The Shadow 246 Death's Bright Finger
Maxwell Grant
DEATH'S BRIGHT FINGER was published in the May 15, 1942 issue of The Shadow Magazine. This story has all the earmarks of a Shadow novel authored by Theodore Tinsley, and indeed it is such. It's the same Shadow that you know and love, but just a bit more lurid. A bit more violence; a touch more sex. The characters and settings are the same as in Walter Gibson novels. They behave the same. But things are a shade more... extreme.
Our story opens as racketeer Flash Snark surrenders himself to Inspector Joe Cardona at police headquarters. He says he has decided to go straight, and confesses to a crime which will put him away for five years. Why would the undisputed boss of the numbers racket turn himself in? Cardona feels that Flash Snark is trying to avoid something. Escape from some threat. And he's right.
The Light! A mysterious character known as The Light has threatened Flash Snark. And such a terrible threat is The Light, that Snark decides to turn himself over to the law rather than face The Light. For The Light is a supernatural force that wields a strange glowing weapon capable of turning a human being into a small pile of blue-gray soot in an instant. Guns cannot stop him. Hoards of gangland thugs cannot stop him. He's a threat of unimaginable proportions.
Just who is The Light? No one knows. All that is known of The Light is that he's a tall, hunchbacked figure whose eyes glow; whose teeth glow. From his glowing finger exudes a silvery streak of light; a light that can dissolve huge steel vault doors. A horrible heat ray that can instantaneously cremate a human being. A brilliant ray from which even The Shadow runs for his life!
The Light has decided to take over the underworld. And take it over, he does! Penn Station and Grand Central are filled with crooks buying tickets out of town. All are on the lam, running from the terror of The Light. His goal is to become the supreme ruler of the New York underworld. No mobs will operate except the ones he licenses. Not a penny of criminal profit will be made unless he receives his cut.
Flash Snark isn't the only one deciding to hide within the protection of the law. Tony Bedlow, powerful slot machine boss, also decides to give himself up. Although the police have never been able to pin a thing on him, Bedlow would rather confess to crime and live securely in jail than face the wrath of The Light.
How can The Shadow overcome this power beyond nature? What is the source of his strange and mysterous abilities? Who is the driving force behind The Light? Yes, there are questions galore in this thrillng Shadow mystery novel. Questions that only The Shadow can answer. And answers that will amaze and astound you as you read "Death's Bright Finger."
Assisting The Shadow in this exciting tale is his aide and companion, the lovely Margo Lane. As written by Theodore Tinsley, she's a capable agent who knows that Lamont Cranston is in reality The Shadow, but never discusses the matter with him. She also conveniently falls into the hands of minions of The Light, for a little sadistic torture.
Yes, Theodore Tinsley's penchant for a little sex and sadism shows up as Margo undergoes some torture. The frail material of her frock is ripped, and a glowing-hot poker is applied to the ivory-white flesh of her back. "Margo screamed as she felt the red-hot metal searing the flesh of her shoulder." That's something that Walter Gibson never would have written.
And Margo isn't the only one to suffer. Harry Vincent is also put at risk when he's assisting The Shadow. Harry's been shot before in many of his adventures with The Shadow, but rarely does the slug shatter the bone. In this one, Harry feels the smashing impact of a bullet in his arm. But he carries on, although swimming in pain. Eventually he's rescued and rushed secretly to the private hospital of Dr. Rupert Sayre, physician to The Shadow.
Vincent's place is then taken by Clyde Burke, ace newspaper reporter for the Daily Classic. And Clyde gets to encounter his own share of pain when he's electrocuted, dropped through a trapdoor into a cement-lined pit, and left bound in an underground prison cell. Oh, and did I mention being threatened by sharks? Or threatened with being shot out of a huge gun as a human bullet? That plus the obvious threat of incineration from the strange heat ray of The Light himself. Whew! Being an agent of The Shadow takes a lot of fortitude!
Also assisting The Shadow in this amazing tale are investment broker Rutledge Mann, contact man Burbank, hackie Moe Shrevnitz (who is occasionally called "Shrevvy," now) and pilot Miles Crofton. The law is represented by Joe Cardona; there is no mention of Commissioner Weston. The Shadow himself appears in disguise as Lamont Cranston several times, but is usually seen only in his usual garb of black.
This story was written only two months before the United States entered World War II. Brief mention is made of the fact that the rest of the world was already at war, affecting the shipments of some of Lamont Cranston's favorite tobacco. Other than that, there are no references to the war. Although written before the attack on Pearl Harbor and entry into the war, the story saw publication six months after America officially entered the conflict.
