‘The New Adventures of Lynn Lash’

The first of Lester Dent’s “gadget heroes” was Lynn Lash. This short-lived character came out before Doc Savage was created, and it’s said that these stories helped Dent get the Doc gig.

Lash appeared in two published and one unpublished stories. They appeared in 1932 in Ace’s Detective Dragnet. All three are collected in the Altus Press collection, “Hell in Boxes.”

Lynn Lash has many elements we would see in Doc Savage. The hero worked out of a skyscraper headquarters and tackled scientific threats the police couldn’t. Lash has some association with the police, such that he gets a lot of special treatment from cops (similar to what Doc received). The source of his income is never mentioned. (Is he paid by the police? Independently wealthy? He only seems to do stuff for the police.) The third story adds some elements we see in Doc: a gun shooting mercy bullets, a special apartment with a secret elevator, a basement with special vehicles, the villain hooking up with the hero to keep an eye on the investigation, and Lash working out the solution midway, but not revealing things until the end.

Sadly, there aren’t many secondary characters that are used through all the stories. The first and third stories has Lash’s boyish secretary. A reporter is the main helper in the second story, but we don’t see him in the third.

Now, Pro Se Press, with approval of the Dent estate, is putting out a collection of new Lynn Lash stories (as they had done with another of Dent’s gadget heroes, Fade Foster, the Crime Spectacularist). This collection has six new stories. These stories makes use of the secondary characters from the original stories, but none of the special devices from the third story.

The first story by Andrew Salmon has someone knocking people off with a gun that leaves no bullets. Lash must figure things out before more die. The author adds a character that is named after one of Doc’s aides, a possible nod to something similar in the original stories. I was a little bothered by the gun used by the cop in the story. It seemed too close to Doc’s supermachine pistols.

Chuck Miller‘s story takes its inspiration from the “War of the Worlds” radio show, as it appears an alien cylinder lands in Grover’s Mill, N.J. Soon aliens are committing robberies in New York City. But there seems more to this than just petty crime. Can Lash get to the bottom of things before more people are killed?

Lash is dealing with two unrelated crimes: the kidnappings of several girls and a sea monster spotted in the Hudson River in Jim Beard‘s story. But are they unrelated? And if so, who is behind these crimes?

In Tim Lasiuta‘s contribution, men engulfed in flames are winding up on the doorsteps of scientists, telling them to stop their research. When this happens to Lash, he is soon on the case. He works out the connection with all the scientists: they were at a symposium with Tesla, and all were working on his method of transmitting power. If the flaming men wasn’t enough, men in black showup at the scientists’ lab to wreck equipment and steal their notes. Can Lash get to the bottom of this and figure out what is behind this before more are killed?

R.P. Steeves has Lash going after a countess who is kidnapping scientists to have them create a doomsday weapon she hopes to use to allow her to take over the U.K. Lash and associates head to the U.K. to confront her. Added in this story is a new associate, a driver/pilot/sailor, and a possible love interest for Lash. Lash also considers the idea of assembling a team of experts to deal with international threats. Seems a node to Doc’s aides.

The final story by Teel James Gleen has Lash working with federal agents to help find a missing scientist. He has apparently designed a superweapon that foreign agents may be after. Will he succeed?

Overall a good collection of new Lynn Lash stories. I hope we will see another collection soon. Might be interesting to see someone do a longer story with Lash.