Secondhand Book Finds: Able Team, Louis L’Amour and Sudden

In my first blog post of 2020, I wrote about my poor reading through most of the previous year. That, however, did not stop me from buying more books, some of which I mentioned in that post. Here are three paperbacks—two westerns and a thriller—that I picked up secondhand in 2019. I was especially pleased with Able Team and Sudden, both of which are rare finds where I live.

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Ironman is the 19th book in the Able Team action-adventure series written under the pseudonyms authors, G.H. Frost and Dick Stivers. The series—a spinoff of Mack Bolan: The Executioner, created by Don Pendleton—was first published in 1982 by Gold Eagle.

I have been collecting Mack Bolan and its spinoffs—Able Team, Phoenix Force and Stony Man— for nearly a decade and own some 25 novels, including a few written by Pendleton himself. These books take me back to my teens, when I used to read James Hadley Chase, Nick Carter and Perry Mason, many of which are still available in secondhand bookshops in Mumbai.

Synopsis: "Able Team's Carl Lyons travels to the cloud-swept Sierra Madre without his partners and without his weapons. But what was supposed to be well-earned R&R turns into a nightmare of conspiracy and terror when a Fascist international surveillance team identifies Lyons as one of the American specialists who wrecked Unomundo's attempt to seize Guatemala two years earlier."

Carl 'Ironman' Lyons is an old Able Team hand. As a bright LAPD detective, Lyons was tasked with bringing Bolan in—dead or alive; that is, till the Executioner saved his life. Later, he is recruited by Hal Brognola who heads a special organised crime task force.

Western fiction is my favourite genre. I think of Westerns as a blend of several others—crime, mystery, suspense, action, romance, politics, war, and even religion. So I had no hesitation in picking up the Bantam edition of Hanging Woman Creek by Louis L'Amour, another author I read widely in my younger days.

Synopsis: "Barnabus Pike is no gunfighter and not much of a street fighter. Eddie Holt is a black boxer in a white man's world. They've both taken their share of hard knocks. Now they're looking to survive a brutal winter in a remote Montana line shack, collect their pay, and settle down for good. Then they cross paths with a hardworking Irish immigrant and his beautiful, spirited sister, who've been burned off their land. It's a fight Pike and Holt don't want, don't need, and don't dare turn their backs on-especially when one of the perpetrators might be one of Pike's old friends. Hunted like animals across the frozen countryside, Pike and Holt will risk everything-including their reputations, their dreams-and their lives."

If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know how much I enjoy reading the Sudden novels. James Green—better known as Sudden, the Texas outlaw— was created by British writer Oliver Strange, who wrote only ten books. Later, English author Frederick Nolan added five more Sudden novels, including Apache Fighter, under the pseudonym Frederick H. Christian. The original Corgi editions are so rare in India that they sell for hundreds, even thousands of rupees.

Synopsis: "There was a reward of five thousand dollars for the man who could bring Barbara Davis out of Apacheria alive. Every outlaw, gunman, and scalphunter in the south-west had drifted in to Tucson, then out into Apache country, lured by the dream of easy gold. The Apaches killed some of them slowly and horribly; but still they came. Governor Bleke knew unless the girl was brought out soon, he would have a full-scale Indian war on his hands. He sent for the one man who might be able to do it. A tall, slow-drawling man who wore his six-guns tied low and looked as if he knew how to use them. A Texas outlaw on the run: SUDDEN!"

I have been reading these books through different phases of my reading life, and I pick them up whenever I find them in secondhand bookshops and book sales.

Book Review: A Lesson in Deceit by Gillian Larkin

They came to a crossing and Sam pressed the button. “Anyway, let’s talk about you. How many dead bodies have you found now? Granddad thinks you’re cursed.”

“It’s not my fault I keep finding them,” Julia said with a note of indignation.

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A Lesson in Deceit by Yorkshire-based author Gillian Larkin is the first book in her Julia Blake cozy mystery series. It is a delightful novella about a murder set in the University of Edinburgh.

Julia Blake has a son, Sam, and a daughter, both of whom she dotes on. She lives in Leeds with her Scottish shortbread-loving father and runs a cleaning business to support her family. Life has not been easy since her husband left. But her hardships have not deterred her from caring for her family or from finding herself drawn into murder mysteries, often unintentionally and to the annoyance of DI Clarke of Leeds.

Julia is visiting Sam at his university and is full of maternal affection and concern. Sam takes her around the campus, including the local pub where he works part-time. There, he introduces Julia to his close friend Elliott, who is covering his shift that day. Elliott works many shifts because he needs the money and, as a result, often misses lectures. Lately, he hasn’t been himself, prompting Sam to suspect that something is troubling his once happy-go-lucky friend. Elliott’s situation stirs Julia’s maternal instincts.