Among Margo Lane's various accomplishments mentioned in this novel is her ability to make men fall in love with her. The story tells us that she has contrived to make blackmailer Ron Dexter fall in love with her so as to assist The Shadow in uncovering his vicious secrets. This must be some gal!
In another interesting note from this novel, a shopping card is mentioned. Apparently this was the early precursor to today's credit cards. This shopping card was issued by a ritzy department store and used only by the wealthy to save them time, and to keep them from having to carry money around with them. Today's credit cards aren't limited to just the wealthy, or to just a single store. But apparently it all started here!
You know The Shadow is an accomplished pilot, since his true identity is that of famed aviator Kent Allard. You know he owns an autogiro. You know he owns an airplane. But did you know he owns a seaplane? Yes, in this story it's moored beyond a river float in the East River. It's piloted by Miles Crofton so that The Shadow can parachute to the rescue of his agents. We are told that The Shadow is an experienced parachute jumper. The parachute itself is black silk to blend with the darkness of the sky. Pretty cool, eh?
Remember The Shadow's curious rubber discs that help him to scale the sheer outside stone walls of mansions in the various stories? They appeared as early as 1932 in the Shadow stories. But in this one, The Shadow climbs the steep front of a house using a small hard-rubber hammer, small sharp-pointed spikes and a rope. Makes me wonder why Tinsley didn't use the suction cups. He used them in his 1941 Shadow novel "The Green Terror" so he wasn't ignorant of their existance. But for some reason he chose not to use them. Personally, I've always found them a pretty nifty way to scale the outside of a building, and I would have thought he would have put them into use.
In Tinsley's other Shadow stories, he would occasionally vaguely mention the methods used by The Shadow to question his prisoners. This is something that Walter Gibson never seemed to address. But Tinsley, with his fondness for torture, mentioned on more than one occasion how The Shadow could obtain information from thugs he had captured. In this story, the method is described as a torture of light and sound; the torture of mental suggestion. Torture of a kind the gangsters had never dreamed of would unlock their unwilling lips. We are told no more, just given enough to whet our thirst.
This is definitely a Tinsley-written Shadow novel. All the tell-tale signs are there. The sliding panels, the secret passages, the underground chambers, the fascination with fire, the titilation of sex and the heightened violence. A hypodermic needle is jammed into a man's throat. Another's throat is cut from ear to ear. A beautiful songstress is graphically murdered before our eyes. Margo Lane tortured with a white-hot poker. Seminude girls on a nightclub stage. It's lurid. It's Theodore Tinsley. It's pulp!
Our story opens as racketeer Flash Snark surrenders himself to Inspector Joe Cardona at police headquarters. He says he has decided to go straight, and confesses to a crime which will put him away for five years. Why would the undisputed boss of the numbers racket turn himself in? Cardona feels that Flash Snark is trying to avoid something. Escape from some threat. And he's right.
The Light! A mysterious character known as The Light has threatened Flash Snark. And such a terrible threat is The Light, that Snark decides to turn himself over to the law rather than face The Light. For The Light is a supernatural force that wields a strange glowing weapon capable of turning a human being into a small pile of blue-gray soot in an instant. Guns cannot stop him. Hoards of gangland thugs cannot stop him. He's a threat of unimaginable proportions.
Just who is The Light? No one knows. All that is known of The Light is that he's a tall, hunchbacked figure whose eyes glow; whose teeth glow. From his glowing finger exudes a silvery streak of light; a light that can dissolve huge steel vault doors. A horrible heat ray that can instantaneously cremate a human being. A brilliant ray from which even The Shadow runs for his life!
The Light has decided to take over the underworld. And take it over, he does! Penn Station and Grand Central are filled with crooks buying tickets out of town. All are on the lam, running from the terror of The Light. His goal is to become the supreme ruler of the New York underworld. No mobs will operate except the ones he licenses. Not a penny of criminal profit will be made unless he receives his cut.
Flash Snark isn't the only one deciding to hide within the protection of the law. Tony Bedlow, powerful slot machine boss, also decides to give himself up. Although the police have never been able to pin a thing on him, Bedlow would rather confess to crime and live securely in jail than face the wrath of The Light.
How can The Shadow overcome this power beyond nature? What is the source of his strange and mysterous abilities? Who is the driving force behind The Light? Yes, there are questions galore in this thrillng Shadow mystery novel. Questions that only The Shadow can answer. And answers that will amaze and astound you as you read "Death's Bright Finger."
Assisting The Shadow in this exciting tale is his aide and companion, the lovely Margo Lane. As written by Theodore Tinsley, she's a capable agent who knows that Lamont Cranston is in reality The Shadow, but never discusses the matter with him. She also conveniently falls into the hands of minions of The Light, for a little sadistic torture.
