Fender Tucker

This collection houses in one neat volume all the novels of N. R. De Mexico. The three novels are all different in tone and genre and range from an aviation thriller to a story of juvenile delinquency and drug addiction. N. R. De Mexico is a pseudonym of ROBERT CAMPBELL BRAGG, who was known to his friends as "Bob De Mexico." He lived in Greenwich Village and was friends with, among others, Jack Kerouac. His real name was a mystery for many years and some thought Larry Shaw had written these books. Bragg wrote only a few novels in the early 50's before he died of a heart attack in a grocery store in 1954: "Marijuana Girl" (1950), Madman on a Drum (1952), and Private Chauffeur (1954).

"Marijuana Girl" (1950) is a cult classic and was often sought after by book collectors. It is one of the very early novels on drug addiction and even includes a glossary on jive talk, a notion that is quite quaint today. "Marijuana Girl" (1950) is the story of the descent of Joyce, a seventeen year old juvenile delinquent, who is suspended from school after doing a striptease during study hall. Joyce takes a job as a reporter with a local paper and begins having an affair with a married editor, who introduces her to jazz clubs in the city and to marijuana. When he breaks off the affair, Joyce moves into the city on her own, hanging out with the singers and musicians she had been introduced to. She soon graduates to shooting up and selling her body to pay for the drugs. The story portrays Joyce as a young innocent poodle skirt wearing teenager who looking for kicks and to fill her loneliness fell into the trap of hard drugs. The story shows her fascination with getting high and losing herself in jazz.

The second novel in this collection is "Madman on a Drum." It's the gem of this lot and it chronicles one night when Larry Graham's world falls apart. Nothing makes sense to him as the girl he was supposed to meet disappears and no one has ever seen or heard of her. His apartment is gone. He thinks he is being followed. The story captures quite vividly Graham's panic as the world closes in on him and there is no place left to hide.

The third novel, "Private Chauffeur" involves a large number if characters and a point of view constantly shifting between them, although the book is consistently told in the third person. It is part aviation mystery thriller and part soap opera. Gary Heaslip was an Air Force pilot and a civilian pilot until an air disaster grounded him permanently. Gary believed he correctly heard the air traffic controller's instructions, but the tape of their conversation didn't back him up at the hearing. Gary nevertheless decides to take any job just to hang around Montaugun (Montauk). That job came in the form of Dolores Carter, who looked him over from head to toe when she hired him to be her chauffeur. Actually, Dolores, who supported her doctor-husband through her bountiful inheritance wanted Gary to seduce her husband's secretary and mistress Erica. Dolores wanted to get Ivan back and rekindle the passion in their marriage. It is a compelling read, perhaps because the author really shows how all of these people were caught in an emotional whirlwind and consumed with guilt for things they did.… (meer)