Killer's Law

By L. Ron Hubbard

Sheriff Kyle of Deadeye, Nevada, is headed east to the nation’s capital. Like Dennis Weaver in the television series McCloud, Kyle’s about to discover that the law can be even wilder in the big city than in the Wild West. It’s a fact that hits home when he’s the one accused . . . of murder.

Kyle’s come to the city to give a report to his senator on the misdeeds of Nevada’s filthy rich copper kings. But before he has a chance, he’s knocked unconscious, later coming to alongside his senator—now dead, with Kyle’s knife imbedded in the corpse.

Welcome to Washington D.C., where corruption, intrigue and murder are all in a day’s work. Kyle’s got no alibi, no memory, and apparently doesn’t have a prayer … unless he can find a way to outwit, outfox and outmaneuver the masters of deception and double-crosses in this police procedural thriller.

Much like Kyle, L. Ron Hubbard was born and bred on the western frontier and made his way east to explore and experience life in Washington, D.C. But unlike the sheriff, Hubbard enjoyed his time in the capital, where he went to college at Georgetown. He came to know the ins and outs of the city as well as he knew the arroyos and canyons of the west, giving him the kind of insights he needed to write stories like Killers Law.

“...some of the most carefully and beautifully crafted trade paperbacks of our time.” —Mystery Scene

• Language: English
• Publisher: Galaxy Press
• Release date: Oct 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781592125791

L. Ron Hubbard

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard. Then too, of course, there is all L. Ron Hubbard represents as the Founder of Dianetics and Scientology and thus the only major religion born in the 20th century.

Book preview

Killer's Law book cover

SELECTED FICTION WORKS

BY L. RON HUBBARD

FANTASY

The Case of the Friendly Corpse

Death’s Deputy

Fear

The Ghoul

The Indigestible Triton

Slaves of Sleep & The Masters of Sleep

Typewriter in the Sky

The Ultimate Adventure

SCIENCE FICTION

Battlefield Earth

The Conquest of Space

The End Is Not Yet

Final Blackout

The Kilkenny Cats

The Kingslayer

The Mission Earth Dekalogy*

Ole Doc Methuselah

To the Stars

ADVENTURE

The Hell Job series

WESTERN

Buckskin Brigades

Empty Saddles

Guns of Mark Jardine

Hot Lead Payoff

A full list of L. Ron Hubbard’s

novellas and short stories is provided at the back.

*Dekalogy: a group of ten volumes

TitlePgArt.jpg

Published by

Galaxy Press, LLC

7051 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 200

Hollywood, CA 90028

© 2012 L. Ron Hubbard Library. All Rights Reserved.

Any unauthorized copying, translation, duplication, importation or distribution, in whole or in part, by any means, including electronic copying, storage or transmission, is a violation of applicable laws.

Mission Earth is a trademark owned by L. Ron Hubbard Library and is used with permission. Battlefield Earth is a trademark owned by Author Services, Inc. and is used with permission.

Cover artwork, Story illustrations, Story Preview illustration and Story Preview cover art are from Detective Fiction Weekly and are © 1936 Argosy Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission from Argosy Communications, Inc. Horsemen illustration from Western Story Magazine is © and ™ Condé Nast Publications and is used with their permission. Fantasy, Far-Flung Adventure and Science Fiction illustrations: Unknown and Astounding Science Fiction copyright © by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Penny Publications, LLC.

ISBN 978-1-59212-579-1 ePub version

ISBN 978-1-59212-767-2 Kindle version

ISBN 978-1-59212-287-5 print version

ISBN 978-1-59212-276-9 audiobook version

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007928124

Contents

FOREWORD

KILLER’S LAW

THEY KILLED HIM DEAD

CHAPTER ONE

C HAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

THE MAD DOG MURDER

THE BLOW TORCH MURDER

STORY PREVIEW:

BRASS KEYS TO MURDER

L. RON HUBBARD

IN THE GOLDEN AGE

OF PULP FICTION

THE STORIES FROM THE

GOLDEN AGE

GLOSSARY

FOREWORD

Stories from Pulp Fiction’s Golden Age

AND it was a golden age.

The 1930s and 1940s were a vibrant, seminal time for a gigantic audience of eager readers, probably the largest per capita audience of readers in American history. The magazine racks were chock-full of publications with ragged trims, garish cover art, cheap brown pulp paper, low cover prices—and the most excitement you could hold in your hands.