Yes, Theodore Tinsley's penchant for a little sex and sadism shows up as Margo undergoes some torture. The frail material of her frock is ripped, and a glowing-hot poker is applied to the ivory-white flesh of her back. "Margo screamed as she felt the red-hot metal searing the flesh of her shoulder." That's something that Walter Gibson never would have written.
And Margo isn't the only one to suffer. Harry Vincent is also put at risk when he's assisting The Shadow. Harry's been shot before in many of his adventures with The Shadow, but rarely does the slug shatter the bone. In this one, Harry feels the smashing impact of a bullet in his arm. But he carries on, although swimming in pain. Eventually he's rescued and rushed secretly to the private hospital of Dr. Rupert Sayre, physician to The Shadow.
Vincent's place is then taken by Clyde Burke, ace newspaper reporter for the Daily Classic. And Clyde gets to encounter his own share of pain when he's electrocuted, dropped through a trapdoor into a cement-lined pit, and left bound in an underground prison cell. Oh, and did I mention being threatened by sharks? Or threatened with being shot out of a huge gun as a human bullet? That plus the obvious threat of incineration from the strange heat ray of The Light himself. Whew! Being an agent of The Shadow takes a lot of fortitude!
Also assisting The Shadow in this amazing tale are investment broker Rutledge Mann, contact man Burbank, hackie Moe Shrevnitz (who is occasionally called "Shrevvy," now) and pilot Miles Crofton. The law is represented by Joe Cardona; there is no mention of Commissioner Weston. The Shadow himself appears in disguise as Lamont Cranston several times, but is usually seen only in his usual garb of black.
This story was written only two months before the United States entered World War II. Brief mention is made of the fact that the rest of the world was already at war, affecting the shipments of some of Lamont Cranston's favorite tobacco. Other than that, there are no references to the war. Although written before the attack on Pearl Harbor and entry into the war, the story saw publication six months after America officially entered the conflict.
Among Margo Lane's various accomplishments mentioned in this novel is her ability to make men fall in love with her. The story tells us that she has contrived to make blackmailer Ron Dexter fall in love with her so as to assist The Shadow in uncovering his vicious secrets. This must be some gal!
In another interesting note from this novel, a shopping card is mentioned. Apparently this was the early precursor to today's credit cards. This shopping card was issued by a ritzy department store and used only by the wealthy to save them time, and to keep them from having to carry money around with them. Today's credit cards aren't limited to just the wealthy, or to just a single store. But apparently it all started here!
You know The Shadow is an accomplished pilot, since his true identity is that of famed aviator Kent Allard. You know he owns an autogiro. You know he owns an airplane. But did you know he owns a seaplane? Yes, in this story it's moored beyond a river float in the East River. It's piloted by Miles Crofton so that The Shadow can parachute to the rescue of his agents. We are told that The Shadow is an experienced parachute jumper. The parachute itself is black silk to blend with the darkness of the sky. Pretty cool, eh?
Remember The Shadow's curious rubber discs that help him to scale the sheer outside stone walls of mansions in the various stories? They appeared as early as 1932 in the Shadow stories. But in this one, The Shadow climbs the steep front of a house using a small hard-rubber hammer, small sharp-pointed spikes and a rope. Makes me wonder why Tinsley didn't use the suction cups. He used them in his 1941 Shadow novel "The Green Terror" so he wasn't ignorant of their existance. But for some reason he chose not to use them. Personally, I've always found them a pretty nifty way to scale the outside of a building, and I would have thought he would have put them into use.
In Tinsley's other Shadow stories, he would occasionally vaguely mention the methods used by The Shadow to question his prisoners. This is something that Walter Gibson never seemed to address. But Tinsley, with his fondness for torture, mentioned on more than one occasion how The Shadow could obtain information from thugs he had captured. In this story, the method is described as a torture of light and sound; the torture of mental suggestion. Torture of a kind the gangsters had never dreamed of would unlock their unwilling lips. We are told no more, just given enough to whet our thirst.
This is definitely a Tinsley-written Shadow novel. All the tell-tale signs are there. The sliding panels, the secret passages, the underground chambers, the fascination with fire, the titilation of sex and the heightened violence. A hypodermic needle is jammed into a man's throat. Another's throat is cut from ear to ear. A beautiful songstress is graphically murdered before our eyes. Margo Lane tortured with a white-hot poker. Seminude girls on a nightclub stage. It's lurid. It's Theodore Tinsley. It's pulp!
Година:
1942
Издателство:
Street & Smith
Език:
english
Серия:
The Shadow
Файл:
EPUB, 227 KB
IPFS:
,
english, 1942
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