Most of 10DA’s star series characters delved into menace cases, but as Wyn explained to Writer’s Digest in 1934, he wanted to see more than what he called “menace-action” manuscripts:
The one feature on which we do insist is that all of our stories must be fast-moving and develop plenty of suspense. The menace-action type story is one of the best for us, but it has unlimited possibilities of variety, and variety is what we are seeking. For example, in Ten Detective Aces we use stories showing the human side of life; stories of the hard-boiled detective presenting life in stark reality; horror stories, stories from the murderer’s point of view, stories with or without romance or woman interest. Our detective stories are usually against an American background, but occasionally a good yarn featuring an American hero against a foreign setting will also fit into our scheme. And we use an occasional humorous detective yarn. In fact, our policy is so elastic that even a good action-detective story against an underworld background or in which underworld characters are featured, has a chance with us although we emphatically do not want the straight gang-mob yarn. The typical straight deductive story has no place in our lineup — but in a short-short, for example, if it has enough suspense and a really clever surprise twist, we might make an exception. Or in a story where deduction plays an important part but which is worked out through action.
The latter variation was a Lester Dent specialty. In his article, “Why Aren’t Your Detective Stories Selling?” Blassingame singled out Dent’s first Lee Nace exploit as an exemplary example of the menace plot:
In the current issue of Ten Detective Aces Lester Dent has a mystery-menace story where the criminal does not disguise himself as something fantastic, but succeeds in spreading terror and death through his cleverness. At the end he is revealed by the hero as [DELETED], who decided that he would kill off all the persons concerned and keep the wealth for himself. It doesn’t make any difference to the editors whether you use a disguised menace or not; your menace must be kept logical whether he uses a disguise or whether he simply gets by in his own character and dress.
The Nace series is doubly fascinating because it ran parallel with the first year of Doc Savage Magazine. Gadgets that first appeared in Nace became standard Doc Savage equipment. Some of these plots and locales were revisited in Doc Savage as well. “The Diving Dead” anticipates The Annihilist. “The Tank of Terror” prefigures the Oklahoma oil backdrop of The Derrick Devil. That story’s colorful outlaw, Robin Hood Lloyd, is based upon Oklahoma bad boy, Pretty Boy Floyd, who was still alive and robbing banks at that time. He would be gunned down the following year. The 1933 Chicago Exposition site of “The Flaming Mask” reads as a dry run for 1939’s World’s Fair Goblin. Dent probably visited the Exposition before writing this tale.
And if there is any proof that Dent, not his Street & Smith editors, introduced Patricia Savage into the series, it is the appearance and development of Lee Nace’s equally resourceful cousin, Julia Nace, who first pops up in “The Diving Dead” and soon becomes a full partner in his agency — something Pat Savage never succeeded in doing with Doc Savage.
Nace’s nemesis, Sergeant Gooch of Homicide, is also introduced in “The Diving Dead.” He was evidently meant to be a continuing foil, but the locales of the follow-up stories precluded a second appearance. Gooch was to have debuted in “The Skeleton’s Clutch,” but was written out of the final draft. As originally conceived, the character had a broad Irish accent.
Earlier drafts of “The Skeleton’s Clutch” have Lee Nace carrying an automatic. His character trait of not carrying a weapon began with this story, and runs parallel to Doc Savage’s identical no-pistols policy early in his adventures.
Most of Dent’s titles were changed. “The Death Blast” was originally “The Hoarder Horrors.” “The Skeleton’s Clutch” was “The Green Skeleton Kills.” “Hot Oil” became “The Tank of Terror,” and “The Flaming Mask” had been “The Hell Heat.” Only “The Diving Dead” stood unchanged. All but one rated a cover illustration.
The Lee Nace series ended abruptly, and circumstantial evidence indicates that a combination of overwork and nervous exhaustion led to its discontinuance. Dent had wanted to keep his byline alive and before the public while ghosting the monthly Doc Savage novels under the house name of Kenneth Robeson. It proved to be too Herculean a task for the former brass-pounder from Tulsa. After skipping the November 1933 issue, Lee Nace made his final bow.
The ending of Lee Nace’s brief but colorful career was not the last of this type of character. In 1934, Dent moved over to Dell’s All Detective Magazine and offered another reformulation for editor Carson W. Mowre. Foster Fade, the Crime Spectacularist, ran only three installments, alas. In 1937, this concept achieved its ultimate expression with Click Rush, the Gadget Man, who ran in Street & Smith’s Crime Busters from 1937-39. Running for 19 episodes, it was the longest and most successful of Lester Dent’s many gadget detectives.
While all but two of the Lee Nace stories have been reprinted over the last 30 years, their appearances were widely scattered. This Altus Press edition marks the first time all five of the bizarre quintet have been collected in a single volume. We’ve gone back to the surviving manuscripts and reedited and restored all but one. As a bonus, included also is Lester Dent’s previously-unpublished biographical background profile of Lee Nace.
And now, it’s time to meet the enigmatic and resourceful Blond Adder as he takes on some of the most diabolical fiends in pulp history….
The Death Blast
Thunder and lightning gashed the sky over the mountain lake shore. But a more sinister, more diabolical thunder rocked the earth. And a more lethal lightning flared on the ground. It illuminated the grisly horror of man-made death. Fighting through this maze of murder was Lee Nace, ace detective. And with him was a redheaded beauty — who led the way to a terror trap!
Chapter I
The Hoarder Horrors
The red-headed girl had a pistol hidden under the newspaper she was pretending to read. She trained it on Lee Nace the instant he stepped out of the hotel elevator.
Nace walked on across the lobby, stride normal. The gun was an automatic. Chances were she couldn’t hit him, shooting from her lap.
Anyway, why should she shoot? He had never seen the girl before. He passed outdoors. Reflection in the swinging door told him the red-head had arisen, was following. She had wrapped the gun in the newspaper.
The street was warmly murky, no one in sight. Mountain Town was an upstate New York summer resort, and the season had not yet started.
Nace waited, thumbing tobacco into his stubby pipe. He stroked a match flame over the bowl, drew in fragrant smoke.
The red-head crowded her gun muzzle into the small of his back.
“Your hat needs straightening!” she said. Her voice was hurried, husky.
Nace lifted both hands and made motions of adjusting his Panama.
Nace was a tall man, so gaunt he had a hungry look. His face was angular, solemn, almost puritanical. His attire was dark, very plain. He might have been mistaken for a young minister.