The Flame Breathers

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First publication

"The Flame Breathers" is the 12th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the September 1, 1940 issue of "The Avenger” magazine. With this issue, The Avenger magazine switched to a bi-monthly schedule.

Publishing history

This novel was re-published under its original title by Paperback Library on May 1, 1973.

Summary

Four Polish scientists and a private detective become "Flame Breathers" and die; a car and a plane set speed records and are destroyed, the driver, pilot, and a reporter, killed; a Montreal police lab, the financier Singer's home, a bathtub with financier Henderlin in it all explode; a house in NJ, heated and lit without using electricity, gas, or oil, explodes. A beautiful woman with black hair thwarts the Justice Inc. team repeatedly. A small strange man seems to be implicated in the scheme. Benson initially finds no chemical explanation for the flames and explosions. He investigates, his aides playing relatively small roles. Benson is betrayed by his paralyzed face and his white hair. The plot is complex: two gangs, each backed by a financier, fight for control of a secret process, discovered by the four scientists, that can turn water into an energy source. The black-haired woman seeks justice for the death of the reporter, her brother, and gets it as Benson causes the gangs destroy one another. The small man, lab assistant to the four scientists, dies, taking the secret of getting energy from water to the grave with him.

Notes

• Benson has letters of introduction from several state governors, the head of the FBI, and the president.
• Nellie regards Smitty "as strictly her property", though their relationship isn't described.
• Nellie's notes of Benson's case summaries have also been used by "Robeson," who has obtained Benson's reluctant permission to write up the adventures.
• Benson has "the world's finest laboratory."
• Benson is particularly well-informed on financial matters.
• Benson has an eye for color "like an artist's color chart."
• Benson walks into traps because "in traps you often learn valuable things." Benson is betrayed by his immobile features.
• Benson maneuvers super criminals into destroying themselves to save the State “the cost of fighting great wealth” while putting no blood on his own soul.