The Shadow - 208 - City of Fear

✍ Scribed by Grant, Maxwell; Tinsley, Theodore

• Book ID: 107299567
• Publisher: Street & Smith
• Year: 1940
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 75 KB
• Series: The Shadow 208
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

CITY OF FEAR was published in the October 15, 1940 issue of The Shadow Magazine. The city is Western City, somewhere in the midwest. The fear is created by the crimes, and the men who are being framed for them.

Martin Black swears he didn't kill Howard Nixon, president of the Prairie Savings Bank. But someone crushed Nixon's skull with a bar of steel. And that someone looked mighty like Martin Black. And Black's alibi turns out to be false. So what is the law to think?

Alice Gunther, the pretty niece of the accused Martin Black is convinced he's innocent. "If only The Shadow were here," she moans. Determined to seek the aid of The Shadow, she has a newspaper friend print a story seeking his help.

The Shadow sends Clyde Burke to Western city to cover the developments of the case. He meets in New York with Martin Black's friend, Roger Dodd. Dodd is Western City's wealthiest contractor. Dodd's behavior is suspicious enough to send The Shadow to Western City himself.

Once in Western City, The Shadow must sift the clues to determine who's behind the crimes. And more crimes occur, right under The Shadow's nose! Including the impersonation of The Shadow himself. The mastermind behind the entire schemd is a master of disguise. He can appear as anyone, even The Shadow.

As The Shadow, the villain trades tips with Joe Cardona. Again disguised as The Shadow, the evil criminal identifies himself to agent Harry Vincent using a duplicate ring containing a fire opal. Harry is captured. Then the fake Shadow apparently rescues Harry from the clutches of the "other" Shadow, all in an effort to worm secrets from him.

Will the sinister hidden mastermind be successful? Can The Shadow rip away the various masks and reveal the true identity of the criminal genius? It seems impossible, but luckily that's what our hero accomplishes. And you'll enjoy reading how.

Assisting The Shadow in this story are contact-man Burbank, long-time agent Harry Vincent, newspaper-reported Clyde Burke, hackie Moe Shrevnitz, investment broker Rutledge Mann and pilot Miles Crofton. Inspector Joe Cardona of the New York Police Department appears early in the story. No other forces of the law appear after that, however.

The Shadow appears in disguise Richard Belton, an advance agent for a traveling dance orchestra, in this story. And most often, he appears as Lamont Cranston. But it's a wimpy Cranston who pleads for mercy in a terrified voice, who utters a high-pitched scream, who trembles when revived, and who claims the crime is a subject on which he knows absolutely nothing. Most unlike the amateur criminologist Cranston who appeared before and after this story. Certainly not the nerves-of-steel Cranston who is a big-game hunter.

It makes one think that this story might not have been written by Walter Gibson. And when you read the devilish murder of a helpless woman, you just KNOW it couldn't be Gibson doing the writing. He never killed women, helpless or not. It turns out that Theodore Tinsley was the author of this story. And it should be no surprise when you read the torture scene where Harry Vincent's flesh is seared by a glowing poker.

This was the fifteenth of Theodore Tinsley's twenty-seven Shadow novels. It's pretty obvious, when reading his brutal depiction of death: "the slug tunneled downward through the thug's chest and ripped out near the base of the spine. It left a hole the size of a man's palm." This more lurid style was definitely Tinsley, not Gibson.

Some of Tinsley's other trademarks are missing from this story. No underground tunnels or caverns. No women villains. No titillation. It seems Tinsley was a bit more restrained this time. But it's still easy to identify as a Tinsley story, nonetheless.

A few more Tinsley touches: The Shadow doesn't simply tie up a captured thug; he cleverly loops the bonds so that if the gorilla stuggles he will strangle to death. When Harry Vincent is framed for murder, The Shadow removes the incriminating bullet from the victim in a gruesome operation with a knife.

One thing that Tinsley consistently got right, was The Shadow's black gloves. Gibson often overlooked them when describing The Shadow. Tinsley, on the other hand, always remembered that the black gloves completed the shielding of The Shadow in darkness.

In this story, we see another of The Shadow's inventions. This looks like a portable typewriter in a traveling case. But inside, it's an efficient, battery-operated listening device. Some type of amplifier with headphones for hearing conversations in another room.

One thing did catch my attention. In this story, The Shadow uses the girasol stone from his ring to cut through a glass window pane. I know that diamonds can do this, but can a girasol? Is it hard enough? Exactly what is the hardness of a girasol? I believe a diamond is a ten. Can anyone clear this up for me? Is it really possible for a girasol to cut glass?

Yes, this story is a touch more "lurid" and "pulpish" than the usual Walter Gibson fare. But if you're a pulp fan, I know you'll enjoy this story of an unknown supercriminal who turns the ordinary peaceful locality of Western City into a swamp of suspicion and terror.

Watch The Shadow battle a wizard at disguise; a criminal with a marvelous ability to assume the identity of any person he chooses.