Here we have the second collection of the Ed Race series that ran in the back of The Spider pulp from Popular Publications. Also known as the Masked Marksman, this series ran for 55 stories from 1934 to 1943.
Ed Race, The Masked Marksman, Vol. 2, by Steeger Books under their Popular Publications imprint, reprints the next seven stories. I think we’ll need about five or six more volumes. The cover, like the first, is AI-generated, and I think it is pretty nice.
Emile C. Tepperman wrote these stories. He also worked on other pulp heroes like Operator #5, The Phantom Detective, The Spider, and Secret Agent X. Tepperman may be most noted for doing the Purple Invasion series in Operator #5.
Most pulp-hero fans may not be aware that pulp magazines always run multiple stories, even in the character pulps. This means that The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Spider, et al, ran other stories in addition to the lead novel of the hero, and often these included series of other characters. I’ve posted on them, and I hope more of these backup series can be reprinted.
So who is Ed Race? Well, we learn that he’s a traveling vaudeville performer, doing a routine as a “gun juggler” known as “The Masked Marksman” using six .45 revolvers. But he has multiple state P.I. licenses (at least a dozen), so when he’s bored, he solves crimes. Traveling around the country means he can deal with crimes wherever he is. And as each story is pretty short, there are no other continuing characters, though some characters make return appearances. In these Leon Partages, who runs a chain of theaters that Ed appears in, and his daughter Elsie, policeman Sgt. Bland, and hotel detective Halloran, appear in a few stories each.
Each story is short, about 20 pages. So while there is a mystery behind what is happening, matters need to be wrapped up quickly. Sometimes it’s because Ed will need to get to a performance or head out to another city. So the mystery is solved not by careful thought or gathering clues but by furious action and gunplay.
In “Juggler’s Holiday,” the daughter of Leon Partages comes with a major problem. She unknowingly got involved with a gangster. Who pulled off a heist, stealing a valuable gem? But as he planned on double-crossing his partners, they killed him in front of her. But where is the gem? Can Ed help her out and find the gem?
In “Death’s Curtain-Call,” Ed is asked by a long-time friend to help out her brother, who has gotten himself into deep debt in a gambling den called The Thirteen Club. But there is a bigger plot that aims to frame the brother Ed is not aware of. Can Ed get him out of trouble and expose the plot?
In “Cue for a Gunman,” Leon Partages makes a 50-to-1 bet on a horse, which actually wins. But instead of getting paid, Leon and the bookie are robbed. Can Ed work out the real scheme and make sure Leon is paid? And a charity benefits, too?
In “Murder Backstage,” Ed gets pulled into a crazy scheme to rob the theater he is appearing at, and someone’s killed to cover it up. The bad guys try to replace Ed with someone else. Can he get free in time to stop it?
After all the recent stories in New York, in “Death’s Understudy,” Ed heads to Harmonville in Oklahoma to repay a debt to a former bootlegger who is in serious trouble. He is running a gas station, but a new group of vigilantes is trying to drive him out. Can Ed get to the bottom of things and put an end to it?
Kirkville, Ky., is the location for “Action Off Stage.” Ed is prepared for trouble but doesn’t know what. Almost immediately after getting into town, several people try to work up a scheme to get him thrown into jail. The manager of the theater he is to perform at is already jailed. Can Ed work out what is going on and get them both out of trouble?
Returning to New York after six months in “Prologue to Death,” Ed finds several of his old associates acting strange. Then he is attacked in the street and has to defend himself. Bad idea when dealing with someone with two revolvers in shoulder holsters and four more in a bag. Ed finds out that a new gangster has been shaking down theaters on Broadway, except for Partages’. To make Partages pay up, has threatened Ed. Can Ed put an end to things?
It’s another fun set of stories, and I look forward to the next volume. I was worried when most of the stories were set in New York, but then we got a couple elsewhere. All the plots and mysteries have been different so that the stories aren’t repetitive.
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