But before Julia can think of helping him in any way, her father’s prophetic words come true again—she finds Elliott dead in his room. There are no signs of injury or a struggle. Did he overdose on painkillers and sleeping tablets? Or was he poisoned with a combination of the two drugs?

DI Thostlewaite, who has heard of Julia’s reputation and her tendency to turn up where corpses do, gently advises her not to interfere in the case. But she has no choice when the local police detain Sam as a suspect.

“Grandad wants to know if you’ve found any dead bodies yet. Ha! He’s so funny.”

“Dead bodies are never funny,” Julia replied.

A Lesson in Deceit is not a murder mystery in the true sense. There is no major investigation or extended unearthing of clues, which Julia predictably does at some risk to her life. She and Sam are likeable characters, mainly because of their strong familial bond, easy relationship and light banter. The author also neatly interlaces the narrative with values. For instance, when Julia offers Sam extra money so he does not have to work at the pub, he tells his mother that she has done enough and that he wants to pay his own way—a nice lesson for young readers. 

The novella is written in an easy, engaging style, and will appeal to both younger and older readers alike.

Short Story: The Bodyguard by Lee Child

© ITW Publications

She took my formal qualifications for granted. I have scars and medals and commendations. I had never lost a client. Anything else, she wouldn't have been talking to me, of course. She asked about my worldview, my opinions, my tastes, my preferences. She was interested in compatibility issues. Clearly she had employed bodyguards before.

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If ever I have read a story that captures the all-too-real fictional world of bodyguards in just a few pages, it is in 'The Bodyguard,' a short story by Lee Child. It was first published in First Thrills (2010), an anthology of tales involving murder, mystery and mayhem by various authors and edited by Child himself, and later reprinted in his collection Safe Enough and Other Stories (2024).

The British author succinctly describes the life and work of a highly-trained bodyguard who quits the military to protect the rich, the famous and the powerful.

Written in the gripping style familiar to readers of the Jack Reacher novels, 'The Bodyguard' introduces a nameless protagonist who could either be real or phony. Child quickly establishes both the uncertainty surrounding the man and the risks of his profession. His clients are mostly wealthy individuals, business magnates and the politically connected, all vulnerable to kidnapping for ransom. The threat is particularly acute in parts of South America, where abduction seems less a crime than a thriving industry.

A year after leaving his friend's agency to start his own business, the bodyguard—a "medium-sized man, lean, fast, full of stamina"—is hired by Anna, a wealthy and attractive 22-year-old whose father is a Brazilian politician and businessman and whose mother is a television star. But the assignment, and a perilous trip to Brazil, do not go according to plan.

The 3,110-word story ends with an unexpected twist that, while stretching credibility a little, adds to the fun and makes it well worth reading. I have enjoyed Child's work ever since I read his first Reacher novel, Killing Floor.

The Ganesha Arati Book: Understanding Sukhakarta Dukhaharta

Sukhakarta Dukhaharta—the harbinger of light and the dispeller of darkness—is one of the most popular aratis, or devotional hymns, in the Hindu religion. It is a heartfelt prayer that seeks Lord Ganesha's blessings for peace, happiness and prosperity, while asking for relief from pain, difficulties and obstacles.

The arati is traditionally attributed to Samarth Ramadas, the renowned 17th-century poet-saint from Maharashtra, who is believed to have composed it in praise of the beloved Hindu deity, Ganesha. It is said Ramadas was inspired to write the hymn in Marathi after receiving a vision of Mayureshwara at the Mayureshwar Temple in Morgaon, one of the most revered centres of Ganesha worship in Maharashtra.

© lalbaugcharaja.co.in

The elephant-headed Hindu god of wisdom, intellect and new beginnings, is revered across India, particularly in Maharashtra and the neighbouring states. The patron deity of arts and sciences, he is worshipped as the remover of obstacles and the bestower of good fortune.

Ganesha is also venerated for his benevolence and compassion towards those who seek his protection. For this reason, he occupies a special place in the Hindu pantheon as well as in the hearts and minds of devotees of all ages. Children, in particular, are drawn to his endearing form and often regard him with a mixture of affection, wonder and reverence.

