Richard S. Prather never became the cultural icon that Mickey Spillane did, but he was a fabulous writer in the hardboiled vein whose sales and popularity were right up there with the best of them for many years. Prather’s detective was Sheldon “Shell” Scott, who made his way through the hardboiled streets with a lot of humor, making him a softer — and way funnier — version of the more serious Mike Hammer type.

It’s the easy narrative flow of Prather and that humor which make most of the Shell Scott series such a blast to read, even all these years later. The series began in 1950 and over that decade and the next, Prather’s Shell Scott stories, with their irresistible blend of violence and humor — often self-deprecating humor — outsold almost everyone but Spillane. By the time Prather passed at the age of 85, he’d sold over forty-million books.

Published in 1965, Dead Man’s Walk is an absolute blast. It has everything you could want in a Shell Scott story; a tropical setting as Shell sets sail for Verde Island in the Caribbean on the Wanderer II, with hot tomato Vanessa by his side; a Hunan Voodoo Priest with big steel teeth who immediately puts a curse on Shell upon his arrival — and of course gets knocked on his kisser; a Voodoo Priestess named Dria who’s also a hot tomato, and might need Shell’s help; people dropping like flies with no apparent cause of death except said voodoo; and a “voodoo” duel between Shell and Mordieux in the tropics which is both exciting and laugh-out-loud hilarious. And oh yeah, Shell figures out who has really been doing the killings, and why.

It all began — we get a flashback — when a former client of Shell’s bequeathes to him in his will a piece of Sunrise, a successful club in Verde that just about everyone’s heard about but the not-so-hip Shell. When the luscious Vanessa wants to join him in checking the place out, what’s Shell to do but let her come along? Of course, when Shell arrives there’s Mordieux putting a curse on him, and everyone around the joint is having trouble staying alive. It’s more atmosphere than plot in this one — though at the end, there’s more going on than you thought — but it’s a very fun ride. There’s one hilariously written scene about a bird watcher during a high speed chase that will have you laughing so hard you might bust a gut.

Shell almost goes down for the count when someone poisons him, but Dria, whose father may have been murdered by the powerful Mordieux, uses her own voodoo skills to save him. Between that, and Vanessa getting snatched, Shell’s had about all he can take in this tropical paradise, and plans out a confrontation with Mordieux the likes of which readers haven’t seen since Harry Potter and that guy whose name shall not be spoken.

It’s best not to think too hard about the plot of this one, and just enjoy the ride. Like a lot of Prather's work, it’s sharp, funny, exciting, and it will definitely leave a smile on your face when you turn the last page, as a lot of the Shell Scott stories have a tendency to do. A fabulous entry in a fun series which shouldn’t be forgotten. Thanks to Prather's fun Shell Scott series becoming available in boxed sets on Kindle as of late, and at a bargain price, an entirely new generation is discovering why this cat sold over forty-million books. This entry in particular is fun stuff, and is sure to make most readers a fan. ( )

this is one of the best Shell Scott mysteries I've read yet. I believe it is because it was written in the 1960s and shows more talent than previously books did. The action takes place amongst the voodoo infested island somewhere in the Caribbean island chain and Scott has become a part owner of a hotel there, threatened by several deaths and a tall, scary, witch doctor. ( )