THE COZYVILLE WEREWOLF
Ghost Squad # 1
By Darryle Purcell
Strange Particle Press
171 pgs
Lots of old English high school teachers were heard telling their students to “write what you know.” In this, the kick-off to his newest series of pulp adventures, writer Darryle Purcell takes that admonish to heart in delivering editor/opinion writer Mike Scott. Mike’s a happily married Vietnam veteran employed as the editor of a small newspaper in a pleasant Arizona community. That’s a mirror image of the author, whereas the adventure that ensues is purely the product of Mr. Purcell’s active imagination.
For Mike, everything seems fine, until the day the new publisher, a radical woke liberal arrives and fires him. Adding insult to injury, within several days, his own mystery-writing aunt is given his editor’s job as her politics echo those of the new publisher. To drown his woes, Mike goes to a local riverside bar only to find himself in a ghost-bar tended to by the late silent screen star, Douglas Fairbanks. Also present in this weird watering-hole are Peter Lorre and Jean Harlow among others ghost celebrities. By now poor Mike is beginning to think he’s losing his mind.
It doesn’t help that soon after, his spiteful aunt is found murdered in her office, cause of death, drowning. Immediately Fairbanks offers to help Mike solve the murder and learn who is behind all the weird things happening in Cozyville. Phony psychics are involved, the chamber of commerce is attending seances and a bizarre bull-headed demon is after Mike and his allies.
Once again, Purcell lets loose the craziness in a comedy thriller that is just plain fun. He has a comedic sense that never wavers, and through the chills and spills, nary a bad joke is wasted. We really like Doug Fairbanks and the Ghost Squad. We’ll be anxious to see what they, and Scott, get into next.
