Robert Martin (1908-1976) wrote moderately hard-boiled
detective stories, over 50 short stories for the pulps from
late 1930s to early 1950s (8 in BLACK MASK, 23 in DIME
DETECTIVE, etc) and 22 novels between 1951 and 1964(some
under pen name Lee Roberts). His main detective character was
Jim Bennett with Jim Fiske often used in the pulps. He also
created the small town general practitioner Dr Clinton
Shannon (Dr Clinton Colby in the pulps) who was also the
coroner. Dr Clint wasn't exactly a detective but his actions
led to the solving of crimes committed around him.
The novels were extensively reprinted in paperback here and
abroad and some were the basis of TV episodes. He seems to
have been quite popular in his time but now largely
forgotten, though I know some of the members have read him
based on archives of previous incarnation of this
group.
I am interested in your opinions/reviews/comments on his
writing. I am also interested in the foreign editions. Is
there anyone out there familiar with
British/German/French/Italian/Spanish/Japanese editions? I
have found out all 22 novels came out in German, at least 19
came out in Italian, only a few so far in French, but I am
about as far as I can go on my own.
While I think his stories are pretty good, I might be a bit
biased. He lived just down the street from my folks -- but I
never met him or even saw him as far as I know. With his
centenary coming in the near future I'd like to put together
as complete a bibliography as possible.
I have personal copies of all but one of the novels but I
still need about 20 of the pulps stories. Since the novels
were formed from them, the pulp stories are somewhat vital to
understanding them.
As a case in point, the 4 Dr Clinton Shannon novels contain
details here and there that are reminiscent of the Marilyn
Sheppard murder/Dr Sam Sheppard, but I should check the
source pulp stories to see what was original and what was
added. While I am at it, is there anyone fairly knowledgeable
of that case who might offer some opinions?
Any help you can provide will be most welcome and
appreciated.
Jim Felton
jim@feltoncpa.org
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~-->
$9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Aug 2004 EDT