Mystery Island & Trouble on Parade

Doc Savage Sanctum Editions #65

by Kenneth Robeson (House Name), Lester Dent, Will Murray (Contributor)

A daring experiment transmuted Clark Savage into the Herculean Man of Bronze. Welding five courageous soldiers of fortune into a Band of Iron, the invincible superman travels the world battling threats to humanity. Not since the days of King Arthur and Robin Hood has mankind known greater crusaders for justice.
Mystery Island: Doc Savage and his aides must unravel the strange secret of Mystery Island to save England from environmental armageddon.
Trouble on Parade: In a rare solo adventure, the Man of Bronze encounters a strange bearded giant floating in the Bay of Fundy.
Plus a historical essay by Will Murray and a two-fisted adventure of Cap Fury, AKA the Skipper, by Lawrence Donovan writing as Wallace Brooker.

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

Kenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:

William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson

Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.

All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.

Reviews

[James Hold · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of MYSTERY ISLAND from 1941. The plot here is reminiscent of Lord Dunsany's JORKENS HANDLES A BIG PROPERTY. It concerns diverting the Gulf Stream, which is responsible for England's climate, and turn it into something resembling Alaska.

The spies behind the plot capture Johnny in an embarrasing manner. He is riding in a car with a girl beside him when: Miss Wilson took a small pistol out of a side pocket—it embarrassed Johnny, because she leaned across him, and her hair was fragrant against his nostrils, causing him to think that he would like to bite one of Miss Wilson’s little shell-pink ears, while she was getting the pistol—and she jammed the gun in Johnny’s ribs. Which demonstrates he's more than just a college professor.

Monk is there too, and as usual he gets in trouble with a woman. I have often wondered why they needed a lawyer (Ham) in the group but I suspect it was to handle all the paternity and breech of promise suits Monk racked up.

It's a good story though. Everyone is a spy and no one is entirely honest. Doc figures it out however and all ends well.

[John Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two island adventures for Doc; the first has him hunting for a mysterious weapon that can sink an island, and the second trailing a strange bearded man swimming in the Bay of Fundy. They are both later adventures when Doc was being toned down and made less super-human, which means that they are a lot less fun than the earlier stories. "Trouble on Parade" has a great set-up but a staggeringly weak ending ruins it. "Mystery Island" is a decent enough a concept but lacks the tension it needs to make it a decent story.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

read Trouble on Parade SOMETIME in 2000