Our second book of the month is our last 2-fer of Lorenz Heller novels, Three Must Die!/Night Never Ends. We’re reprinted all the Heller novels we could find—16 of them so far—plus a short story collection (Pulp Champagne). Heller is definitely one of our favorites. He wrote under a variety of names, including Frederick Lorenz, Larry Holden and Laura Hale. Three Must Die!is the only book of his written under the name of Dan Gregory.



As the story begins, newspaperman Dinny Powell is fishing with a couple of friends when they hear the accident. A car has careened off the road and hit a tree. The passenger is dead, and the driver is in shock. Then a local motorcycle gang shows up, and things get a little crazy. Back in town, Dinny discovers that the dead man was a local millionaire and that the only thing missing from the car is the briefcase containing his revised will. Now everyone assumes that Dinny has got the will and is holding out for the highest bidder. There’s the son, hot-headed Thorpe Junior; Nancy, his cousin, the potential new beneficiary; and Lew Quinn, the detective from the prosecutor’s office. They’re all after Dinny. And all Dinny has on his side is luscious Libby, his Girl Friday.



Night Never Ends introduces a man at loose ends. Luke Fogerty is a professional photographer without a gig. Then he passes by the window of Buckner Studio … and meets Belle. Belle and George own the studio, but neither one of them are any good at it. So they hire Luke and pretty soon he’s doubling their business, and making plans to class the place up. Which doesn’t sit that well with George. He may not be much of a photographer—he certainly isn’t much of a husband—but he sure as hell doesn’t need the competition.  It isn’t Luke’s fault that Belle finds herself attracted to her new employee. Luke is everything her husband isn’t. George may be a gin-drinking womanizer, but he still calls the shots.



Bill Crider wrote about this one as “Lorenz's attempt at a mainstream ‘problem’ novel” where the “writing is sharp, particularly in the opening scenes, and the '50s blue-collar setting is very well done.” And Bill Kelly seconds that calling it “a portrait of four obsessives” and “a thoughtful work.” We consider this an apt end to our reprints of Lorenz Heller’s work, which we have been championing for the past six years. As Mammoth Mysteries heralded him: “[Lorenz] writes in a hard, fast, crisp style and he has a feel for colorful language and characters that makes the story sing.”