Dan Fowler: G-Man V#2

Dan Fowler: G-Man V#2

Various Authors

Airship 27 Productions www.airship27hanger.com

ISBN #978-0615820231

149 Pages

Price $16.99

Rating 5-Stars

Dan Fowler was the hero of G-Men Detective, a pulp magazine that ran from 1935 till 1953. One of the most popular of the g-men titles, supposedly each story had to be approved by J. Edgar Hoover himself. Whether or not that was true is anyone’s guess, but I’m sure J. Edgar kept his eye on the magazine. Another rumor says it was also a favorite of Al Capone. Again, who can say? Fowler usually worked carte blanche, answering only to his chief, and was often assisted by young Larry Kendal (his name also went through several different spellings due to the number of writers involved). Like most of the Ned Pines pulp line, there were many authors writing the Fowler stories, which made it uneven, but the stories were fun, and the authors were the best writing for the publisher.

This volume, the second in the series from Airship 27, features four exciting stories: “The Undercover Puzzle” by Derrick Ferguson; “Monkey Business by Aaron Smith; “Proof of Supremacy” by Josh Reynolds; and “Feasting On The Predator’s Corpse” by B.C. Bell. Each story captures Dan Fowler, but with the author’s own touch, so much like those original magazine stories. Although there were no disappointments in this book, I thought “Monkey Business” by Aaron Smith might have made a better Phantom Detective story, as Fowler goes undercover to find the killer of a mob boss, not something the Director would have assigned to Fowler, but would have been perfect for the Phantom Detective. Normally I don’t like team ups, as most writers tend to have the heroes fight each other at least once. How can one win, when both are heroes? But in “Proof of Supremacy” by Josh Reynolds, Fowler is joined by Jim Anthony. Jim is tracking the kidnappers of a financier’s daughter, while Fowler is investigating a series of bank robberies. The two seem to work fine together, and there is no fight between them, thankfully. Still, for my book, I would rather the author just bring in Larry Kendal, why bring in a second hero when we already have Fowler?

The front cover and interior art is also top notch. Volume Two far surpasses the first volume in this series, and I expect only good things for Airship 27 in the future, and looking forward to more great stories from this publisher.

Tom Johnson

Echoes Magazine