{"id":20879,"date":"2025-12-15T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=20879"},"modified":"2025-09-19T18:19:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T22:19:21","slug":"ed-race-the-masked-marksman-vol-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2025\/12\/15\/ed-race-the-masked-marksman-vol-4\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ed Race: The Masked Marksman,’ Vol. 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fourth collection of the Ed Race<\/a><\/strong> series that ran in the back of The Spider<\/a><\/em> pulp from Popular Publications is now out. Also known as The Masked Marksman<\/strong>, this series ran for 55 stories from 1934 to 1943.<\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/a>Ed Race, The Masked Marksman<\/em>, Vol. 4, subtitled “Top Billing for Murder,” by Steeger Books<\/a> under its Popular Publications<\/a> imprint, reprints the next seven stories. I think we\u2019ll need about three or four more volumes. The cover on this one, like the others, is AI-generated, and I think it is an improvement over the first two, being a little more action-oriented.<\/p>\n

Emile C. Tepperman<\/a><\/strong> wrote these stories. He also worked on other pulp heroes like Operator #5<\/a><\/strong>, The Phantom Detective<\/a><\/strong>, The Spider<\/a><\/strong>, and Secret Agent X<\/a><\/strong>, as well as the Suicide Squad<\/a><\/strong> of the FBI. Tepperman may be best known for doing the Purple Invasion<\/em> series in Operator #5<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Most pulp-hero fans may not be aware that pulp magazines always ran multiple stories, even in the character pulps. This means that The Shadow<\/a><\/em>, Doc Savage<\/a><\/em>, The Spider<\/em>, et al., ran other stories in addition to the lead novel of the hero. Often, these included other series characters. I\u2019ve posted on them, and I hope more of these backup series can be reprinted.<\/p>\n

So who is Ed Race? Well, we learn that he\u2019s a traveling vaudeville performer, doing a routine as a gun juggler known as the Masked Marksman, using six .45-caliber revolvers. But he has multiple state P.I. licenses (at least a dozen), so when he\u2019s 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 the past, we\u2019ve had Leon Partages<\/strong>, who runs the chain of theaters that Ed appears in, and a hotel detective, Halloran<\/strong>, but neither shows up in any of these stories. Instead, we get a new character in Inspector MacSpain in several stories set in New York.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s because Ed needs 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. There is almost always a girl involved. And as Race is traveling around the Partages theater chain, the stories can appear in New York or some unknown town.<\/p>\n

Ed is in Blountsville in \u201cMurder Misses Its Cue\u201d when a young boy sticks him up. Ed realizes there is more to this and learns the boy is accused of murder. He is almost murdered by a pair of private detectives. He soon finds out the boy is Freddie Blount<\/strong>, and his father owns the theater Ed is performing in, but a gangster is trying to take over the town, and the private detectives work for him. He has set up Freddie as a way to totally take over. Can Ed mess up those plans and prove Freddie innocent?<\/p>\n

In \u201cDead Man\u2019s Bullets,\u201d we find Ed on a train heading to Torrid City, Pa. By chance, he is sitting next to Amos Beglin<\/strong>. He finds out the man is the employer of his friend Clay Manning<\/strong> and is a defense witness. Clay has been charged with murdering a woman, but he is innocent, as he was on the phone with his boss at the time he was supposedly killing her. Clay was looking into corruption in Torrid City, and the woman he is accused of killing was going to give him important evidence. Ed is coming to be a character witness. But when the train stops, two gunmen come on board and shoot Amos. The district attorney at the trial won\u2019t accept Ed\u2019s testimony of what Amos said. So Ed says he will be going to the woman\u2019s home to prove his friend\u2019s innocence. Will he succeed? And what is behind it all?<\/p>\n

Next up, in \u201cCorpse Without a Coffin,\u201d Ed is in Glenbold City when he sees a woman almost hit a drunk cop. But he also notices the woman is being pursued by another car. Stepping in, he also spies a dead body in the woman\u2019s back seat. What is going on? Ed prevents the cop from arresting the woman while also protecting her from the two men in the other car. He learns the woman is the sister of a man trying to clean up the town. But Ed is arrested for assaulting the cop. Brought before the judge, most of the charges against him are strangely dropped. Then the man who runs the town shows up and gets Ed released. But he knows there is more to it. Can Ed blow the lid off what\u2019s going on in this town?<\/p>\n

Ed is back in New York City in \u201cThe Corpse Takes a Curtain Call,\u201d but not to perform\u2014he\u2019s there to be a witness at another trial. This one is for the bodyguard of a notorious gambler who apparently bumps off those who can\u2019t repay him. Ed is visited by Inspector MacSpain<\/strong>, who wants to put the gambler away. But the gambler has a scheme cooked up to end the threat of Ed testifying. Will it work, or will it backfire on him?<\/p>\n

We get a strange start with \u201cMurder Matinee,\u201d with Ed meeting up with old Sam Mingo<\/strong>, who performs as a clown. Ed is loaning him $5,000 (in hundreds), but why is unclear, and hints by Mingo indicate that he faces some trouble but won\u2019t say what. When they are leaving, Mingo is accosted by two thugs and asks Ed to prevent them from stopping him. He does, but things don\u2019t go well for one of them. This brings in Inspector MacSpain, who offhandedly tells Ed of a robbery at the bank. Can Ed figure out what is going on and get Mingo out of trouble?<\/p>\n

After a show, Ed is getting into regular clothes in \u201cDeath Books the Show\u201d when acrobat Tom Kirby<\/strong> comes and requests to use one of Ed\u2019s guns. But why? It seems he wants to take out Carlos the Magician<\/strong>. He had enticed Kirby\u2019s daughter to elope with him, but he is crooked. Ed decides to take care of things himself, and on the way he runs into Inspector MacSpain and learns about a counterfeiting scheme. Is Carlos involved? Will Ed be able to extract Kirby\u2019s daughter from his clutches, and if so, how?<\/p>\n

Our final story, \u201cTop Billing for Murder,\u201d starts out innocently. Ed helps out a fellow performer, Jerry Talmadge<\/strong>, by writing a $10 check for his mother. Then his sister comes to Ed the next day, as Jerry hasn\u2019t been seen since and he missed performing in their dance act. Jerry, sadly, has a bit of a gambling habit. Then a low-level crook approaches Ed with a hot tip: someone has hired a known killer to bump off Ed. To add to it, someone has altered the check to $10,000. Is it all connected? Can Ed find Jerry, hopefully alive? And figure out who is trying to rip him off? And what about that assassin? Can he get the drop on Ed?<\/p>\n

This is a fun series of short action tales. It is interesting to see how Tepperman is able to mix things up in the stories so they don\u2019t get repetitive. However, I was surprised we got several stories dealing with someone controlling or trying to control small towns, and two where Ed isn\u2019t performing but is going to be a witness at a trial.<\/p>\n

I look forward to future volumes in the series. Will we see more of Inspector MacSpain, or not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fourth collection of the Ed Race series that ran in the back of The Spider pulp from Popular Publications is now out. Also known as The Masked Marksman, this series ran for 55 stories from 1934 to 1943. Ed Race, The Masked Marksman, Vol. 4, subtitled “Top Billing for Murder,” by Steeger Books under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan looks at 'Ed Race: The Masked Marksman,' Vol. 4.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[1,135,14],"tags":[1671,1903,52,939,229],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-20879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pulps","category-reprints","category-review","tag-ed-race","tag-emile-tepperman","tag-popular-publications","tag-steeger-books","tag-the-spider"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2025\/09\/ed-race-4-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-5qL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20879"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21351,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20879\/revisions\/21351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20879"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=20879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}