Two-Fisted Tales of La Plata, Missouri is an interesting collection of short stories put together by Mark O. Lambert and published under the Hidalgo Publishing Co. logo. Well, the logo is used on the back cover and title page. This is the last work I am aware of from this publisher.
This collection of stories got its start after a Doc Savage convention held in La Plata in 2006, and with inspiration from Paul Malmont‘s The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril that cast Lester Dent and Walter Gibson as heroes in the story. From that gathering, the challenge was put out to write a story either using Lester Dent as the hero or using La Plata as the locale.
Several New Pulp authors contributed stories: Wayne Skiver, Duane Spurlock, Art Sippo, G.L. Glick, K.G. McAbee, and Mark O. Lambert.
From Lambert were two stories. One is set in 1949 where Lester thwarts some cattle rustlers, when he had a diary farm. The second is a modern crime tale set in La Plata.
We get a couple of western stories. Wayne Skiver provides a “weird western,” and G.L. Glick provides a more traditional story, that is labeled as a “Damien Faro” tale. Not sure if he’s had other stories with this character.
We get a couple of stories with Dent during his youth that try to provide inspirations for Doc’s aides from that time. Art Sippo’s has several people associated with his father’s diary farm providing this inspiration. K.G. McAbee has one that shows an inspiration for Monk when a neighbor of his family, Andrew Mayfair, comes for help to solve a ham theft.
This volume is still available from Lulu. Check it out.
