Fly-by-night: Thomas P. Kelley - Prince of the Canadian Pulp Recyclers Part I

Sunday, 28 February 2010

Thomas P. Kelley - Prince of the Canadian Pulp Recyclers Part I

In a 1982 article ("Has Anybody Seen Thomas P. Kelley?", The Globe and Mail, January 9, 1982, p. E13) John Robert Colombo wrote that Kelley referred to himself as the "King of the Canadian Pulp Writers". I suggest he is also "Prince of the Canadian Pulp Recyclers".

Four collections of his true-crime stories were published by four publishers - Harlequin Books, Arrow Publishing, Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada's White Circle and Federal Publishing (under a pseudonym). There are 67 stories in the books but 10 were published twice and two, three times, leaving 53 different stories. The Arrow and Harlequin collections each had one-half of the stories duplicated. None of the stories were duplicated exactly. All but two had different titles and those in the White Circle were 2/3 to 3/4 shorter. Title changes reflect the intended audience with Federal's being the most lurid.

Only the White Circle gave the original printing of the stories - in New Liberty Magazine. The other stories were likely first published in the true-crime magazines. The Federal is magazine size, the rest mass market.

Oddly, Export Publishing Enterprises, while publishing three books by Kelley, didn't have a collection from him. Export did publish a collection of detective fiction by various contributors, any of which might have been a Kelley pseudonym.

1)      Arrow 115 The Hairy Man / Harlequin 435 The Hairy Man
2)      Arrow 115 The Terrible Donnelly Feud / White Circle 378 The Donnelly Feud
3)      Arrow 115 Rev. Wilson - Safe Cracker / White Circle 378 Reverend Wilson - King of the Cracksmen
4)      Arrow 115 Red Ryan - Bank Robber / White Circle 378 Rise and Fall of "Red" Ryan
5)      Arrow 115 Four Bad Men / White Circle 378 The Murderin' McLeans
6)      Federal Big Book 1 Toronto's Lewd Lady / Harlequin 435 Unholy Passion / White Circle 378 Where is John Hogan?
7)      Harlequin 435 The Midnight Riders / White Circle 378 The Midnight Riders
8)      Federal Big Book 1 Quebec's She-Devil / White Circle 378 Quebec Witch
9)      Harlequin 435 The Toronto Terror / White Circle 378 The Blazing Deathbed
10)    Federal Big Book 1 Silky Siren of Disaster / Harlequin 435 Betraying Jezebel / White Circle 378 The Crime of Doctor King
11)    Federal Big Book 1 Backwoods Sister of Sin / White Circle 378 The Gowan Triangle
12)    Federal Big Book 1 Witch With an Axe on Fire / White Circle 378 The Headless Victim