Busted Bootleg is the fourth volume with Jonathan W. Sweet‘s New Pulp hero, The Red Jackal. It appeared in early 2024, but I just recently discovered it.
I previously read and reviewed the prior volumes and enjoyed them. Sweet has done several pulp reprint anthologies and a pair of nice Beginner’s Guide to Pulp Fiction books through his Brick Pickle Media that I have reviewed here, as well.
The author is from the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis and St. Paul) and has set this hero in the same location, as well as woven in real local history of the 1930s. There is an author’s note and an afterword in this one that goes over this. I think that really adds to the stories, and it’s an element I like to see with many New Pulp authors who set their characters in other parts of the country, especially the areas where they live. Not every pulp hero needs to be in New York City.
Our hero, The Red Jackal, is in the mode of other pulp heroes (as well as some comicbook heroes). He is really Blake Randolph, who runs his family enterprises that include a newspaper and radio station in the area. There are only a small number of associates who know his identity, including a police lieutenant. Most people did not even know The Red Jackal existed until the prior volume when his existence was exposed.
This time we get a single novel. It’s been six months since the last novel, and there have been a few changes for the characters. As The Red Jackal has been exposed, he has to deal with being seen by the police as a vigilante to be stopped. Doc Marble, the main villain last time, may still be alive but is unseen so far. Instead, the Red Jackal and his friends must contend with other foes. There are rival Irish and Jewish gangs, and worse, there is an attempt to influence a college football game by threatening some of the players. Hopefully, this can be stopped before things go too far. This leads to a lot of action by the Jackal and his associates, with a plane ride and an action-packed fight on a train.
And at the end, things seem to be setting up for our next adventure.
As a bonus, this volume also has a short story set in modern times.
I think the next volume is Lincoln’s Avenger, but I have no idea when it will come out. Hopefully, when it does it will be promoted to the New Pulp community.
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