Forgotten Books: Nick Ransom, Confidential Investigator - Robert Leslie Bellem

Art by Sam Cherry

As far as I recall, my introduction to Robert Leslie Bellem and his work was reading his Dan Turner novella “The Lake of the Left-Hand Moon” in the anthology THE GREAT AMERICAN DETECTIVE. I’ve read a bunch of his stories since then, mostly featuring his iconically goofy private detective Dan Turner but also some of his Western, adventure, and Weird Menace yarns. Bellem wrote everything, just about.

Art by Rudolph Belarski

While the bulk of Bellem’s output appeared in various pulps published by Culture Publications and Trojan Magazines (the so-called Spicy line of pulps), he wrote for other publishers as well and wrote about other private detectives besides Dan Turner. One such character was Nick Ransom, who appeared in five stories in various Munsey detective pulps in 1940 and ’41, then was brought back by Bellem for nine novelettes that appeared in THRILLING DETECTIVE from 1948 to 1950. NICK RANSOM, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR is an e-book that collects seven of the nine later yarns from THRILLING DETECTIVE.

Art probably by Rudolph Belarski

Included in this volume are:

"Suicide Scenario" (February 1948)

"Mahatma of Mayhem" (April 1948)

"The 9th Doll" (August 1948)

"Serenade with Slugs" (December 1948)

"Homicide Shaft" (April 1949)

"Puzzle in Peril" (October 1949)

"Blind Man's Fluff" (February 1950)
 
Why the other two stories from THRILLING DETECTIVE, "Preview of Murder" (June 1949) and "Murder Steals the Scene" (August 1950) aren’t included, I don’t know, although the obvious answer is that whoever put together this collection didn’t have those issues of the pulp.

Art by Rudolph Belarski

No matter, what’s important is how much fun these yarns are. I’m not going to attempt to summarize the plots. As usual with Bellem, they’re goofy, surprisingly complex, and fairly clued, as well as being populated by colorful, eccentric characters, not the least eccentric of which is Nick Ransom himself. They all have some connection with the movie business, like the Dan Turner series, but unlike most pulp authors writing about the movies who concentrated on the stars and sometimes the directors, Bellem often brings scriptwriters into his stories. Writers play an important part in several of these.

Art by Rudolph Belarksi; this scene appears in the story, but the cover may have been done first and Bellem wrote the story to fit.

As for Nick himself, he’s been described as a toned-down version of Dan Turner, but if there’s any toning down done, it’s not by much! Nick’s first-person narration is full of eye-popping slang, as well as equally eye-popping descriptions of feminine pulchritude. There’s plenty of wild action, too.

Art by Rudolph Belarski

I know Bellem’s work isn’t to everybody’s taste, but he’s one of my all-time favorites and I really enjoyed this collection. Luckily, there are plenty of his stories still out there for me to read, and a lot of them have been reprinted. If you’re a Bellem fan, like me, I give NICK RANSOM, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR a very high recommendation.

UPDATE: I've just discovered that this collection is no longer available on Amazon. I didn't know that when I scheduled the post. I bought it late last year and just recently finished reading it. I have no idea why it was taken down, and I apologize if I've whetted your appetite for a book that can't be bought.