I was turned onto the pulp noir of Richard S. Prather a few years ago when I discovered a battered copy of one of his SHELL SCOTT novels in Red Hook. Primarily a crime writer in the 1950s/60s, Prather sold over 40 million books. Since discovering Prather's infectious style, I assembled a bunch of old SHELL SCOTT paperbacks from pals and used bookstores. Hard Case Crime recently reprinted an unexpurgated version of his 1952 novel, THE PEDDLER. I always wanted to write a crime novel and Prather wrote 'em the way they should be done. Prather's SHELL SCOTT makes the perfect flip-side to Mickey Spillane's MIKE HAMMER.
Jim Dougan aka
chatterbox_dc alerted me to Prather's death who passed away at his home in Sedona, AZ, at the age of 86. Two years ago, Jim gave me a rare birthday gift, that I will forever cherish: http://man-size.livejournal.com/115605.html