The Shadow 178 Death from Nowhere

DEATH FROM NOWHERE was originally published in the July 15, 1939 issue of The Shadow Magazine. Death from nowhere... an impossible murder that can be pinned upon only one man. It's up to The Shadow to prove that man innocent, and to trace death to its true source. Here we have a pretty good Shadow story. It's a satisfying blend of red herrings, dead ends and false clues. There is a romance that is threatened when one of the parties is framed for murder, and it's a fool proof frame, too! There are disguises, twist endings, gangsters and a Hindu psychic. The story never seems to lag, which can sometimes be a problem with other pulp stories. Plenty of action, and when there is no action, you are still engaged in the plot convolutions. The story didn't seem padded, and if anything it was more tightly edited down to under 39,000 words from the usual 42,000-46,000. So what you have here is a nice, enjoyable mystery with The Shadow. After a quick chapter to introduce the characters who live in the stately old house, the murder happens in chapter two. Old Adam Rendrew is murdered in his upstairs study. The only persons present were his niece, the lovely Louise Dreller; his nephew and brother to Louise, Archie Dreller, his stepson John Osman, secretary Helene Graymond, and the faithful old butler Froy. One of them was the murderer... But wait! Rumor has it that the cousin from California, Dwight Kelden, is secretly in town. And a stranger was seen leaving the house shortly after Adam Rendrew was shot. Was he in town to kill his uncle? Was Kelden the murderer? Or was there some other reason for the secret visit to Manhattan? Young Louise Dreller has been seeing a strange turbaned psychic and spiritualist named Rahman Singh. He seems to have strange knowledge of the family. And an unquenchable thirst for money. Perhaps he had a hand in the murder of old Rendrew. Let's not forget gambler and club owner Silk Elredge. The nephew Archie Dreller is in deeply debt to Elredge. And Archie's visits to Elredge at the Club Cadiz at strange hours could mean that Elredge might be involved. Perhaps Elredge looks to collect his debt out of Archie's inheritance. Yes, there's no lack of suspects, but everybody seems to have an alibi. Everybody except cousin Dwight Kelden who can't be located. So naturally, the suspicion falls directly upon him. But the reader finds himself rooting for Kelden, hoping he is innocent. After all he's in love with the secretary, Helene Graymond. And Helene quickly becomes our proxy heroine who joins forces with The Shadow to discover the identity of the real killer. So we're hoping Keldon is being framed, and someone else did the dastardly deed. It's nice when The Shadow takes some innocent bystander into his confidence and seeks their aid. In this case, Helene Graymond is the perfect person. She works in the old house, which gives The Shadow access. And she knows things that can help him. In return, The Shadow will reveal the true murderer, which will hopefully not be her true love Dwight Kelden. This is mostly the story of The Shadow and his alter-ego Lamont Cranston solving the crime with the assistance of Helene Graymond. He doesn't need much other assistance from his normal agents. Several of them do appear, but only briefly. Harry Vincent, Cliff Marsland, Moe Shrevnitz, Hawkeye, Burbank and Doctor Rupert Sayre all appear in minor roles. Joe Cardona and Commissioner Weston have larger parts in the story. Oh, and Detective Sergeant Markham shows up quite a bit, as well. But, it's mostly a story of the Rendrew family and the solution to the strange murder. When you see Doctor Sayre appear, you know that The Shadow gets injured in the story. Sure enough, he's wounded in the shoulder during a wild gun fray. Cliff Marsland and Hawkeye drag him to Moe Shrevnitz's taxi, and they rush him to Dr. Sayre's clinic. Before you know it, Sayre has him patched up and he's back action. That's the extent of their scenes in the entire story. Harry Vincent's part is just as brief. One of the interesting characters is that of the Hindu, Rahman Singh. He knows things. Things that no one could seemingly know. He has a secret, and when it's finally revealed, it's a pretty clever plot twist. I won't spoil things by giving it away here, but it's a nice addition to the mystery which I'm sure readers appreciated. Silk Elredge runs the Club Cadiz and the gambling establishment upstairs. The Club Cadiz appeared in four different Shadow stories. It's first appearance was in 1935's "The Dark Death." This was it's second appearance; it also showed up in the 1940 story "Crime County" and the following year's "The Star of Delhi." Silk Elredge, however, wasn't the owner in the other three stories. It won't be giving anything away to reveal that he bites the dust by the end of this story. That's no surprise to readers, since he is a crook and he discovers that Lamont Cranston is actually The Shadow in disguise. Readers immediately recognize that he couldn't be left alive at the end of the tale, with such damaging knowledge. So that brings up the question, if he knows the identity of The Shadow, why doesn't he tip off all of gangdom, and let them finally get rid of their most feared foe? Author Walter Gibson dances around that subject a bit, and to be honest, it wasn't very convincing. Something about he considered that maybe The Shadow was working with the law, and Cardona already knew his identity. It didn't make sense to me, but it wasn't all that important to the plot, so I just overlooked it. And when he's killed in a huge battle with the police, we know his lips are sealed forever. There is a pretty cool death trap where Elredge prepared to offer Cranston a drink of whiskey. Yes, Cranston's regular drink is whiskey, we are told. Anyway, there is a hollowed out cork that contains poison. That way Elredge can remove the cork, pour himself a harmless drink, replace the cork in the bottle and give it a squeeze, and then hand it to Cranston. When Cranston pours himself a drink, it has now been drugged. Pretty clever! And just how does The Shadow escape this trap? You'll just have to read the story to find out! We do get a brief visit to the sanctum, "hidden away in an old building in the heart of New York City." That's just about as specific as we ever get, when it comes to the location of his headquarters. No sign of the girasol ring. We do get to see that strange disappearing ink used, when The Shadow sends messages to Helene Graymond. That's always pretty neat. And we also get to see The Shadow use his flashlight with the red/green/white lenses to flash signals to Helene, as well. The one flaw in the story -- well the big one that I couldn't overlook -- was the explanation of how the seemingly impossible murder was committed. It's all explained as being accomplished by "black light." Well, that part makes sense. But the description of black light is completely wrong. Black light is just another name for ultraviolet light, and a black light bulb emits very little visible light. It's mostly invisible. But not according to Walter Gibson's description. According to this story, it can't be seen at night because it's black. But it can be seen in daylight, as a thin black beam emanating from the bulb. "With the click, a thin black beam appeared, forming a pencil line straight... to the bulb in the floor lamp!" Huh? Usually Walter Gibson's pretty accurate with his science. What happened here? No black rays shine from a black light bulb! That's a pretty important point, about which the resolution of the murder revolves. It's not just something tossed in by a careless editor. I don't understand... But overlooking that single variance, this is a fun mystery with The Shadow. I really enjoyed reading it. I can recommend it. It's a pulp tale that will have you guessing until the final denouncement, when The Shadow reveals the killer and his (or her) motives.