Deadly Weapon

Max Thursday and Austin Clapp #1

by Wade Miller

A drama of murder, racketeering, drug dealing and romance.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Pulp, Noir, Mystery

Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

See also Bob Wade

Wade Miller is a pen name of two authors, Robert Allison “Bob” Wade (1920-present) and H. Bill Miller (1920-61). The two also wrote under several other pseudonyms, including Whit Masterson and Will Daemer.

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1988.

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book by the Wade Miller duo. Reads like a Hammett book and doesn't have the edge of their later books. Ok if you like the classic pre-1950 police procedural/PI books.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: PD Walter James is pursuing the killers of his partner in the San Diego area. It's the drug scene of the 1930s.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book by Robert Wade and William Miller; it's got less of their traditional prose style and reads more like a homage to Hammett and Chandler and the other great detective writers of the '40s. A solid tale, I really liked it though it's not the best in the Wade Miller lineup.

Private detective Walter James, hot on the trail of the drug lords who killed his partner, finds love and murder in Southern California. Not necessarily in that order. When James shows up at a strip joint in San Diego to meet a contact with info on the drug scene, the contact gets murdered. James has a blossoming romance with the dilettante daughter of one of the suspects, exchanges witty banter with the local hardboiled police detective, and trades potshots with dope dealers south of the Mexican border.

Again, a treat for anyone who loves old-school detective stories, and the last chapter is a kick in the head.

(Full review found here.)

[Andy Oerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

"You can forget that," she said quickly. "I come and go as I please.
"Nobody does that," said Clapp, "and I've got a houseful of city guests back here as extreme examples. Nobody's ever succeeded in being a completely free agent."
"Keep an eye on me," said Walter James.
"I will," smiled Clapp agreeably.


"Clapp, you wouldn't tell me a thing if you didn't think I know more than I'm giving out. It's going to pay me to look guilty just so I'll have the key to your little lips. You're just trying to give me enough rope."
"I got plenty of rope," said Clapp agreeably. "Been
saving it for years."
"Hell, you wouldn't know you had a case if I hadn't come along."
"I have to keép an eye on the record, my boy. If you hadn't come along, I'd only have one dead Filipino on my hands. Now, if your story adds up, I'm liable to have a dope ring raise its ugly head and pretty soon the newspapers, the City Council and the F.B.I. will be galloping single file right down my throat."


"Do you clear the whole cast?" Walter James asked.
"I never clear anybody till they die," remarked Clapp.


"Yes, I'd like my 38 back and a license to carry it around here."
"Not a chance, James. It'd make me look pretty silly if you do turn out to be a mass murderer and I've given you a gun license. No, thanks!"
"That's all right," said Walter James. "I got plenty of others. But I don't want to be picked up for carrying any one of them."
"You won't be as long as you don't make it go bang.
And if any self-defense matters pop up, you better have a witness, James. And it better be me."
"That's the friendly attitude I expected." He pulled a snub-barreled .32 from inside his coat and flipped it over in his hand. "Baby, you'd better not speak to anyone or your daddy'll get the gas chamber."
"James," said Clapp pleasantly, "you got more guts than a grandfather clock."
Walter James slid the gun out of sight. "You'll call me?"
"Or send a squad after you. All depends on how my dinner sets."
"See you soon." Walter James ambled casually out of the office.


"And now no matter what happens you can always say—I did my best."
"You think you're pretty clever; don't you?"
Walter James turned the ignition key. "That handle right there opens the door." Newcomb got out, clumsily, without a word. Walter James stepped on the starter.
"Good night," he said pleasantly. "And take my advice, junior. Don't play with the big kids-they play rough and you might get hurt." He let out the clutch and left Newcomb standing at the curb.


“The Filipino is dead. However, he is not alone. I here are many dead people, Mr. James."
"They've been stockpiling for years," Darmer added drily.


He put his hand under his coat and felt his back. "T'll be glad when my spine comes to life. That son of a bitch kicked me square in this." He pulled out his hand; in it was a snub-barreled pistol.
"You had a gun?" Kevin said. "Why didn't you use it?"
He considered. "I guess I would have if they'd really gotten rough."


