Reading his memoir prompted me to read some Robert Turner
stories. It turned out to be a nice way to spend some time
during the blizzard we are experiencing.
"Crime Doesn't Play," (Dime Detective December 1947)--Turner
loved punning titles. The blurb is a hoot: "Ed's green-eyed
gal was playing secretary to the lady-luring nightclub
rajah...earning herself a pearl noose." Let me translate: Our
hero Ed's girlfriend Terry takes a job as secretary to the
owner of a nightclub who has a reputation for aggresively
pursuing women. Ed doesn't like it but Terry tells him its a
free country and she can do what she wants. Later when she is
framed for the murder of one of her new boss' girlfriends,
she comes running to Ed for help. He saves her and she is all
lovey-dovey but Ed turns her over his knee and spanks
her--"He didn't let up until his palm stung from the steady
rain of blows." After recovering from the pain, Terry tells
him "You--you're a brute, but I love you just the same." The
story is about average quality for a good pulp.
Manhunt magazine reprinted several of Turner's stories and
annoyingly changed the titles of the story. So I have to list
the later publication and guess at the original when the
reprint is all I have.
"Sitting Duck" (Manhunt Oct-Nov 1966) This is probably "A
Life For a Life" from Manhunt December 1954)--Cops lay in
wait for escaped prisoner expected to visit his girlfriend
and new baby in the hospital. One of the cops loves to loves
to kill people. This is a good solid story.
"Field of Honor" (Manhunt October 1955)--This story of
teenage girls meeting to do battle with beer can openers is a
tight drama without an unnecessary word. "Remember, now, go
for her breasts. That hurts awful, they say, and you get her
there once, good, and it'll be over." This story is about as
grim as they come.
"Breaking Point" (Chase, January 1964)--A businessman is on a
raging drunk over a weekend, picking fights and drinking
until no one will serve him. Something is haunting him but
it's buried in a blackout period. We join the character in
mid-drunk and follow him to a very stark finish. Another grim
story told with economy and style. Chase was a short-lived
mystery magazine edited by Turner's friends Jack Matcha and
Charles E. Fritch. The publisher was Health Knowledge which
about the same time was beginning the Robert Lowndes edited
Magazine of Horror.
I read other stories by Turner today but these are
representative. He certainly improved once Manhunt came along
and the quality of his stories continued on a higher level
even after Manhunt ceased to be a market for him.
Richard Moore
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