Temptations of Valerie

by Harry Whittington

Novelization of 1957 United Artists motion picture, VALERIE, with Sterling Hayden, Anita Edberg, and Anthony Steel. Young, lonely, filled with desire, she came from a foreign land to marry the town's hero - and when she had him and his money her own, she proceeded to blacken his name, to drag it though mire, until he found himself facing the charge of - MURDER! Some of the townsfolk took her side; other called her a slattern vixen, and worse! Who was she? What was she? And one a man had found out - could he save himself?

173 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

He also wrote under the names Ashley Carter, Harriet Kathryn Myers, and Blaine Stevens, Curt Colman, John Dexter, Tabor Evans, Whit Harrison, Kel Holland, Suzanne Stephens, Clay Stuart, Hondo Wells, Harry White, Hallam Whitney, Henri Whittier, J.X. Williams.

Harry Whittington (February 4, 1915–June 11, 1989) was an American mystery novelist and one of the original founders of the paperback novel. Born in Ocala, Florida, he worked in government jobs before becoming a writer.

His reputation as a prolific writer of pulp fiction novels is supported by his writing of 85 novels in a span of twelve years (as many as seven in a single month) mostly in the crime, suspense, and noir fiction genres. In total, he published over 200 novels. Seven of his writings were produced for the screen, including the television series Lawman. His reputation for being known as 'The King of the Pulps' is shared with author H. Bedford-Jones. Only a handful of Whittington's novels are in print today.
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Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Temptations of Valerie, was released in 1957 with the movie Valerie, starring Anita Ekberg and her first husband, Anthony Steel. The movie was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon movie with its three alternating perspectives. Ekberg, of course, graces the cover of Whittington's novelization of the movie. This is a Western with cattle ranchers, guns a blazin, and a whole town on edge. It opens with Garth and two ranch hands riding up to Valerie's parents home and exciting the whole family with Valerie barely surviving. The question for the jury is whether he was a wronged man acting in the heat of passion after Valerie two-timed him with the new preacher or whether he was a miserable monster who tormented Valerie nearly to death. We get three perspectives, and are left wondering what the truth really is.

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel tells the story of an attempted murder from three different perspectives in an Old West courtroom setting. The beautiful newlywed Valerie, her menacing landowner husband, and the handsome new minister, who get entangled in a web of brutality, betrayal and deceit and who each give compelling and strikingly different testimonies. I liked the way that Whittington was able to tell the three stories without much overlap or redundancy. I watched the movie "Valerie" on YouTube and liked it a lot too.