Frost for year-round reading

By Ron Fortier

If you are a fan of the pulps, this is one volume you do not want to miss. I first became aware of Donald Wandrei’s Frost when I saw it advertised on the Adventure House website. The gorgeous cover art of a wizard-like fellow posing alongside a beautiful young lady with a gun in her hand appealed to me instantly.

Upon getting the book, I discovered that the main character, one Professor I.V. Frost is a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. Created in the 1934 for the editors of Clues magazine, Ivy Frost and his beautiful assistant, Jean Moray, were the creations of wordsmith Wandrei.

No stranger to pulps, Wandrei had cut his literary teeth on horror yarns for Weird Tales and science fiction for Astounding Stories before coming over to the more lucrative mystery field. His assignment, write a series of adventures dealing with a colorful, dramatic hero who could hold his own against the likes of The Shadow and Doc Savage.

Between 1934 and 1937, Wandrei wrote 18 Frost adventures. They are among the best, creepiest and most original pulp stories ever penned. This volume contains the first eight. The remaining 10 will be forthcoming in a companion volume.

This book is so much fun, with each story a priceless gem of purple prose. It is time Ivy Frost got the audience he deserves. Kudos to the editors of this volume. They’ve given readers of the fantastic a real treasure.