#49: The Doomsday Affair by Harry Whittington

The swingin' men from U.N.C.L.E. go after the typical nut with a nuclear weapon in Harry Whittington's The Doomsday Affair, based on the 60s TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I discovered Harry Whittington earlier this year, an industrious pulp paperback novelist who cranked out noirs, westerns, and more under a number of names over a number of years.  I have become a fan, and thus couldn't pass this up at a goodbye price in a heaping box of paperbacks at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.

I remember watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a teen (never as popular in my house as Mission: Impossible or The Wild, Wild West) but still a fun slice of spy adventure. 

Whittington's novel seems much more muscular and serious than I remember the series (after an exploding lei at the outset) with car chases, fistfights, nerve gas attacks, and a last-ditch effort to prevent a nuke from launching. 

Quick and fun, and doesn't really rely much on remembering the series.  For Whittington completists, which I seem to be becoming.

#12: Cross the Red Creek by Harry Whittington

A young man tries to dig himself out of being framed for a robbery, only to have the whole town against him, in Harry Whittington's Cross the Red Creek.

With its unfaithful women, unfriendly cops, and unbeatable odds, Whittington's novel reads more like a classic noir; but it is actually an extremely hard-boiled western.  It is the second novel in a bound trilogy of westerns by Whittington put out by Stark House Press that I have been consuming this month.

Whittington was a pulp writer of some reputation, with a long list of titles in multiple genres, though generally writing in mystery/thriller/noir.  Those influences definitely play into this fast-paced oater.

I read this quickly over a few nights.

#4: Trouble Rides Tall by Harry Whittington

An aging marshal has finally tamed a town, but the murder of a saloon girl brings long-buried emotions to the surface in Harry Whittington's Trouble Rides Tall.

This is my first read by the prolific Whittington, a very hard-bitten western that almost reads like a hard-boiled mystery.  Trouble Rides Tall has a solid noir element, with resonant characters, and is framed with plenty of gunplay.

Apparently this was a popular western by Whittington, as according to a forward to the novel, it was later made into a television show.

I got this in a collection of three Harry Whittington novels from the notable noir publisher Stark House Press, and read the first one quickly.  I am eager to read the other two novels in the collection.