The Ganesha Arati Book: Understanding Sukhakarta Dukhaharta is more than an exposition of one of the most widely sung aratis at pujas and religious ceremonies, especially during Ganesh Chaturthi, the popular 11-day festival celebrating the birth and glory of Ganesha. It brings out the essence of the hymn in a way that helps worshippers—and families who pray together—better understand its uplifting message, even as they join hands and sing the arati with devotion before the resplendent idol. For to understand the true significance of a prayer is to deepen one's spiritual experience and enrich the soul.

The book provides an easy-to-understand English translation of Sukhakarta Dukhaharta comprising three main stanzas and a chorus repeated after each one. Interspersed between the stanzas are three engaging stories—The Legend of Mayureshwara, The Birth of Ganesha and The Story of Kubera's Feast—which explore the origins of the deity and recount one of his most enduring lessons in humility and human values.

The distinctive horizontal format of the book is inspired by the pathi, echoing the size and style of traditional scriptures and devotional texts. Each page of the 48-page hardbound volume is adorned with colourful motifs and illustrations drawn from India's rich temple tradition, while a glossary at the end explains non-English words used in the text.

Together, these elements make The Ganesha Arati Book: Understanding Sukhakarta Dukhaharta a book to cherish, read and preserve for future generations. It is published by Atah Lifestyle, a Pune-based company that creates products inspired by Indian art and culture, and is available on Amazon.

Book Review: Memory Man by David Baldacci

Amos Decker is the Memory Man, the protagonist of David Baldacci's eponymous series, which opens with Memory Man.

The bearded and massively built protagonist—a former homicide detective turned private investigator turned police consultant—has a rare gift: he remembers everything and forgets nothing. Events, experiences, people, faces, names, objects, shapes, numbers, dates and places are permanently imprinted on his mind, the result of a collision on the football field when he was twenty-two years old.

The accident ruins Decker's professional football career but leaves him with a super autobiographical memory, the ability to recall virtually everything that has happened in his life.

If you were a student preparing for a Maths or History test, you would probably give anything to have Decker's gift.

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In Memory Man, Decker puts his extraordinary perceptive faculties and deductive reasoning to good use by joining the Burlington Police Department, where he and his partner and friend, Detective Mary Lancaster, form a formidable team of investigators.

One evening, Decker returns home from work to find his wife, young daughter and brother-in-law murdered, his family brutally violated in the process. The tragedy sends his life into a downward spiral. He leaves home, gives up his job and drifts through life on the streets, largely indifferent to what becomes of him. Eventually, he manages to rebuild some semblance of a life as a reclusive private investigator, taking on minor cases, simply to survive. Meanwhile, the murders remain unsolved.

More than a year later, Decker is jolted back to reality by two extraordinary events: the appearance of a mysterious man named Sebastian Leopold, who confesses to the unsolved murders despite having a seemingly watertight alibi, and a carefully planned mass shooting at the local high school. His former boss, Captain Miller, persuades him to assist in the investigation into the shooting. Decker agrees, hoping it may finally help him uncover the truth about his family's deaths.

Decker joins his former partner, Lancaster, in the school library—the investigation's makeshift war room—with the FBI also on the case. But he largely works alone, much to the frustration of Lancaster and Special Agent Sam Bogart, bringing them in only after he has pursued a lead and uncovered something worth sharing.

What he uncovers over the next few days leaves him stunned: the person—or persons—responsible for murdering his family also orchestrated the killings of the students and staff at the school. Yet, even Decker's remarkable mental abilities fail to produce any face or name from his past that might explain the motive behind the crimes.

Amos Decker is one of the most unusual characters I have encountered in crime fiction. The tragedy has left him emotionally scarred and detached, but not devoid of empathy. His extraordinary mind makes him an effective investigator. Decker unravels most of the clues and assembles the missing pieces. Others on the case are largely content to follow his lead.

Memory Man is a well-crafted thriller with an unusual storyline and an intriguing hero. The novel's strength lies in its singular focus on Amos Decker, the Goliath-like protagonist who dominates the narrative from start to end, both as a grieving family man and a razor-sharp homicide detective. 

Book Review: Dangerous Lady by Martina Cole

The Ryans—Benjamin and Sarah—and their nine children, eight sons and a daughter, live in poverty and hardship in a seedy district of London. Michael, the eldest, is devoted to his mother and especially protective of his little sister Maura, the bright spot in an otherwise harsh household. His feelings toward his father, a habitual drinker who drifts through life with little purpose, are distant. It is from him that Michael and his brothers are drawn early into petty crime. 

It is not long before the “Bills”—as the police are called in the novel—come calling. Michael develops an intense dislike for the uniformed men. As he grows up to become a powerful and feared mobster, that antipathy toward the police becomes one of his main traits—one that nearly destroys the very family he is determined to protect.

