The George Kelley Collection
Detective/Mystery Stories


Devil May Care
Wade Miller
New York: Fawcett Publications, c1950.
Bison Catalog Record

Biggo Venn, soldier of fortune, has earned a well-deserved reputation in certain circles as a professional man of action. Despite encroaching middle age, this hired gun has seen more than his share of hard-fought battles and has plenty of scars to prove it. Willing to sell his services to whatever side will pay the highest price, Venn is approached by an aging fellow adventurer who promises to split the take if his old friend will make a quick run to Mexico. Venn's mission: deliver a handwritten confession that will enable one of the Mafia's biggest gambling bosses to legally return to the States from his Mexican hideout. But things turn sour shortly after Venn steps off the plane. In the space of a single week, he is robbed, thrown into jail, betrayed by those he trusted, and beaten to a pulp. Forced to play a game of cat and mouse, Venn grows increasingly disillusioned and suspicious of everyone, including a former comrade who wants to muscle in on the action. Venn's stake in the mission is transformed into a passionate personal crusade after the murder of an old friend, and he conducts a methodical campaign of revenge according to his own personal moral code and sense of justice.