Pulp magazines, named for their rough-cut, pulpwood paper, were a vehicle for more amazing tales than Scheherazade could have told in a million and one nights. Set apart from higher-class slick magazines, printed on fancy glossy paper with quality artwork and superior production values, the pulps were for the rest of us, adventure story after adventure story for people who liked to read. Pulp fiction authors were no-holds-barred entertainers—real storytellers. They were more interested in a thrilling plot twist, a horrific villain or a white-knuckle adventure than they were in lavish prose or convoluted metaphors.

The sheer volume of tales released during this wondrous golden age remains unmatched in any other period of literary history—hundreds of thousands of published stories in over nine hundred different magazines. Some titles lasted only an issue or two; many magazines succumbed to paper shortages during World War II, while others endured for decades yet. Pulp fiction remains as a treasure trove of stories you can read, stories you can love, stories you can remember. The stories were driven by plot and character, with grand heroes, terrible villains, beautiful damsels (often in distress), diabolical plots, amazing places, breathless romances. The readers wanted to be taken beyond the mundane, to live adventures far removed from their ordinary lives—and the pulps rarely failed to deliver.

In that regard, pulp fiction stands in the tradition of all memorable literature. For as history has shown, good stories are much more than fancy prose. William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas—many of the greatest literary figures wrote their fiction for the readers, not simply literary colleagues and academic admirers. And writers for pulp magazines were no exception. These publications reached an audience that dwarfed the circulations of today’s short story magazines. Issues of the pulps were scooped up and read by over thirty million avid readers each month.

Because pulp fiction writers were often paid no more than a cent a word, they had to become prolific or starve. They also had to write aggressively. As Richard Kyle, publisher and editor of Argosy, the first and most long-lived of the pulps, so pointedly explained: The pulp magazine writers, the best of them, worked for markets that did not write for critics or attempt to satisfy timid advertisers. Not having to answer to anyone other than their readers, they wrote about human beings on the edges of the unknown, in those new lands the future would explore. They wrote for what we would become, not for what we had already been.

Some of the more lasting names that graced the pulps include H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Max Brand, Louis L’Amour, Elmore Leonard, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, John D. MacDonald, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein—and, of course, L. Ron Hubbard.

In a word, he was among the most prolific and popular writers of the era. He was also the most enduring—hence this series—and certainly among the most legendary. It all began only months after he first tried his hand at fiction, with L. Ron Hubbard tales appearing in Thrilling Adventures, Argosy, Five-Novels Monthly, Detective Fiction Weekly, Top-Notch, Texas Ranger, War Birds, Western Stories, even Romantic Range. He could write on any subject, in any genre, from jungle explorers to deep-sea divers, from G-men and gangsters, cowboys and flying aces to mountain climbers, hard-boiled detectives and spies. But he really began to shine when he turned his talent to science fiction and fantasy of which he authored nearly fifty novels or novelettes to forever change the shape of those genres.

Following in the tradition of such famed authors as Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Jack London and Ernest Hemingway, Ron Hubbard actually lived adventures that his own characters would have admired—as an ethnologist among primitive tribes, as prospector and engineer in hostile climes, as a captain of vessels on four oceans. He even wrote a series of articles for Argosy, called Hell Job, in which he lived and told of the most dangerous professions a man could put his hand to.

Finally, and just for good measure, he was also an accomplished photographer, artist, filmmaker, musician and educator. But he was first and foremost a writer, and that’s the L. Ron Hubbard we come to know through the pages of this volume.

This library of Stories from the Golden Age presents the best of L. Ron Hubbard’s fiction from the heyday of storytelling, the Golden Age of the pulp magazines. In these eighty volumes, readers are treated to a full banquet of 153 stories, a kaleidoscope of tales representing every imaginable genre: science fiction, fantasy, western, mystery, thriller, horror, even romance—action of all kinds and in all places.

