‘I.V. Frost: Tales of Mystery & Scientific Detection’

I previously posted about I.V. Frost, an overlooked science detective created by Donald Wandrei (1908-1987). Frost originally appeared in Street & Smith’s Clues magazine in 1934 for 18 stories.

Professor I.V. “Ivy” Frost was a scientist who solved crimes, billed as an “American Sherlock Holmes.” An eccentric character, he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty solving a crime. He was no armchair detective, and used his scientific knowledge in solving crime.

His assistant, Jean Moray, also broke the mold. Miss Moray was no dumb blonde secretary or damsel in distress. A sexy blonde with a genius IQ who packed a .25 derringer, she was the perfect counterpart to her boss.

While I still await Haffner Press putting out the Complete I.V. Frost volume (pre-orders are still available), Moonstone has put out a volume of new I.V. Frost stories, some of which team up Frost with other pulp heroes.

Ron Fortier kicks off I.V. Frost: Tales of Mystery & Scientific Detection with a story that starts ordinarily enough. A waitress is murdered, and Frost is quickly able to uncover the murderer. But then things go strange when at the morgue her body is covered with a strange growth, a dangerious growth. Frost must track down the source and put an end to it before it does us in.

Dangerous creatures from The Lost World menace people, and it’s due to Doctor Satan! Frank Schildiner brings this supernatural foe for Frost to handle, as he’s able to with his science, before Satan puts an end to Frost and Moray’s lives.

Captain Zero was the final pulp hero created by Popular. He was a man who turned invisible from midnight to dawn. But the character is copyrighted. So instead, thanks to Tesla technology, an army lietenunt becomes Zero from midnight to dawn, not invisible but something else. He is given assignments by a mysterious Null, this time to stop a sabotor, with the unexpected help of Frost and Moray in Chuck Miller‘s tale.

In Barry Reese‘s story, Frost and Moray meet up with Moon Man, who we know is a hero but most think is a criminal. I was curious to see how these characters would meet up, and Barry handled this well. After a corrupt real estate developer mysteriously bursts into flames after a robbery, Frost and Moray are asked by the developer’s son to go after the Moon Man, whom he blames. Instead they team up to find the real culprit.

Frost gets involved in a strange case that turns out to be two groups after items from Europe. But who are the groups, and what are they after? You’ll have to find out in Bill Nedrow’s contribution.

Matthew Baugh gives us a more supernatural tale, when a mobster seems to come under the spell of a strange woman. Frost finds that Carnaki had been involved with this case early on, and Frost is able to put a conclusion on it. So it’s not quite a team-up, but close.

When an apparent suicide victim sends Frost a message before his death, Frost looks into the death and realize it’s murder. Soon he finds that someone with a past connection to the victim also died in an apparent suicide. Frost is soon on the trail to expose a whole criminal scheme in Gene Moyer‘s story.

Eric Fein‘s story starts off with a bang when Commissinor Ned Standish, one of the few who knows the real identity of The Green Ghost, guns down Frost on his doorstep. The not-dead Frost teams up with The Green Ghost to find the culprits and the leaders behind a sinister conspiracy. One issue I had is that as far as I know, The Green Ghost uses makeup, not a mask.

When Frost is sent a newspaper article about a group of missing scientists, one name stands out in David Boop‘s story. Frost soon discovers that the scientist is really The Phantom Detective in disguise and he is in need of assistance. The Phantom is dealing with a mad scientist who threatens the world. An issue I found with this tale is I am not aware of The Phantom taking any kind of elixir.

Overall, this is a great collection. While I really wish Haffner would get the original collection out, I would also like to see a second collection of tales. While I don’t want to see all team-ups, a few are interesting, so maybe other characters could be used.