When this book arrived, I immediately looked forward to reading it.
The lower right corner of the cover states:
A Detective Thriller with an unusual sex interest.
“Find Dr. Schultz” turns into a slogan
which sweeps the country.
Brief Interlude was published by Grant Hughes, circa late-1946 or early-1947, and features a lovely cover illustration by H. W. Perl. It is 98-pages in length, and written by John Eagle.
Who?
This was the alias of William Bird (“eagle,” “bird,” get it?). He also wrote as John Toucan (guy clearly had a sense of humor). Born 3 March 1896 in Croydon, Surrey, William Henry Fleming Bird died in 26 July 1971 in Benfleet, Essex.
The following stories appear in magazines:
As William Bird:
Critical Age (ss) Futuristic Science Stories # 12 (John Spencer, 1953)
As John Eagle:
Act Without Footlights (ss) Crime Shorts # 2 (Gerald G. Swan, 1944)
The Invisible Necklace (ss) Detective Shorts # 2 (Gerald G. Swan, 1946)
Death Hides the Body (ss) Detective Album, 1946 (Gerald G. Swan, 1945)
As John Toucan:
Genesis (nv) Worlds of Fantasy # 13 (John Spencer, 1954)
Point in Time (ss) Wonders of the Spaceways # 5 (John Spencer, 1952)
Repercussion (ss) Tales of Tomorrow # 8 (John Spencer, 1953)
War Potential (nv) Tales of Tomorrow # 5 (John Spencer, 1952)
He also wrote several novels under house names (list courtesy of the isfdb website):
War of Argos (Curtis Warren, 1952) as Rand Le Page
Two Worlds (Curtis Warren, 1952) as Paul Lorraine
Operation Orbit (Curtis Warren, 1953) as Kris Luna
Cosmic Conquest (Curtis Warren, 1953) as Adrian Blair
Third Mutant (Curtis Warren, 1953) as Lee Elliot
And Jets # 7: Blast-off into Space (Jonathan Cape, 1966) was under his own alias, Harry Fleming. Several other novels also appeared under this alias.
At least one further novel appears under the John Eagle alias and that is Reckless Journey. I’ll be preparing this title for a future blog post.
NOTE:
A novel in America called THE HOODLUMS was published in 1953 by Avon Books, carrying the John Eagle name. This byline should not be confused with our English author. The author behind the American byline is George Benet.
Let’s return to Brief Interlude.
The novel opens with English men and women alike wondering who and where this elusive Dr. Schultz (the person mentioned on the front cover) is. This unknown person has created a question that becomes a running mockery of a slogan and causes inquisitive persons to seek out and find Dr. Schultz. He’s essentially a “mad” scientist using mind control messages subliminally hidden in his television ads and assorted films that he forces his clients to watch.
The female interest turns out to be a young lady who apparently died in a fire. However, her lover is certain she is the nurse at Dr. Schultz’s establishment. The two women, after all, are quite identical. Realizing she is the same and proving it are two different things. It is soon discovered that the doctor murdered his own nurse, swapped the bodies and regularly uses his mind-altering technology to slowly brainwash the girl into believing she truly is the insane doctor’s original nurse. But…why?
Enlisting the assistance of amateur-detective Aubrey St. Clare, this pseudo-science fiction / crime detective-esque novel nearly concludes when he and the girl’s lover commit an act of breaking-and-entering, are caught by the doctor at gun-point, and locked away in the cellar. Thankfully, St. Clare’s crime-fighting female partner (Miss Lennie French, a newspaper reporter) earlier in the tale obtained a job at Schultz’s facility and helps them to escape. The police arrive on the scene and the whole messy gobbledygook thankfully comes to its dreadful conclusion, complete with a villain tossed off the roof to his grisly demise.
The erratic dialogue and the bizarre plot drove me bonkers, but I may decide to revisit this tale and see it through again.
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