Code 197

By Richard S. Prather and John Betancourt

One of Shell Scott's friends, a writer working on an expose, turns up dead—and his manuscript is missing. Of course, Shell Scott is hot on the case!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Nov 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667660288

Book preview

Table of Contents

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

CODE 197, by Richard S. Prather

INTRODUCTION, by John Betancourt

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 2022 by Wildside Press LLC.

Originally published in Manhunt, June 1955.

Published by Wildside Press LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

CODE 197,

by Richard S. Prather

INTRODUCTION,

by John Betancourt

Richard Scott Prather (1921–2007) was an American mystery writer. He was best known for his private investigator, Shell Scott, who appeared in a long-running series of mystery novels and short stories. The character proved so popular, it spawned a short-lived (9 issues) magazine, Shell Scott Mystery Magazine, that featured an original story by Prather in each issue, as well as fiction by other authors. Prather also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring.

Prather was born in Santa Ana, California and spent a year at Riverside Junior College (now Riverside Community College) before dropping out. He served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II, from 1942 through 1945. That year, he married Tina Hager and began working as a civilian chief clerk of surplus property at March Air Force Base in Riverside. He quit in 1949, when literary agent Scott Meredith took him on as a client and sold his first novel. The first Shell Scott mystery, Case of the Vanishing Beauty, appeared in 1950. Ultimately, the series reached more than three dozen titles.

At the time of Prather’s death in 2007, he had completed (but not sold) what would be the final Shell Scott mystery. That novel, The Death Gods, finally appeared in 2011.

Code 197 first appeared in 1955 in the top hardboiled mystery magazine of its day, Manhunt.

CHAPTER 1

I wheeled the Cad off the street and stopped by the sign, "Gordon’s Tropical