Cancelled in Red
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
To some, the postage stamps were colored bits of paper, worth mere pennies. Other people coveted them, preserved them, spent thousands of dollars to acquire them. One person in New York City was driven to commit murder.... Max Adrian was the rare stamp broker everyone in the know avoided — and those unfortunate enough to do business with him harbored grudges. It never mattered to the shifty broker, until someone demanded a refund at the point of a gun. Soon, Adrian’s rival Larry Storm plays amateur detective for the benefit of a dishy dame, searching for a hidden cache of priceless stamps. Storm is one step ahead of the tenacious Inspector Luke Bradley, who’s one step behind a cold-blooded killer — and Storm had better start running....
Cancelled in Red was the $1,000 Red Badge Prize Mystery winner. It walked away with the $10,000 prize for the 1939 Dodd Mead Mystery Contest. Dodd, Mead & Company issued the story in paperback and hardcover that same year.
Hugh Pentecost was the pen name of Judson P. Philips, a prolific author who created hundreds of pulp magazine stories and serials. Under the Pentecost pen name, he simultaneously sold to slick-paper magazines and the burgeoning paperback market. (More about that in Audrey Parente's book Once a Pulp Man, the Secret Life of Judson Philips as Hugh Pentecost).
Inspector Bradley appeared in four original novels, the last of which (The Brass Chills) finds him working undercover for the war effort. Bold Venture Press is proud to reissue these mystery classics for a new generation of readers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in 1939, this reissue marks the debut of NYPD Insp. Luke Bradley. A formulaic whodunit set in the stamp collecting world, it includes an unlikable murder victim, a plethora of suspects, an engaging amateur attempting to aid the police, and a budding romance. Manhattan stamp dealer Larry Storm is consulted by the attractive Lucia Warren, whose late father was a regular customer of his. Crooked auctioneer Max Adrian disposed of Lucia's father's stamp collection, but the sale yielded a much lower amount than she expected. Larry, who knows of Adrian's shady reputation, suspects that he substituted fakes and agrees to help Lucia get justice. But before his effort can make much progress, someone shoots Adrian in his office, and Lucia calls Larry for help after she finds the corpse. His involvement in the case and his attempt to conceal Lucia's role arouse Bradley's curiosity. Since she wasn't the only person the dead man cheated, the inspector has plenty of alibi-checking and interviewing to do. Larry overshadows Bradley, who isn't a particularly colorful sleuth. Still, many readers will enjoy this installment and want to seek out Pentecost's other works.