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Martina Cole’s Dangerous Lady traces Michael Ryan’s rise in the London underworld. In many ways, Ryan—born into an Irish-English family and eventually ruling the West End underworld of London—echoes Michael Corleone, the Sicilian-American heir who comes to dominate New York’s gangland. The resemblance, however, is only partial.

In spite of Michael's intimidating presence through most of the 416-page novel, Dangerous Lady is not so much about him as his beautiful sister Maura. Following a secret love affair with a cop, fear of Michael and a painful abortion at the age of 17, she joins her brother and together they build a criminal empire that would’ve made the Sicilian Mafia proud. She proves her worth not just to Michael and her other brothers, but even to the traditionally male-dominated crime syndicates of London. But Maura also has a soft side to her, the result of unfulfilled love that comes back to haunt her and perhaps a chance at redemption.

British crime writer Martina Cole’s debut novel is more than a high-octane crime story; it is the violent saga of a crime family whose exploits stretch from post-war London in the 1950s to the mid-1980s. As the years roll on, the Ryans lose more than they gain, both within the family and on the streets of the West End.

Though Dangerous Lady is a crime drama with plenty of action and gritty scenes, I did have a few reservations about the novel. At times it feels rather long, with the narrative slowing and moving back and forth in time. I am not particularly fond of flashbacks, which may have shaped my reading of these sections. The writing is fairly straightforward, as is the dialogue. I also found it difficult to fully empathise with or connect to the characters—Michael or Maura, their strong-willed mother Sarah, or even the brothers who work in Michael’s organisation.

Despite these issues, Dangerous Lady is both entertaining and readable. It offers a dramatic canvas of organised crime, along with an all-too-real portrayal of an unlikely female gangster with a heart. I plan to read more of the Maura Ryan series, as well as other books by the author.

Confessions of a Book Collector: So Much for Restraint

In the first three months of this year, I bought more books than I did in the whole of 2018. So much for restraint. Any resolve to cut back on book buying quickly disappeared as I walked through book exhibitions and second-hand bookstalls looking for interesting books and comics.

A few titles, including Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, were bought online (I already own his Sapiens and Homo Deus.) I also picked up several guides to better writing, two of which are featured below. And although I ordered Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology for my son, I intend to read it myself at some point.

The highlight of the haul was the discovery of three rare Sudden novels by British author Oliver Strange, including two different Corgi editions of The Range Robbers. The book is the first of ten adventures featuring the Texas outlaw James Green, better known as Sudden for his lightning-fast draw. After Strange's death, English writer Frederick Nolan wrote five more Sudden novels under the pseudonym Frederick H. Christian. They remain my favourite westerns to this day.

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Having explored humanity's past in Sapiens and its future in Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari turns his attention to some of the most pressing questions facing the modern world in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories shows Agatha Christie at her most versatile, with a mix of mysteries, twists and suspenseful tales featuring both familiar and lesser-known characters. 

In The Wrath of God, Jack Higgins—my favourite writer of all time—combines action, suspense and political intrigue in a gripping tale of revenge set in a troubled South American republic.

The Mating Season is a classic Jeeves and Wooster comedy, filled with Wodehouse's trademark humour, eccentric characters and tangled plots. 

Blind Eagle is one of the many instalments in Don Pendleton's long-running Stony Man series, known for its military action, covert operations and fast-paced storytelling. 

The Wilt Alternative is the second novel in Tom Sharpe's popular Wilt series, known for its sharp satire, eccentric characters and wildly improbable comic situations. 

Captain America: The Secret Story of Marvel's Star-Spangled Super Hero offers a behind-the-scenes look at the character's creators, adventures and cultural significance over the decades. 

 

Norse Mythology is Neil Gaiman's retelling of the classic Norse myths, capturing their humour, wonder, magic and tragedy in his distinctive storytelling style.

Dreyer's English combines writing tips, grammar guidance and editorial wisdom with a generous dose of humour. Drawing on decades of editorial experience, Benjamin Dreyer provides an entertaining and insightful guide to clearer, more effective writing.

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing distils Gary Provost's years of writing and teaching experience into a practical collection of 100 concise tips to help writers communicate more clearly, effectively and confidently. 

The Range Robbers is the first novel in Oliver Strange's Sudden series, introducing James Green, a mysterious drifter better known as Sudden for his lightning-fast draw. Guided by a strong sense of justice, the western hero repeatedly finds himself confronting outlaws, corruption and lawlessness across the American frontier, while making new friends wherever he goes. The book launched a series of 15 adventures, 10 written by Strange and a further five by Frederick Nolan after the author's death.