Start Screaming Murder

Ed Rivers #4

by Talmage Powell

My name is Ed Rivers.

I live in Tampa, Florida, where I work as a private cop. I’m six feet tall, weigh in at about one ninety, and am forty years old.

When I look in the mirror I see a heavy, bearish face, dark-tanned and creased, the thick lids giving the brown eyes a lazy look. Women either get a charge from that face or want to run from it. Men fear it or trust it to the hilt. It isn’t a face that ever meets a neutral reaction.

I’m not always happy about that, but it’s my face and I have to do the best I can with it.

Genres: Hard Boiled

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Pen Names: Robert Hart Davis, Robert Henry, Milton T. Lamb, Milton T. Land, Jack McCready, Anne Talmage, and Dave Sands.

U.S. Author (1920 - 2000) Talmage Powell began his writing career in 1942. Mr. Powell created over 200 stories for the pulp fiction magazines writing in almost every genre and for all of the top magazines. After the demise of the pulps, Mr. Powell continued to write another 300 plus short stories for fiction magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Shayne, Manhunt and Suspense.

Powell also had a number of successful novels published during the 1950s and 1960s. His Ed Rivers series is recognized as some of the best Private Investigator stories from that era. Mr. Powell also had written a number of novels under the Ellery Queen by line as well. He also contributed his creative talents to screenwriting and television work.

Talmage Powell has had a long and successful career by delivering suspensful, intelligent, action based stories that any reader would enjoy.

Pulp Magazines (Partial): Dime Detective, Dime Mystery, Detective Tales, Ten Detecive Aces, Doc Savage, The Shadow, G-Men Detective, Ranch Romances, Fifteen Western Tales, Hollywood Detective, Crack Detective, Black Mask, and many more.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Start Screaming Murder is the fourth of the five novels in Powell's Ed Rivers private eye series, all published in the late fifties and early sixties. Rivers is a big bear of a man with an ugly mug who is part of a national security firm, but operates on his own in Tampa, Florida. "Women either get a charge from that face or want to run from it. Men fear it or trust it to the hilt. It isn't a face that ever meets a neutral reaction." His stories typically involve a woman he once knew showing up with a tale of woe and a need for help. His stories generally feature some time in Ybor City, which apparently at that time was Tampa's Cuban quarter. This story features midgets, dwarves, circus acts, sailing vessels, nasty guys in dark alleys. Rivers fights back just as tough as anyone and, when he punches, the other guys "bounced like a crazy cue ball in a bank shot. He did a cross between a jitterbug step and Virginia reel, halfway across the alley." As for the damsel in distress, it's Tina La Flor, with "a calendar girl figure, sunny-reddish hair, green eyes with a tiny up-tilt at the corners, and a face so mistily beautiful that you had to look twice at the porcelain perfection of it to make sure it was real." But that sleek package of loveliness stood slightly over three feet high.

[Redrighthand · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining potboiler, and kind of a cool mashup of nautical & carny "noir" subgenres. It was also enlightening to learn that there's a difference between midgets and dwarfs.

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plot driven novel of a tough guy trying to keep himself out of trouble. The characters are well drawn but except for the narrator, we don't delve deeply into their mind. Fights with the narrator getting and giving beatings punctuate a plot that kept me asking questions. The solution is a bit off the wall, but the action is there to keep you from thinking too much. An engaging writing style. If you are looking for a quick read and enjoy the hardboiled/tough guy genre, this will satisfy you.