Vampires, werewolves, mechanical men—it's all in a day's work for Harry Challenge, agent of the Challenge International Detective Agency! This volume collects both Harry Challenge novels by Ron Goulart, "The Prisoner of Blackwood Castle" and "The Curse of the Obelisk." "Ron Goulart's most recent original P.I. creation, HARRY CHALLENGE is a field operative for the Challenge International Detective Agency, the family business. Receiving his assignments by mail and telegram from his nearly-estranged father, Harry bounces around early-20th-century Europe, usually accompanied by stage magician The Great Lorenzo (whose abilities may not all be just sleight-of-hand). Intrepid girl reporter Jennie Barr is often on the same trails as Harry, alternately aiding and competing with him in cracking the cases...and as the mysteries may involve werewolf assassins, clockwork swordsmen and the odd vampire or two, Harry can sometimes use all the help he can get!" — Thrilling Detective
Author
Pseudonyms: Howard Lee; Frank S Shawn; Kenneth Robeson; Con Steffanson; Josephine Kains; Joseph Silva; William Shatner. Ron Goulart is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award. In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).
