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Rick Holman
The Never-Was Girl
Cover art by Robert McGinnis.
- GenresPulp
Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Carter Brown
575 books52 followersCarter Brown was the pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1923-1985), who was born in London and educated in Essex.
He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.
In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.
He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.
His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.
He married Denise Mackellar and worked as a sound engineer for Gaumont-British films before moving to Australia and taking up work in public relations.
In 1953 he became a full-time writer and produced nearly 200 novels between then and his retirement in 1981.
He also wrote as Tex Conrad and Caroline Farr.
His series heroes were Larry Baker, Danny Boyd, Paul Donavan, Rick Holman, Andy Kane, Randy Roberts, Mavis Siedlitz and Al Wheeler.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 7, 2024
Sex, lies, and a Hollywood Private Eye; THE NEVER WAS GIRL is the standard smoke and mirrors murder mystery which leverages off the traditional whodunit formula commonplace with lone wolf detective stories.
Published in 1964, THE NEVER WAS GIRL is a clever and surprisingly complex piece of pulp fiction centered around a missing bombshell presumed dead and protagonist, Rick Holman, the private eye to the stars and well renowned Hollywood Fixer who must solve the case before he either ends up as another murder statistic or his libero is drained forever... safe to say there's a lot of sex and all too wanton women eager to please Holman for, really, no reason at all. It adds to the cheesy charm of these books.
As to be expected, the narrative generally follows a question and answer routine as Holman delves into the group of suspects, all known to each other and all equally as shifty as the next. Author Carter Brown manages to weave some tantalizing tidbits of information and backstory into these dialogue heavy sequences which progresses the plot nicely; a common method the author uses more broadly than just the Holman mysteries.
While the ending was predictable, I had a great time reading Holman's steady progression into solving the case. True, the powers of deductive reasoning are far from being on par with Sherlock but the methods Holman uses sure are fun to read.
Published in 1964, THE NEVER WAS GIRL is a clever and surprisingly complex piece of pulp fiction centered around a missing bombshell presumed dead and protagonist, Rick Holman, the private eye to the stars and well renowned Hollywood Fixer who must solve the case before he either ends up as another murder statistic or his libero is drained forever... safe to say there's a lot of sex and all too wanton women eager to please Holman for, really, no reason at all. It adds to the cheesy charm of these books.
As to be expected, the narrative generally follows a question and answer routine as Holman delves into the group of suspects, all known to each other and all equally as shifty as the next. Author Carter Brown manages to weave some tantalizing tidbits of information and backstory into these dialogue heavy sequences which progresses the plot nicely; a common method the author uses more broadly than just the Holman mysteries.
While the ending was predictable, I had a great time reading Holman's steady progression into solving the case. True, the powers of deductive reasoning are far from being on par with Sherlock but the methods Holman uses sure are fun to read.
March 22, 2025
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Self-styled 'troubleshooter for the stars', Rick Holman, takes on one of his toughest cases - a Hollywood murderama with a plot that calls for sinister characters, serious blackmail, sizzling seduction...and a body written right out of the script...the never-was girl.
English actor Robert Giles hires Holman to discover what happened the night of the party - when he awoke to find a tawny-blonde dead on the floor. Already drunk at one a.m., he went wild when buxom Dixie came in and performed a naked pagan love dance, vibrating like a set of bongo drums. Stealing her away to a nearby beach house, he blacked out and awoke to find her spent in a pool of blood. Everyone at the party claims there never was a Dixie - Giles just passed out, and they drove him home. Was it delirium, or is everyone is lying?
Holman tracks down Virginia Strong, a part-time actress and full-time prostitute 'employed' by film producer Marty Jennings, who owns the beach house. Bruce Milford is the clever agent who arranged for Giles to star in Jenning's next million-dollar spectacle. Artisocratic girlfriend Edwina is used to his drunken delusions and chastises him with a caustic tongue. Then there is Nick Fessler, an underworld creep with a finger in everyone's dirty business, who brought his girlfriend Betty Wong (described as a Chinese enigma and usually wearing a black cheongsam). When Holman tracks down the beach house and is whacked out cold, it's Betty who awakens him, beside a ticking time bomb before the whole place explodes. If it is a conspiracy of friends, to what end? And if Dixie was not a fantasy, alive or dead, where is she now?
This is a hard boiled thriller, where the men growl their dialogue through gritted teeth, and the women are 'honey' or 'doll', offering their naked bodies at the drop of a negligee. Rick is an established Hollywood private eye (this is number 7 in the series) and Brown fills this standard plot without laying it on too thick. By the time Rick gathers the characters together, it still remained anyone's murder. This is not too deep, but you came for the ambiance, and it's consistantly entertaining if you like your motives cold as a virgin's tomb.
Bestselling pulp fiction writer Carter Brown (a pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates) wrote 34 Rick Holman mysteries, and over 300 'Carter Brown' novels between 1954 and 1984.
Self-styled 'troubleshooter for the stars', Rick Holman, takes on one of his toughest cases - a Hollywood murderama with a plot that calls for sinister characters, serious blackmail, sizzling seduction...and a body written right out of the script...the never-was girl.
English actor Robert Giles hires Holman to discover what happened the night of the party - when he awoke to find a tawny-blonde dead on the floor. Already drunk at one a.m., he went wild when buxom Dixie came in and performed a naked pagan love dance, vibrating like a set of bongo drums. Stealing her away to a nearby beach house, he blacked out and awoke to find her spent in a pool of blood. Everyone at the party claims there never was a Dixie - Giles just passed out, and they drove him home. Was it delirium, or is everyone is lying?
Holman tracks down Virginia Strong, a part-time actress and full-time prostitute 'employed' by film producer Marty Jennings, who owns the beach house. Bruce Milford is the clever agent who arranged for Giles to star in Jenning's next million-dollar spectacle. Artisocratic girlfriend Edwina is used to his drunken delusions and chastises him with a caustic tongue. Then there is Nick Fessler, an underworld creep with a finger in everyone's dirty business, who brought his girlfriend Betty Wong (described as a Chinese enigma and usually wearing a black cheongsam). When Holman tracks down the beach house and is whacked out cold, it's Betty who awakens him, beside a ticking time bomb before the whole place explodes. If it is a conspiracy of friends, to what end? And if Dixie was not a fantasy, alive or dead, where is she now?
This is a hard boiled thriller, where the men growl their dialogue through gritted teeth, and the women are 'honey' or 'doll', offering their naked bodies at the drop of a negligee. Rick is an established Hollywood private eye (this is number 7 in the series) and Brown fills this standard plot without laying it on too thick. By the time Rick gathers the characters together, it still remained anyone's murder. This is not too deep, but you came for the ambiance, and it's consistantly entertaining if you like your motives cold as a virgin's tomb.
Bestselling pulp fiction writer Carter Brown (a pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates) wrote 34 Rick Holman mysteries, and over 300 'Carter Brown' novels between 1954 and 1984.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews