Mark Hazzard is a battling district attorney who, when the scales of justice go the wrong way, takes matters in his own hands to right wrongs. And he has a dangerous secret.
“Mark Hazzard” was a short-lived pulp series written by Frederick Davis, who created both the Moon Man and Ravenwood for Ace Publications. Hazzard ran as a backup for six issues in Ace’s Secret Agent X. A couple of months after it finished, Davis started the short-lived Ravenwood series. Altus Press has reprinted both the Hazzard and Ravenwood series in similar trade dress. It’s out with Hazzard: The Complete Series.
We’re introduced to Hazzard in the first story. Described as red-haired and fiery tempered, he is the young and new district attorney for King County. What state is unclear. He is aided by a few others. There is Ann Nash, his secretary and potential love interest. Dan Carey is his assistant in going after crooks unofficially. Carey’s a former cop who was framed for murder, convicted and escaped from prison. Hazzard hides him in his house. And then there is Inspector Trencher, who is the main cop Hazzard deals with.
Each story deals with a new case: Hazzard working to thwart crooks who get off in the courts, or right the wrongs when innocent people are convicted. Each one is different. There isn’t much in the way of mystery, more of action and tension as Hazzard works to expose the crooks or clear the innocent.
And adding to the tension of the stories, just as Carey can not be caught, is the shadow hanging over Hazzard: his own deep dark secret. Which is? Hazzard is really an unjustly convicted killer, like Carey. Accused of killing a railroad cop while bumming a ride, he was convicted and sent to jail, and escaped. And Inspector Trencher slowly works it out, suspicious of Hazzard’s secrecy about his background (where is he from? where did he go to school?, etc), and his own recollection of seeing him in regards to a crime. So in most stories he’s trying to expose Hazzard.
In one Trencher tries to send fingerprints to the FBI. Another he brings an eyewitness who recalls Hazzard from his trial. He goes so far as to bring the judge who convicted Hazzard! In many ways, this creates some of the same tension as in the Moon Man series. Interestingly, in the last story Trencher and Hazzard have to team up in a case when crooks try to kill both, and Trencher grudgingly shows some respect.
I do wonder why the series only lasted six monthly stories, to be almost immediately replaced by Ravenwood. Was the decision to end it editorial, or by the author? There is never a closure for Hazzard.
Like all of Altus Press’s books, this one is nicely done. As I noted, it’s in the same trade dress as Ravenwood: The Complete Series, and there will be a further volume reprinting another short-lived series by Davis: Paul Kirk. Sadly, there is no introductory material, but we get a reprint of an author profile from the Munsey pulps.
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