"Your daughter is in no danger, Mr. Gilbert," he said. "I can guarantee that for a while." Gilbert shuffled some forms on his desk with brown corrugated hands. "Danger? There's no way to escape it. There's no point in trying. It's dangerous to cross the street or to eat things out of tin cans."
"The odds are with Kevin. I'm on her side." The slender man fitted himself into the leather chair for clients.
"Kevin." Gilbert let out a quick breath. "That was her mother's idea. No, I never had any particular plans for Laura—I just wanted her to be happy. I wanted to be a real father to her, but she wasn't my idea of a daughter. Her moodiness, her romanticism-I don't know where she gets them. I've never had any longing for adventure the way she sees it. Things are unstable enough as they are. All I've ever wanted was security."
"Kevin doesn't want security," said Walter James.
"No, she never has," said the old man. "She's not old enough to realize how valuable it is. She doesn't know what she wants."
"Affection.”


"Do you come from the police?"
"My connection with the police is as strong as the help they can give me. In Atlanta I'm a private detec-tive. I'm after a man who killed a friend of mine. I'm not interested in upholding the law."
"My daughter told me about your partner. I can't give you any help there."
"You know of Dr. Elliott Boone?"
"I've never heard the name. Is he the man you're after?"
The radio began a rhumba undertone. A slender hand turned the knob and plunged the office into silence.
"He's the man I'm after. I wasn't expecting help from you. I didn't think you would know Dr. Boone.
You did know the Filipino. You know Shasta Lynn.
The old man shrugged tired shoulders. "I've been waiting for the police for some time."
Walter James sprang to his feet. "Damn it! I don't want you to wait for the police. You-I don't care if you dry up in jail and blow out through the bars. But Kevin deserves something better."


She stretched luxuriously. "Let's go out on the balcony. Fresh air and then a drink, then more fresh air, then another drink-" He laughed. "Ad infinitum. Or what's Latin for until the bar closes'?"
They walked along the plate-glass wall to the nearest arch and stepped out into the assembling dusk. Kevin skipped over to the stone balustrade.
"Look Walter! The sun's nearly gone." He came up beside her and slipped his hand between her arm and her body. "Sunsets are sort of sad," she mused.
"They always come back."
"But it seems too final. It's only a very little sun and the Pacific's such a big ocean."
"Everytime the sun sets in the ocean I expect to see steam come up."
She squeezed his hand with her arm. They leaned on the stone rail in silent reverence. To the left was the etched suddenness of the Point Loma hills; everywhere else was sheet metal ocean. Far below, the surf boiled among rock clusters and chewed at the cliffs with thundering rage.
"Sunset Cliffs," she murmured. "They've looked at sunsets so long they've turned red themselves." She looked down, fascinated by the white festoons of surf.
"It's a long way down."

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

On face value, Deadly Weapon reads as a typical hardboiled detective novel with a take-charge protagonist who is both a magnet for violence and an attraction for women.

Private detective Walter James is on the hunt for a murderer, seeking revenge for the brutal slaying of his partner. While following a lead he finds himself embroiled in another murder, this time, a ticket-taker at a theater who is knifed without a witness in a packed house. In a confidential sequence of events the two murders become linked with Walter James right in the thick of the action.

The murder mystery at the forefront of the post war era pulp surrounds the ticket-taker and his later discovered involvement in drug trafficking as the investigation steadily ties threads together to form a patch-work of crime far more complex than what was advertised.

The dialogue is a little dated but you know what you're getting into with pulp era detective books so its excusable and should be enjoyed for what it is. There's also the over-the-top love interest Kevin who falls for Walter James in record time, declaring herself his after a day or two of meeting our slim leading man, but the character plays the part of the breathless damsel in distress to perfection, credit to Wade Miller.

The biggest selling point for Deadly Weapon is the twist which smacks the reader in the face and, to me at least, was completely out of left field - I didn't see it coming and the book is far better read for it.

My rating: 3.5/5 stars, another pulp worth picking up.

review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...

[Ron Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wade Miller in "Deadly Weapon" explained another character's phrase, "Just when you think you’ve taken care of everything, something or somebody pops up to block the deal,” as "the unknown factor. In this 5 day long crime story, the unknown factor reels it's ugly head and truly caught this reader off guard. Although something appeared wrong from early on, I was continually deceived in a masterful way.

At least 8 killings over the 5-day span, at least one romance, a lesbian affair, a strip club setting, and beautiful San Diego of the 1950s color this noir novel with a clever brush. The author gives us an hour by hour account of a fast-moving detective story, interaction with po!ice, a drug ring involving killer marijuana, and a series of deaths by a variety of means. What more can a reader ask for?

