The Vengeance Man/Park Avenue Tramp/The Prettiest Girl I Ever Killed

by Dan J. Marlowe, Fletcher Flora, Charles W. Runyon

VENGEANCE MAN: Jim Wilson has a problem. His rich wife takes a fiendish pleasure in banging every guy in town. But Jim has a plan. He hires a detective to follow her. And the next time Mona steps out on him, he's ready. Because Jim is a man with a bigger plan than dealing with an unfaithful wife. Jim is thinking big he wants power, he wants respect, and if he can pull this one off, he just might be able to get it. Trouble is, the plan has to start with murder.
PARK AVENUE TRAMP: During one of her blackouts, Charity McAdams Farnese walks into a downtown bar named Duo's and into the life of Joe Doyle, second-rate piano player and a man with a bum heart. Yancy the bartender knows that she's trouble, a rich girl with an itch, but Joe won't listen. All he knows is that Charity wants to love him. But Charity has a husband Oliver Alton Farnese. Oliver is a creature of habit and allows Charity her flings. But when this fling turns serious, Oliver has his own way of dealing with the situation.
THE PRETTIEST GIRL I EVER KILLED: Accidents happen, but the town of Sherman seems to have more than its fair share of the fatal kind. Someone falls into a well, another drowns, another is killed by an exploding stove. Curt Friedland comes back to town to clear his brother of murder, convinced there is more to all these deaths than mere coincidence. Enlisting the aid of Velda, whose sister was supposedly murdered by Curt's brother, the two of them gradually begin to attract the attention of a very ingenious killer, a man well versed in the game of Death.

Genres: Noir

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2007

About the author

aka Albert Avellano, Jaime Sandaval, Gar Wilson (house name)

Dan J. Marlowe was a middle-aged businessman who, in the personal turmoil after the death of his wife of many years, decided to abandon his old life. He started writing, and his first novel was published when he was 45.

Marlowe's most famous book and his best-known character arrived from Fawcett Gold Medal Books in 1962 ("The Name of the Game Is Death").

Reviews

[Joe Nicholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noir-vember 2025 continues with The Prettiest Girl I Ever Killed by Charles Runyon (1965, 133 pgs., from the Stark House A Trio of Gold Medals collection paperback, $9.99). I must say the title grabbed me to read this very good noir. Told mostly in the pov of Velda, owner of a small grocery store in the small town of Sherman where people are dying off in accidents at an alarming rate...or is a serial killer on the loose? Not that the locals pay much attention being red necks, alcoholics, and closed minded country folk. But Velda soon finds her self in the thick of an investigation which leads to more murder...Author Runyon has his own original way with words but I like the way he writes...Only a slight negative, I felt there were a few too many faceless characters & names to keep track of in the first half of the book...but that could be my issue. I liked The Prettiest Girl I Ever Killed a lot and I highly recommend....4.0 outta 5.0....

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 5 stars are for Park Avenue Tramp by Fletcher Flora. Beautifully written novel about slumming wealthy alcoholic bringing down everyone she meets. Almost every character is sick and depraved in mind, if not body. Great ending. Reminiscent of David Goodis.

[Victor Whitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this collection a solid four stars. Marlowe's 'The Vengeance Man" was a terrific story (except for the ending, fell down a little); but Flora's "Park Avenue Tramp" was awesome. Runyon's story was totally implausible, but that's part of the charm.

[Mark Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Rating based solely on "The Prettiest Girl I Ever Killed" (PGIEK).

I was fortunate enough to take dual-credit English from Charles Runyon in high school, and his novel was one of the texts we read for class. I don't read many novels from the mystery genre, in part because I don't usually enjoy them. That being said, I genuinely enjoyed reading PGIEK, and it kept me interested until the very end. It certainly enhanced my enjoyment of the novel to know that Runyon had spent time as a crime reporter before becoming a novelist; it gave the story, although fictive, a feel of authenticity while I read. You'll have to decide for yourself whether that authenticity is real or imagined.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the first two, now. The first a few weeks ago, and the second last night. Both were terrific novels; looking forward to the third.

Park Avenue Tramp, the second, is worth the price of the book. It's short on plot, but beautiful characterizations, and the author really knew how to write a paragraph. Pretty much every character is totally depraved, and you keep waiting for one glimmer of hope. It doesn't come.

The third novel is nearly as compelling as the first, though it's not hard to figure the ending out before it comes. It paints a pretty grim picture of small-town life with a serial killer in it, reminding one, as is mentioned in the introduction, of The Killer Inside Me, but with a very different tone.

These three novels were very enjoyable to read, and I kuds to the publisher for bringing them out.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sampling of the type of paperback originals you'd find in the drugstore while your sitting at the lunch counter waiting for your prescription to be filled. Individually, I'd give each of the novels in this collection 4 stars.

[Mary Newcomb]

Murder Noir classics, great fun!