Kings of Crime

The Shadow Pulp #20

by Maxwell Grant, Walter B. Gibson

Genres: Mystery, Pulp, Adventure

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Maxwell Grant was a pseudonym often used by Walter B. Gibson to write stories of "The Shadow".

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to pulp heroes there are 2 or 3 great standouts and the Shadow is one of those. The stories are fast paced and action filled. The mystery just adds to the excitement. With his army of agents to help the Shadow never lets you down for a great read. Highly recommended

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one takes the Shadow out of the Big Apple to Seaview City--an obvious expy for Atlantic City. Four "Kings of Crime" are planning to bring crime to the resort town--gambling, drugs, blackmail and kidnapping.

It's a great Shadow novels in several ways. First, there are several superb action scenes--most notably a gunfight between the Shadow and a gang of thugs in a pitch-dark hotel room. At the climax, the Shadow makes judicious use of a sniper rifle and a rifle-grenade to ensure the bad guys come to a... well, an explosive end.

The other strong feature of the novel is some nuanced characteriztions, particular the redemption arc of one of the Kings. Throughout his career, the Shadow went up against some pretty ruthless and bloodthirsty villains and most of them are six feet under by time any one Shadow novel ends. But in this case, one of the Kings of Crime swerves away from this. His part of the crime empire is foiled by the Shadow early on and the guy is sent to prison. But he now worries about his family--who didn't know he was a crook and are now destitute. His fellow crooks were supposed to look after them, but they've pretty much thrown the family to the wolves.

The captured crook breaks out with a vague plan to take vengeance on the other Kings of Crime, but circumstances lead him to continue to examine his life. In a realistic, step-by-step transformation, he ends up being allied with the Shadow, helping destroy crime that he now hates and perfectly willing to return to jail and pay for his own crimes afterwards.

There's a lot of honestly-earned emotion in his character arc. In a world where bad guys are much more likely to take a .45 from one of the Shadow's blazing automatics, it's nice to see someone change his ways.


He's not the only cool supporting character. Seaview City's police chief is a great guy. In the end, he needs the Shadow to figure out who the bad guys actually are, but honest and courageous, bringing the police force to the front lines when necessary. He's a pretty cool guy.

Finally, there's a good mystery at the heart of the story. There's an "Ace" who is the brains behind the four kings. His true identity is a secret through most of the story. An astute reader will guess he's a member of the town council, but which one? The book's third person narrator refers to the police chief has having an honest heart, so its not him. But that leaves a quartet of other suspects.

The answer to this might catch a few readers by surprise--though readers familar with Walter Gibson's plot twists have a fair chance of guessing correctly.


So--a strong story; a nice change-of-location from the usual streets of New York City; a few fantastic action scenes; and some strong secondary characters. "Kings of Crime" is yet another wonderful Shadow adventure.

[Michael Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The twentieth book. It reads as if someone else wrote it and not Gibson. The Shadow does not use his aides in the book, appearing otherwise as Lamont Cranston and another identity. He is part helped by a criminal who has been double-crossed.
Quiet Seaview city is a city taken over by criminals under a mysterious crime lord (the Ace) and his four criminal lieutenants (the Kings). The Shadow works to thwart them, one by one before unmasking the mystery villain (I guessed who it was).

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shadow takes on a crime ring trying to take control of Seaview City (obviously a fictionalized version of Atlantic City). As usual, there is a lot of mystery and action, and I guessed the identity of the crime ring's leader fairly early on. But I still enjoyed it.

[Jeff Farnham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling Shadow adventure! Seaview City will soon host the self-appointed Kings of Crime. The Shadow warns the mayor and other civic leaders but his warning falls on deaf ears. I won't spoil the story, so please give it a read. This is a wonderful action-filled adventure of The Shadow!

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is number twenty in the pulp series, and number 11 in the book series. This one starts out somewhat differently in that the Shadow already knows there is crime afoot, and he tries to warn a group of men who run a city where gambling is going on, but they refuse to listen.

There is also a group of five main villains. Four of them are referred to as the Kings, since they each carry a King from a deck of cards, and the fifth one, the leader, is the Ace. They bring a lot of crime to this city, and each guy is responsible for one area.

Lamont himself plays a part as a gambler who manages to beat the house which is cheating on the roulette wheel. He also gets into a battle with some of the crooks.

There's a lot of gun-play in this story, and it's one of the best ones. Definitely a must-read.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

typical Shadow novel with a twist where one major character impersonates another; I couldn't figure how he did it even upon rereading that section