The young, impressionable, adventure-seeking redhead observes, "I never realized before there were so many ways to die. So many ways to kill people. Why are there so many deadly weapons?” And the truth-telling police lieutenant responds, "I’ve come to figure that man is the only deadly weapon. Take a gun. It’s an absolutely harmless thing — even makes a good honest paperweight — until some man gets his hand around it. You can strip a gun down to its basic parts and it’s lost its power. You can reduce man to his chemical elements but you’ve always got the spirit, or whatever you call it, left. And that spirit will find some damned way to do evil.” This truth is borne out in these pages.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun, quick read set in 1946 seedy San Diego.

Walter James, a detective from Atlanta, is watching a strip show in San Diego because he's supposed to meet a person of interest there. When headliner Shasta Lynn takes the stage there's a scream from the audience. James's contact has been killed from a stab to the back. James makes friends with the young woman who sat next to the victim and things become more than friendly between the two. Together, they look for the killer, who might information about who killer James's partner.

Great dialogue, great action, and a fantastic surprise in the end that stunned me. There was something that James kept repeating about a character that had me guessing a revelation that's become cliche, but in 1946 I'm sure this twist was new.

I absolutely recommend this book.

[Tom Britz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deadly Weapon was Wade Miller's first novel published in 1946. Wade Miller was a collaborated pseudonym of Robert Wade [1920-2012] and Bill Miller [1920-61]; they also wrote as Whit Masterson, Dale Wilmer, and Will Daemer.
This novel starts and ends at a nightclub in San Diego, Ca. where a murder has been committed. The story follows a private eye from Atlanta who is apparently following someone who murdered his partner. There are many more killings and the private eye is not who he seems to be. That was what knocked this book down to a three star, before the last chapter it was a solid four star.

[Andi Chorley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great hard-boiled tale of burlesque dancers, murder, a dope ring, and a redhead called Kevin. The first novel by Wade Miller a pen name for a partnership of two American authors, Robert Allison Wade (June 8, 1920 – September 30, 2012) and H. Bill Miller (May 11, 1920 – August 21, 1961). They later wrote as Whit Masterson. Many of their novels were adapted into films but not this one.

A far more detailed review at Tipping My Fedora:

https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/20...

[John Marr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid post-war PI thriller that takes more than a nod to Hammet with a partner murder driving the action. Nice San Diego atmosphere and good pacing make up for the abrupt and somewhat nonsensical end.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't even have the energy to write why this didn't work for me. Wade Miller is 0 for 2 right now.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Wade and Bill Miller were childhood pals who wrote under a couple of psuedonyms including Wade Miller (a conglomeration of their last names), Whit Masterson, and Will Daemer. They wrote something on the order of thirty novels together, beginning with 1946’s novel, “Deadly Weapon.”

It is a terrific hardboiled detective story, easy to read, and written in a terse, clipped manner without any fancy, extraneous descriptions. It takes place, as did many of the Wade Miller books, in San Diego.
Walter James is an Atlanta detective. He ends up in San Diego after his partner is gunned down. The partner’s wife had been in Miami, but she disappeared without a trace. James’ partner had been investigating something, first in Denver, and then in San Diego, something linked to marijuana.
Acting on a tip, James heads to San Diego, but before he can speak with his connection, that man too is gunned down in the middle of a crowded theater with hundreds of witnesses present, none of whom ever saw the stabber. It's a burlesque striptease theater featuring the headline act of Shasts Lynn. James makes pals with the local police and with a girl who had been present herself in the theater next to the deceased contact, Laura Gilbert. James is no dummy. This is a good, old-fashioned postwar mystery and certainly established the writing duo of Wade Miller as force to be reckoned with.

[manel queiroz]

dnf- p.42

[Ron Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a particularly good book. The plot is concerned with marijuana smuggling but the authors seem to have only a hazy idea of what marijuana is or it's effects. I had originally rated it lower than I did but the ending of the book saved it from being terrible.

[Alessandro Giuliani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classico hard boiled americano, con il detective tutto d’un pezzo che indaga per scoprire il colpevole e ottenere la sua vendetta ... fino al colpo di scena finale che rende il libro ancora più apprezzabile