foil arsonists (who typically were merely the hired thugs of more highly-placed criminal elements). Fire Marshall Pedley had the drive and toughness you’d expect from a fictional firefighter, as well as the flaws you enjoy in an anti-hero. There were nine Fire Marshall Pedley novels, including Five Alarm Funeral, which you see above, Where There’s Smoke, Fire on Fear Street, Alarm in the Night, Too Hot To Handle, Hinges of Hell, and others. For more detailed information on Sterling and his body of work, visit his page on the website Mystery*File.com.