If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

Clark, Dale

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 11 months ago

Dale Clark, an American hard-boiled writer, was the pseudonym of Ronal Kayser (1905-1988), writer and journalist. Born in the Midwestern United States; lived in La Jolla, California. Among his many early jobs was that of private detective, according to his autobiographical note in A. L. Furman's anthology, The Mystery Companion (1943).

Clark wrote many stories for pulp magazines and - under his real name - some horror stories. His 1940's novels were praised by Anthony Boucher.

Mike Grost on Dale Clark's short stories

Dale Clark's short stories that are available today embody a bewildering variety of approaches, making it hard to categorize him as a writer.

Clark's detective heroes like technology:

* Highland Park Price in "Slay, Fido, Slay" (1944) has a whole closet full of high tech gizmos, all of which he has purchased to save money - he is notoriously and comically cheap. The solution to the tale involves scientific facts about photography. High Price also knows a great deal about inheritance law, and many plot developments in "Slay, Fido, Slay" depend on this.

* Doc Judson, the criminologist detective of "The Sting of the Hornet" (1940), is explicitly created as a scientific sleuth, although the technological elements are mainly limited to ballistics.

* The forest ranger of "Smoke Sign" (1941) lives in a ranger station full of high technology.

* Another Clark detective, FBI agent Steve Harrigan in "You're Killing Me" (1943), is expert on science. This tale is set in a war time chemical plant.

* "Crime Lesson" (1948), a brief story Clark wrote for EQMM, mixes in both scientific expertise and humor in among its detection. Its information about the history of detection makes for fascinating reading.

Clark is vivid with the settings of his stories. He likes elaborate buildings, whether the mansion of "Slay, Fido, Slay" or the ranger station of "Smoke Sign".

Clark also enjoys creating elaborate Southern California landscapes.

While Norbert Davis liked outrageous characters who flaunt their anti-social attitudes, Clark's bad guys tend to be self righteous types, like high priced lawyers or smooth talking authors, whose mask their crookedness in a stream of noble sounding verbiage. It makes for a gentler tone, and a vein of satire.