The Complete Casebook of Cardigan, Volume 3: 1934-35

Although now all but forgotten, in his days writing for the pulps Frederick Nebel (1903-1967) was as popular and well respected as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. So it's great to be able to savor his work now that it's been brought back into (e)print by Altus Press.Jack Cardigan, the two-fisted detective from Cosmos Agency, was one of the main reasons behind the success of Dime Detective Magazine, one of the many pulp magazines of the '30s and '40s and a competitor of the legendary pulp Black Mask Magazine.Volume three of "The Complete Casebook of Cardigan" collects 11 of the 44 stories Nebel wrote about Cardigan, and are:"Spades Are Spades" (January 1, 1934), "Hot Spot" (March 1, 1934), "Kick Back" (April 1, 1934), "Read 'Em and Weep" (May 1, 1934), "Red Hot" (July 1, 1934), "Not So Tough..." (August 15, 1934), "Too Hot to Handle" (September 15, 1934), "Pardon My Murder" (November 15, 1934), "Leave It to Cardigan" (December 15, 1934), "Hell on Wheels" (February 1, 1935), and "Hell Couldn't Stop Him" (April 15, 1935).The stories in the third volume are, if possible, even beter than those in the previous volume, and small gems of hard-boiled fiction. Nebel had really hit his stride when he was slingling out these hard-boiled tales. Wise-cracks snap by as fast as bullets as the two-fisted, hard-as-nails Cardigan bullies his way through every obstacle in his path to bring the case to an end.Nebel was a master of setting a scene with just a few brushstrokes of his typewriter. Consider the way "Too hot to handle" starts: "It was one a.m. in the Dynamite Bar. The blue-checkered cloths of the small square tables had plenty of elbows on them still, and the lad with the broken nose was rippling the ivories in his own version of Rhapsody in Blue. The Dynamite Bar was in a cellar in a house of Pacific Street and among the patrons were disillusioned poets, bloated plutocrats and a sprinkling of chaps who couldn't be placed at all." Not to mention that there's a lot of sly wit hidden among the telling. Just savor this when Cardigan puts his client to bed (read the story "Too hot to handle" to find out how he happens to end up playing nursemaid to a drunk): ""I'll be all right," Trent said. "It was probably something you dind't eat," Cardigan grinned."Cardigan, the big Cosmos Agency op with the long-legged stride, usually clothed in a shaggy ulster with the buttons in the wrong holes, a battered fedora on his unruly thatch of hair, is in most of the tales assisted by Patricia Seaward, "the good-looking end of the agency". Before many pages of a story are turned, he usually stumbles over the first dead body, either through a client of the agency or friends from his checkered past, which leads to butting heads with the Law, the Law being represented by Sergeant McGovern (as hot-tempered as Cardigan himself and also adept at slinging wise-cracks) and the somewhat bumbling Detective August Hunerkopf, with a fondness for oranges, apples and other healthy fruit.If this collection has given you appetite for more of Frederick Nebel's work, check out the other three volumes in the "Complete Casebook of Cardigan" series, which are available from Amazon in paperback or e-book format. At the time of writing of this review, the first volume's e-book version has a "This title is not currently available for purchase" notification, so I haven't been able to obtain this one yet.Or check out "Tough as Nails: The Complete Cases of Donahue from the Pages of Black Mask", which collects the fifteen hard-boiled P.I. stories about gumshoe Donahue, a character similar to Cardigan, which Nebel wrote for Black Mask Magazine, the most famous detective/P.I. magazine of the pulp era.

"You realize, don’t you, dummy, that you probably know too much already to get out of this?”“I have an idea.”“You can stick an exclamation point at the end of that idea. You think you’re a pretty tough baby but it’s only that loud mouth of yours that gets in your ears. It’s the Bay for you, kid, with something heavy around your neck.”“Think of the loss to my public.”“We’re your public now, Cardigan.”Frederick Nebel was a very talented writer of hard-boiled stories, one of the "Black Mask boys" who might be better known today if he had allowed more of his pulp stories to be reprinted in the paperback era. He had made it into 'the slicks,' however, and apart from SIX DEADLY DAMES, his work for Black Mask and Dime Detective went uncollected. In some sense he was a victim of his own success.The forty-four Cardigan novelettes appeared in Dime Detective from 1932 to 1937. I picked up volumes one and two of Altus Press's collection as they came out, but got volume three for Kindle, and read it first. The trade paperbacks are handsome editions, with the original pulp illustrations, whereas the Kindle editions are text only.The stories are well-written, if formulaic (wisecracks, speakeasies, shoot-outs, car chases- not always in the same order). The settings and dialogue have the feel of early 'pre-code' talkies, enlivened by the presence of Jack's female sidekick, Pat:When he swung long-legged into his Market Street office, at nine forty-five, Patricia Seaward, the good-looking end of the agency, was cracking the typewriter keys. She said sweetly, but too sweetly: “Good morning, Mr. Cosmos Agency.”He threw his hat at her and it disarranged her haircomb. She threw the hat in the waste paper basket, sighed: “If I come in at a minute past nine, I get bawled—”“Your lips are pretty, honey, but button them. I was out on a case last night. Picked up twenty-five bucks for taking a drunk home.”“Do you mean you paid someone twenty-five to take you home?”He held his head between his hands, groaned and went on into the inner office.Incidentally, Cardigan is often called a 'clone' of Nebel's other big Irish private dick, Donahue, but if he is the same Cardigan who goes rogue in the first MacBride stories (see the Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps)- then his 'secret origin' precedes the first Donahue story by two years.

Cardigan was a big tough detective who cared for his friends and was rough to crooks. These stories reflect the culture of the 1930's and stand up to comparison with Dashiell Hammett and his cronies. Colorful characters and clever plots make these stories a good way to spend time at home or on a visit. All of volumes 1-4 are equally good -- if you have already read volumes 1 and 2, you know all about it. If you are new to Cardigan, you can start at any volume, but I suggest that you start with Cardigan Casebook Volume 1 and read through the series in chronological order for greatest enjoyment.I hope this review was helpful.