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Al Wheeler #15
The Temptress
Murder is just a pretty word to... The teenage heiress who prefers ex-cons to college boys... The society mother who wants the police to lock up her wayward daughter on a morals charge... The millionaire who buys the favors of high-school girls... The piano player who runs a profitable "business" on the side... But to police lieutenant AL WHEELER, murder means business. Dirty business. One of this lethal crew bashed in the skull of a peeping private eye and Al is out for blood -- a killer's blood!
- GenresPulp
127 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
17 people want to read
About the author
Carter Brown
558 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
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December 12, 2024The Temptress begins with a cheap New York detective, Albert H. Marvin, found face down with his skill beaten into a gray-flecked blood-soaked pulp at a shady motel in Santa Monica. Upon being called back to Sheriff Lavers’ office, Wheeler notes Lavers’ secretary, Annabelle Jackson, “the blonde who’s got everything but won’t give a single inch” and that Lavers was “fat enough to make a crowd all by himself” and, if you add three more, “it’s like a sellout at the ballgame.” There, Wheeler is introduced to Mrs. Lyn Summers, a slim, attractive blonde worth a quarter of a billion dollars, and her attorney, Miss Brent. Summers’ daughter (Angela Summers) it seems, ran away a week earlier with a Greenwich Village club singer called Rickie Willis and Summers’ private detective (the corpse mentioned earlier) traced the couple to a motel in Santa Monica and now Summers wants Willis arrested for statutory rape.
Wheeler then finds the manager of the motel, “a stringy, gray-haired character who looked like he’d been cheating the mortician for the last ten years.” Wheeler determines the couple really did stay there except he is later told by the young girl that they just got back from Reno where they married. To Wheeler, it appears the young couple should be the chief suspects in the detective’s murder, but the young couple volunteers that it could have been her mother, her mother’s lawyer, or the uncle, all of whom flew into Los Angeles in time, but none of whom have any possible motive. Angela, though, acts like her mother is nuts and “all twisted up inside with a brain like an overripe peach crawling with maggots.”
In between seducing both Lyn Summers and Ilona Brent (although not at the same time), Wheeler continues to pound the pavement, investigating the odd affair that had already left one corpse. All the characters involved were a bit odd and none truly seems to have a super motive. What’s fun about it is the great characterizations that Carter comes up with, particularly for dear sweet Angela, who was “a brunette with a bird’s-nest hairdo sitting like an inverted cone on top of her head.” Much of the storyline pokes a bit of fun at the beatniks and jazz-sters in the underground key clubs and such.
Wheeler then finds the manager of the motel, “a stringy, gray-haired character who looked like he’d been cheating the mortician for the last ten years.” Wheeler determines the couple really did stay there except he is later told by the young girl that they just got back from Reno where they married. To Wheeler, it appears the young couple should be the chief suspects in the detective’s murder, but the young couple volunteers that it could have been her mother, her mother’s lawyer, or the uncle, all of whom flew into Los Angeles in time, but none of whom have any possible motive. Angela, though, acts like her mother is nuts and “all twisted up inside with a brain like an overripe peach crawling with maggots.”
In between seducing both Lyn Summers and Ilona Brent (although not at the same time), Wheeler continues to pound the pavement, investigating the odd affair that had already left one corpse. All the characters involved were a bit odd and none truly seems to have a super motive. What’s fun about it is the great characterizations that Carter comes up with, particularly for dear sweet Angela, who was “a brunette with a bird’s-nest hairdo sitting like an inverted cone on top of her head.” Much of the storyline pokes a bit of fun at the beatniks and jazz-sters in the underground key clubs and such.
December 25, 2021
If you've read any of the other books in the Lieutenant Al Wheeler series (there's 51) you know what to expect from this one, which is number fifteen. Wheeler is tough talking and a smart ass and takes the piss out on everyone he interacts with, although less so the women he beds in his apartment equipped with the "hi-fi machine" and booze. Not a lot of action here. Couple of murders, but minimal police procedural, if that is your thing. Wheeler roughs up a couple of bad guys, but that's about two pages of description total. Mostly it is pages and pages of "witty" repartee and questioning leading up to a quick and thin whodunit reveal of the blackmail plot and the murderer. For collectors, the cover art in this third printing is by Ron Lessor, which was the first of four Carter Brown covers he did. The first edition (S1817) has cover art by Barye Phillips. Not certain on this, but there does not appear to be an edition with cover art by Robert McGinnis, who did most of the Carter Brown covers between 1961 and 1972.
December 28, 2023
The last book I finished in the year 2023 turns out to be a beat old paperback I bought in Mexico City for a handful of pesos several years ago. Lt. Wheeler has to solve a case of a murdered peeper with a sleazy reputation. The peeper was tailing an heiress and her beatnik boyfriend when someone had the temerity to cave in his skull in a roadside motel. Our hero Wheeler spends more time investigating the curves of any dame who drifts into his orbit than he does sifting clues. Along the way he braces a few bad guys and trades wisecracks with each of the suspects involved. It's not the best Carter Brown caper I've read. Short and sweet, over and done, without a lot of effort. Something to read while sipping hooch on a chilly December night. Here's hoping everyone has a safe and enjoyable New Years and a happy 2024. We're all trying the best we can, anyway.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews