"The Battles of Jericho"

John Jericho is a red-headed giant of a man, with a quick temper, powerful fists, a sense of both social justice and individual responsibility - and a tendency to get involved on behalf of his friends, even when others would abandon them. The creation of author Hugh Pentecost, he stars in 15 marvelous stories in "The Battles of Jericho." It's the subject of today's podcast, which you can hear here.

These short stories, dating from the 1960s and 70s,  are powerfully written - Pentecost was a prolific and very popular mystery author until his death in 1989. In his introduction to this Crippen & Landru anthology, S. T. Karnick calls Pentecost "an exemplary mystery writer and one whose stories and novels are still well worth reading." That's an understatement.