Because the pulps themselves were printed on such inexpensive paper with high acid content, issues were not meant to endure. As the years go by, the original issues of every pulp from Argosy through Zeppelin Stories continue crumbling into brittle, brown dust. This library preserves the L. Ron Hubbard tales from that era, presented with a distinctive look that brings back the nostalgic flavor of those

Reviews for Killer's Law

[pixiedark · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received Killer's Law (Stories from the Golden Age) by L. Ron Hubbard as an early reviewers book giveaway. Killers Law is an awesome collection of stories from the Golden Age of Pulp stories. When I listened to this audio book I felt like a child of the 1930's sitting in front of an antique radio. (Who needs TV!) The stories in Killers Law are full of action and suspense. Pulp stories may not be "literally material" but they are just plain FUN! These stories took me back to an era I read about in history books. (You can tell a lot about past eras by the fiction that was written during that time.) If you want reading to be FUN again, then join the pulp revival! Read the works of L. Ron Hubbard and be taken back in time to an era of intrigue and excitement that today's books just don't have.

[allie5weinzapfel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received an audibook version of this title. I was really impressed. Not only did I enjoy it, I have since ordered a set from the catalog sent with the title. It was like listening to a vintage radio program. Highly recommended.

[mnorris3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have read about L.Ron Hubbard and of course his religious sect, but had never before read anything he had written; so I went in pretty skeptical, but was pleasantly surprised. I am not really a fan of crime fiction or even Pulp fiction, but these were very entertaining stories. Being short stories they are fast paced and are easily read. After listening to them over the span of a couple days I lent the CDs to my Father-in-Law, so that is about a good a recommendation as I can give.

[hredwards · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is my first audiobook to add to my Library. This consists of four mystery stories written by L. Ron Hubbard.I love these type of stories, and read a lot of them. A couple of these were pretty good but a couple of them were just so-so.They are presented in a full cast audio drama. I usually prefer those type to just someone reading the story. The acting here was kind of laughable, with stereotypical accents, and the narration was stilted. It took me a while to warm up to the format.Also the accompanying booklet was all about what a mastermind and genius L. Ron Hubbard was. He apparently single- handedly invented science fiction!Not a big Hubbard fan and the booklet extolling his virtues didn't help change that.Entertaining but not the best.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Return to a time when gumshoes walked the streets, criminals flaunted their crimes, and dames were ever present. L. Ron Hubbard wrote pulp fiction for his audience of readers, not for the critics, and his highly acclaimed work represents the fiction that was popular in the 1930s and 1940s. With gripping realism, the four short stories in this audio edition come alive with the various voices, music, and sound effects. Not for the squeamish, some of these murders are highly imaginative as well as graphic. But for grand entertainment by both the author and the performers, be sure to indulge in the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction found in these audio books.

[jeffv_19 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Before L.Ron Hubbard became the figurehead for a nutty religious movement (Scientology), he was a well-known, respected science fiction author. Less well known (at least to one who was not around when these stories were first written), L. Ron indulged in some general fiction as well.The "Stories from the Golden Age" are a new series of books bringing some of his lesser-known fiction back to life. Killer's Law consists of four short-stories, performed in much the same manner as a 1940's-era radio broadcast, complete with fast-talking narrator, multiple character voices, and corny special effects. The stories themselves are pulp crime stories, almost laughable in its lack of complexity, transparent characters, and obvious punchlines. From today's perspective, some of the characters are quite politically incorrect. I suppose this will hold some nostalgic charm for some; I've never been a fan of the Sam Spade school of radio drama, so the charm was rather lost on me. I think I like L. Ron better when he was flexing his sci-fi muscles...especially those volumes so large that reading it developed my actual muscles as well.

[kmt01_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book free from Library Thing to review. This book was released by Galaxy Press as part of its line of books published during the golden age. In the first story of this book, Sheriff Kyle travels to Washington, DC to deliver evidence against a wealthy copper king to Senator Meringue. The sheriff is knocked unconscious and soon finds himself holding a weapon used to murder the Senator. He then must exonerate himself, although he has no alibi or idea what happened. A real trial for a true detective. In another, Detective Cassidy catches a killer at the crime scene, though he didn’t see the suspect kill the victim, has no idea why the victim was killed and also has no murder weapon. Another real trial. The stories go on. In all, there are four tales of dedicated cops/detectives who face big challenges solving their cases amid the many and varied twists and turns. The audio book was filled with fantastic sound effects and kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire time. If you are looking for some real excitement or if you enjoy cops and robbers stories, I recommend taking time to listen to these revived stories. I am sure you won’t be disappointed.