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Mike Faraday
Scratch on the Dark
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SCRATCH ON THE DARK
Zarah Fayne is missing. When Dr. Nathan Crisp asks Mike Faraday to trace his nymphomaniac movie-star wife, the sardonic L.A. private investigator uncovers a million-dollar Hollywood racket in pornographic films. The trail takes him from Jet Studios to Caribou Lake and, as always, bullets fly and murder will out. Mike can’t make up his mind about Carol Foster, and the lovely Denise Silverman also takes his eye. And then there is Starr, the cold professional killer, out to get Faraday . . .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Basil Copper became a full-time writer in 1970. In addition to horror and detective fiction, Copper was perhaps best known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth. He also wrote a series of 52 hard-boiled thrillers featuring the Los Angeles private investigator Mike Faraday, an obvious and acknowledged homage to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Piccadilly Publishing is proud to publish the entire series, one book every month, in these all-new, low-priced ebook editions.
SCRATCH ON THE DARK
Zarah Fayne is missing. When Dr. Nathan Crisp asks Mike Faraday to trace his nymphomaniac movie-star wife, the sardonic L.A. private investigator uncovers a million-dollar Hollywood racket in pornographic films. The trail takes him from Jet Studios to Caribou Lake and, as always, bullets fly and murder will out. Mike can’t make up his mind about Carol Foster, and the lovely Denise Silverman also takes his eye. And then there is Starr, the cold professional killer, out to get Faraday . . .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Basil Copper became a full-time writer in 1970. In addition to horror and detective fiction, Copper was perhaps best known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth. He also wrote a series of 52 hard-boiled thrillers featuring the Los Angeles private investigator Mike Faraday, an obvious and acknowledged homage to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Piccadilly Publishing is proud to publish the entire series, one book every month, in these all-new, low-priced ebook editions.
Hardcover
First published July 30, 2014
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About the author
Basil Copper
184 books41 followersBasil Copper was an English writer and former journalist and newspaper editor. He has written over 50 books and scripts. In addition to fantasy and horror, Copper is known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created by August Derleth.
Copper edited a 1982 two-volume omnibus collection of Derleth's stories of the 'Pontine' canon, published by Arkham House, a publishing firm founded by Derleth himself and chiefly publishing weird fiction (such as Cthulhu Mythos tales); in that edition, Copper "edited" most of the tales in ways that many Pontine aficionados found objectionable[citation needed]. A later omnibus, The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition, was issued in 2000 under the imprint of Mycroft & Moran (a name which is itself a Holmesian jest).
He also wrote the long-running hard-boiled detective stories of "Mike Faraday" (58 novels from 1966 to 1988).
Copper has received many honours in recent years. In 1979, the Mark Twain Society of America elected him a Knight of Mark Twain for his outstanding "contribution to modern fiction", while the Praed Street Irregulars have twice honoured him for his work on the Solar Pons series. He has been a member of the Crime Writer's Association for over thirty years, serving as chairman in 1981/82 and on its committee for a total of seven years.
In early 2008, a bio-bibliography was published on him: Basil Copper: A Life in Books, compiled and edited by Stephen Jones.
In March 2010, Darkness, Mist and Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper was launched at the Brighton World Horror Convention as a two-volume set by PS Publishing.
Copper edited a 1982 two-volume omnibus collection of Derleth's stories of the 'Pontine' canon, published by Arkham House, a publishing firm founded by Derleth himself and chiefly publishing weird fiction (such as Cthulhu Mythos tales); in that edition, Copper "edited" most of the tales in ways that many Pontine aficionados found objectionable[citation needed]. A later omnibus, The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition, was issued in 2000 under the imprint of Mycroft & Moran (a name which is itself a Holmesian jest).
He also wrote the long-running hard-boiled detective stories of "Mike Faraday" (58 novels from 1966 to 1988).
Copper has received many honours in recent years. In 1979, the Mark Twain Society of America elected him a Knight of Mark Twain for his outstanding "contribution to modern fiction", while the Praed Street Irregulars have twice honoured him for his work on the Solar Pons series. He has been a member of the Crime Writer's Association for over thirty years, serving as chairman in 1981/82 and on its committee for a total of seven years.
In early 2008, a bio-bibliography was published on him: Basil Copper: A Life in Books, compiled and edited by Stephen Jones.
In March 2010, Darkness, Mist and Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper was launched at the Brighton World Horror Convention as a two-volume set by PS Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 9, 2017
Throughout pulp novels of the forties and fifties, which Copper deliberately emulates in this series, rich girls and starlets being blackmailed with pornographic movies or photos was a familiar plot. By 1967, when this novel was published, such things were not quite as shocking. Here, Copper solidly plants his Hardboiled PI Mike Faraday in Hollywood and, more specifically, on the sets of the big name Tinseltown studios. Investigating the disappearance of a movie star rumored to be not only promiscuous but actually sex crazy, Faraday stumbles into a world of murder and greed and blackmail.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the
1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the
1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
August 28, 2017
I really liked this book although it was a bit long in places. I enjoyed the writing it was as if it was written in the glory days of hollywood. But I do feel it was a bit long and got boring in spots. But overall a good read. It really took me a long time to read it which is unusual for me , but I did finish it and kept going back to it because I wanted to see how it ended.
July 14, 2017
Throughout pulp novels of the forties and fifties, which Copper deliberately emulates in this series, rich girls and starlets being blackmailed with pornographic movies or photos was a familiar plot. By 1967, when this novel was published, such things were not quite as shocking. Here, Copper solidly plants his Hardboiled PI Mike Faraday in Hollywood and, more specifically, on the sets of the big name Tinseltown studios. Investigating the disappearance of a movie star rumored to be not only promiscuous but actually sex crazy, Faraday stumbles into a world of murder and greed and blackmail.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the 1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the 1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
February 1, 2017
A good old fashioned private dick in LA in Hollywood with a film noir atmosphere. Fun to read and a breath of fresh hair from all the slick novels about sociopaths,psychopaths and serial killers I have been reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews