Guest Review and Giveaway: 'Super Detective' by Robert Leslie Bellem

Super-Detective: Two Complete Novels
By Robert Leslie Bellem, John Wooley, John McMahan
ISBN-10: 0978683692
ISBN-13: 978-0978683696
Paperback, 176 pages
March 10, 2008
Off-Trail Publications
Reviewed by Barbara McDuffie

Super-Detective is a flip book containing two novels about the adventures of pulp hero Jim Anthony. The original Super-Detective stories were introduced in 1940 as monthly pulp fiction novels. They were written by various authors, sometimes in collaboration.

Anthony was created as a super sleuth with extra-ordinary physical and mental powers and enormous wealth. He is a scientist and an inventor who has the money necessary to produce his creations. He has incredible hearing, night vision, and super strength. Anthony’s Legion is a far-flung organization of citizen vigilantes who come to Jim Anthony’s aid whenever needed. Anthony lives in Penthouse A which is located at the top of, what else, the Waldorf-Anthony Hotel in New York City. He also has a sanctuary located in the Catskill Mountains where he maintains a secret underground laboratory. In a nod to his Native American mother and grandfather, he calls it the Teepee. His father was an Irish adventurer who amassed the great fortune Anthony uses to finance his private war against the enemies of the United States.

The first novel in the book is Legion of Robots, written by John Grange. The protagonist is Rado Ruric, who was introduced in an earlier Jim Anthony story. Ruric escapes from prison and immediately hatches a nefarious plot to overthrow the world. His plan involves a sea serpent and, as the title implies, an army of robots. The characters travel to Central America, the American Southwest, and various places in between.

The second novel, also written by John Grange, is Murder’s Migrants, which takes place almost entirely in New York City. Jim Anthony has been redesigned into a more typical hard-boiled pulp detective. The only character from his earlier incarnation is side kick Tom Gentry, who has also been redesigned to mesh with Anthony’s new persona.

Super-Detective is a truly fun book to read. It manages to do what pulp fiction seems designed to do: allow adult readers to return to the comic-book type escapism we enjoyed as children.

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