NOTE: This article continues my coverage of Angora Fever: The Collected Short Stories of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (BearManor Bare, 2019).
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Synopsis: A sexy young lady in a tight-fitting sweater and miniskirt has been robbing local businesses. Her most recent target is a loan office. Detective Lieutenant Art Reason and Detective Rance Clanton are on the case. The thief always wears the same basic outfit, complete with boots and a purse. The cops learn that the mysterious bandit has murdered an elderly female bookkeeper at her latest job. Now this is a homicide investigation. When Lt. Reason learns that all of the targeted businesses have been located near vacant lots with phone booths, he thinks he may have cracked the case. And the criminal, known only as The Angel, may have a surprising secret of her own!
Wood trademarks: Title with "Super" in it (cf. "Superfruit"); sweaters (cf. Glen or Glenda); angora (in this case, a minidress made of the stuff); sexy female criminal (cf. The Violent Years, Devil Girls, Fugitive Girls); robbery that turns to murder (cf. Jail Bait); cross dressing (cf. Glen or Glenda, "Blood Splatters Quickly"); character named Rance (one of Ed's most-used names, cf. "Superfruit," "Breasts of the Chicken," "Epitaph for the Village Drunk," etc.)
Excerpt: "Her face was well made up, the lips pouted in their deep redness, and her blue eyes were enhanced by the light blue makeup over the upper eyelids… the face of an Angel… but she was no Angel."
Reflections: A book like Angora Fever is naturally going to attract the attention of those who know Ed Wood mainly from his 1950s films rather than his writing. Those fans might find themselves somewhat adrift during the first few stories in this collection, which are mostly grisly horror and crime fiction with some pornographic elements. They came here for UFOs on strings, and they got hobos being mangled in back alleys. "Super Who?" might, therefore, be closer to what people are expecting from Eddie.
For one thing, this story is a police procedural, just like most of the movies from Eddie's classic period, including Glen or Glenda, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Jail Bait, The Sinister Urge, Bride of the Monster, and Night of the Ghouls. Lt. Reason and Det. Clanton could be characters from any one of those movies. It's easy to imagine Kenne Duncan or Duke Moore in these roles. They're dour, hardworking cops who go through a lot of coffee and cigarettes while working a tough case. And, best of all, they exchange some terse, Jack Webb-style dialogue. Check out this beautiful example:
Reason put the coffee cup on the far side of the desk and lit up a cigarette. He let the smoke ring his head then drift off into nothingness. “I want that broad. I want her on our most wanted list.”All that's missing is the famous four-note musical stinger from Dragnet: dum-da-dum-dum!
“We got some harder customers around which rate that spot.”
“Not the way I figure it.”
“How’s that?”
“She carries a gun. My guess is it’s loaded. And sooner or later that loaded gun is going to go off and our thief will become a killer. Got me?”
The detective nodded in agreement. “She goes on the most wanted list.”
If people are only familiar with Ed Wood's movies and don't know his fiction at all, "Super Who?" might be a good gateway drug for them. Most of the story is told from the perspective of the cops, the representatives of law and order, and justice is served at the end of the story. But there's a brief passage that gets into the mind of the killer as well, explaining that she'd killed before and might just kill again. "They could only hang her once," she reasoned. "Hell, they didn't even do that anymore!" So it's still in keeping with Eddie's more unhinged crime fiction.
Next: "Florence of Arabia" (1971)