The Violent Lady, by Michael E. Knerr (Monarch, 1963). Many years ago, science-fiction writer and editor John F. Carr explained in Mystery*File that Knerr was “born on May 31, 1936, in Williamsport, PA ... He was a hunter, Civil War re-enactor, horseman, built flintlock rifles, and loved boats and sailing. Mike was a former newspaper man ([with] the Shamokin [Pennsylvania] newspaper), and in 1973 moved permanently (except for a short time in Woolrich, PA) to Southern California, specifically Alameda, Sausalito and L.A.” Among Knerr’s early works were Travis (1962), which introduced Mike Travis, a Travis McGee-like “sailor of fortune” turned private investigator; something called Operation Lust (1962); and a straight-out soft-core porn novel titled The Sex Life of the Gods (1963). The Violent Lady, which also first appeared in ’63, sounds more like a hard-boiled crime yarn, if you go by this back-cover plot description:
You’re Clint Sheldon, a man with a mission—to raise the $6,000 to save your 49-foot yawl, Restless.Knerr went on to produce such now-forgotten books as the 1977 horror yarn Sasquatch: Monster of the Northwest Woods and Suicide in Guyana (1979), a non-fiction recounting of the 1978 mass-murder suicide of cult leader Jim Jones’ followers in Guyana. He reportedly died in 1999 at age 64.
So you charter the ship out to Malvino Gia and his hot-eyed wife, Lois. But once under sail you find out they aren’t after pleasure; they’re after treasure—$250,000 worth of jewels lying at the bottom of the sea—and they need you to get it.
But you nix the deal. Only Gia pulls a gun and you’re forced to go along. Then Lois comes to you with a proposition. All you have to do is help her double-cross Gia and you can walk off with the loot—and her.
Suddenly you find yourself in a tight squeeze between Gia’s gun, Lois’ charms and Hurricane Donna’s fury. Now you stand to lose the dame, the dough and the debt you owe unless you can find a way to get out before all hell breaks loose.
Cover illustration by Harry Barton.
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