TARGET FOR DEATH (Doc Savage, 1947 mode)
From January 1947, this was a Doc Savage story written by William G. Bogart and it is definitely a murder mystery, not a fantastic epic. I'm finding most of these post-WW II stories to be really good little thrillers. The ending to this one reminded me strongly of the explanations provided at the end of an Ellery Queen book.
For those who haven't read this novel yet, it would be unfair to give away too much of the plot. A mysterious letter sent to Lt. Sally Treat, crooks after something valuable on an island in the Philippines, the large untrustworthy Treat family...well, it IS a mystery and worth trying to figure out as you go along.
It helps to picture the more human Walter Baumhofer version of Doc as you read, rather than the overwhelming James Bama visual. Doc at this time seems to have gone into semi-retirement from his heroic career; he still goes into action when called upon, but apparently after the grueling battles of the 1930s and the War, he has stepped down a bit to concentrate on other things. Doc is still the same person we met in 1933, still the physical giant who had been trained by experts since childhood. He's a famous surgeon, an official of a major airline (he fills in as a pilot with no trouble), and he gets full co-operation from the police and government in his investigations. At this point, he has dropped his gadgets almost completely. At a critical moment, he uses a smoke bomb but that's it. None of the aides seems to be wearing the armor or even carrying a gun; Monk cleans a machine gun to be prepared but doesn't even get to use it.
After the war, I get the feeling that Doc is not too impressed with the scheming crooks he deals with, and he might have found it more challenging to rely on his wits. If he used all the weaponry and gimmicks in these capers, they'd be over quickly and there would be no excitement, which he enjoys whether he admits it or not.
My favorite moment from this short little 80-odd page story is when the group is being shot at. Doc identifies the sound of a single-shot rifle, waits for another shot and then blurs out after the gunman in the split-second while another another round has to be pumped into the chamber. Someone says he'll never make it and Monk replies, "You don't know how fast he can move."
It's also a neat scene when Doc and Monk are looking fort clues in the mysterious letter and they use the Cincinnati police department's crime lab to make enlargements "as high as an ordinary room and almost as wide." Quite an image, one that would have made a good cover if this had been reprinted by itself. Bogart treats Pat, Monk and Ham as intelligent, competent adventurers and he portrays them in character. As a big Renny fan, I enjoyed the way Bogart has our big-fisted engineer carry on his own investigation with complete confidence. (Although it is odd that Pat says his first name is "Henry'. Wot?) Renny roughly manhandles a pair of thugs, protects Sally from an attempt on her life while she's being held in jail, and is treated with respect by the police as an important person in his own right without using his connection with Doc Savage. He also thinks quickly at a murder scene.
We all have our own list of books that were never written which we would love to read. Personally, I wish Lester Dent had done a series of short novels featuring Pat and the five aides having their own adventures, without Doc appearing. I always thought John Renwick could have done perfectly well as a private eye on his own.