I discovered Edward Erdelac‘s John Conquer in Occult Detective Quarterly. Set in the 1970s, John Conquer is a PI working in Harlem who often gets pulled into addressing occult matters. I think of him as Shaft if he was an occult detective.
I discovered that there are two John Conquer books: Conquer (2020) and Conquer: Fear of a Black Cat (2023). I recently got Conquer. It contains seven stories, including three from Occult Detective Quarterly. Fear of a Black Cat is a novel.
So Conquer has the following:
“Who The Hell Is John Conquer?” is a short-short story that introduces the reader to Conquer in a bit of an unusual way.
“Keep Cool, Conquer” has Conquer pulled into dealing with an emerging vampire outbreak in a Harlem hospital, with the aid of a part-time vampire hunter from LA and a NYPD cop. The cop, Lou Lazzeroni, becomes a recurring secondary character in most stories.
“Conquer and the Queen of Crown Heights” has Conquer contacted by the titular queen, to help solve the unexplainable death of his uncle, a man Conquer thought had passed when he was nine years old. And there are clearly strange things going as something dug up his body.
“Conquer Cracks His Whip” has Conquer confronting a demon summoned by an abused girl from Africa. He has to figure out how to end it before it ends him. Along the way, he obtains a sweet ride, which is haunted by its former owner.
From prior issues of ODQ comes “Conquer Comes Calling,” “Conquer Gets Crowned,” “Conquer Comes Correct” from the second and third issues, and ODQ Presents.
In “Conquer Comes Calling,” Conquer deals with the strange murder of a fortune teller. It’s strange as the assassin has no way out of the room, yet is almost able to escape.
In “Conquer Gets Crowned,” he works with some graffiti artists to stop a summoned monster and learn who created it.
In “Conquer Comes Correct,” we learn of John’s early life in Harlem when someone tells him of the recent murder of a co-founder of the gang he was in. There is also a dead and decapitated gorilla, which leads to a violent confrontation.
The design of both books are good, giving them the look of a slightly beat-up paperback from the ’70s.
I’ve enjoyed all the John Conquer stories. I could easily see these made into movies with a blaxploitation slant to them. Conquer makes use of voodoo and similar knowledge, but also things mixed in from other traditions, giving a more urban and urbane take on the occult detective, especially for one who is a regular PI most of the time. I plan on getting the novel at some point, and I hope we get more Conquer stories.
Edward Erdelac has other works, and while I’ve not read them, do check them out as well.
