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No Harp for My Angel
NO HARP FOR MY ANGEL While in Florida on vacation, Lt. Al Wheeler tangles with— —a redhead with green eyes who is “Nobody’s girl but my own!” —her club-owning gangster boyfriend, who is involved in some very shady business… —and his gorilla henchman, who is seven feet of muscle and bone, just waiting for the chance to crush him to a pulp when Al becomes the decoy sent in to bring their racket down. BOOTY FOR A BABE When Lt Al Wheeler tries to solve a murder at a science fiction convention— —he discovers a professor who wants to stop time by tricking the elusive Delfs… —meets an intellectual gangster who wants to get his hands on the professor’s latest invention… —is frustrated by the generously proportioned convention organizer, who somehow manages to keep one step ahead of Al’s wolfish designs. EVE, IT’S EXTORTION Which finds Lt. Al Wheeler trying to solve a hit-and-run murder involving— —the victim’s wife, who is all too glad to have lost her lush of a husband… —the beautiful skip-tracer who tracked down the victim right before he met his untimely end… —and her dubious boyfriend who may not be as innocent as he professes, but is certainly up to no good.
180 pages, Paperback
Published November 9, 2021
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About the author
Carter Brown
558 books52 followersCarter Brown was the pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1923-1985), who was born in London and educated in Essex.
He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.
In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.
He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.
His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.
He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.
In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.
He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.
His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.
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October 20, 2022
No Harp For My Angel/Booty for a Babe/Eve, It’s Extortion is Stark House’s second three-volume collection of Al Wheeler mysteries, written by the astoundingly prolific Alan Yates, better known to the world as Carter Brown. The Al Wheeler mysteries are not filled with Chandler-esque descriptions. Rather, they have as their base a lone-operating detective. Here, Wheeler is a lieutenant in the police force, although sometimes he is promoted to Captain of Homicide, and sometimes demoted to dog catcher or the like. Wheeler is a fun-loving, jazz-record playing on his hi-fi system and serial-dating of beautiful women kind of guy. He is also invaluable to the force for his “unorthodox” methods of investigation.
In Al Wheeler #4, No Harp for my Angel, the setting is Florida, not Southern California. Keep in mind that, at this time, Yates has not been anywhere in the United States so, like James Hadley Chase, Yates is making up geography as he goes along.
Wheeler is on Ocean Beach for a most-needed vacation. Of course, though, the first bikini-clad beauty he tries to date ends up being a local mobster’s girl and, after facing off with the mobster, he is then injected by the local police as an undercover mobster from Chicago to try to ferret out the secrets of what is going on and why young girls are disappearing from the casino. Mostly, though, Wheeler is operating on his own without a safety net and that generally suits him just fine. It is a quick-moving well-written investigation, although you will be generally surprised where the solution to the mystery lies. The end might feel more James Bond-esque than private eye/or police investigator-like.
The second novel in this three-set, Booty for a Babe, is an unusual story. It is set in a science fiction convention with science fiction fans, which is surprising when you think that this was written in the mid-Fifties in Australia and who knew science fiction conventions were a thing back then in Australia. Apparently, though, there were enough of them that Yates felt comfortable writing about them. It also has that locked-room mystery aspect about it as everything takes place in the hotel. It is not quite as good as No Harp.
The third novel in this collection, Al Wheeler #6, has been published as Eve, It’s Extortion, The Victim, and Walk Softly, Witch. Even if Booty for a Babe was not uite exciting enough, this third novel takes the reader back to funland. Wheeler is now a special investigator to the Commissioner, who assigns Wheeler to check out a hit-and-run as a favor to an insurance claims adjuster who does not like the smell of a hit-and-run or the widow’s nonchalant attitude about her dearly departed husband’s demise. Yates does not try to do anything too fancy with this one, but it is definitely a light-hearted murder mystery.
In Al Wheeler #4, No Harp for my Angel, the setting is Florida, not Southern California. Keep in mind that, at this time, Yates has not been anywhere in the United States so, like James Hadley Chase, Yates is making up geography as he goes along.
Wheeler is on Ocean Beach for a most-needed vacation. Of course, though, the first bikini-clad beauty he tries to date ends up being a local mobster’s girl and, after facing off with the mobster, he is then injected by the local police as an undercover mobster from Chicago to try to ferret out the secrets of what is going on and why young girls are disappearing from the casino. Mostly, though, Wheeler is operating on his own without a safety net and that generally suits him just fine. It is a quick-moving well-written investigation, although you will be generally surprised where the solution to the mystery lies. The end might feel more James Bond-esque than private eye/or police investigator-like.
The second novel in this three-set, Booty for a Babe, is an unusual story. It is set in a science fiction convention with science fiction fans, which is surprising when you think that this was written in the mid-Fifties in Australia and who knew science fiction conventions were a thing back then in Australia. Apparently, though, there were enough of them that Yates felt comfortable writing about them. It also has that locked-room mystery aspect about it as everything takes place in the hotel. It is not quite as good as No Harp.
The third novel in this collection, Al Wheeler #6, has been published as Eve, It’s Extortion, The Victim, and Walk Softly, Witch. Even if Booty for a Babe was not uite exciting enough, this third novel takes the reader back to funland. Wheeler is now a special investigator to the Commissioner, who assigns Wheeler to check out a hit-and-run as a favor to an insurance claims adjuster who does not like the smell of a hit-and-run or the widow’s nonchalant attitude about her dearly departed husband’s demise. Yates does not try to do anything too fancy with this one, but it is definitely a light-hearted murder mystery.
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