Once a Pulp Man: The Secret Life of Judson P. Philips as Hugh Pentecost

Only fans of Judson S. Philips (1903%E2%80%931989), the author of crafty fair-play whodunits featuring New York City hotel manager Pierre Chambrun, will have much interest in Parente's uneven, sometimes repetitive biography, which doesn't attempt to be an objective treatment of its subject. MWA Grand Master Philips wrote hundreds of short stories, novellas, and serialized stories for pulp magazines such as Argosy and Black Mask, as well as radio scripts both under his own name and as Pentecost, although he kept that alias a secret for more than a decade. Parente (Pulp Noir), who worked for Philips as an assistant when he ran a summer stock theater in Connecticut, views him as a "creative, prolific, humorous, cheerful, cynical, flirtatious dynamo." She interviewed him extensively and used his recollections, supplemented by her own memories and other interviews, to recreate his life story. Readers should be prepared for some awkward prose ("When I got to Judson Philips' home, I stood only 5-foot-2, my hair was long and blonde"). (Feb.)