by Carey Rockwell

When we hear a work has been written by person or persons unknown under a house pseudonym, was part of a series that ran simultaneously in the newspaper comics, on TV, on radio, and in cheesy-looking off-size paperback books, we feel safe we can assume that the content will be not just forgettable, but something we'll be better off forgetting.

But work made for hire isn't 'always' so awful, actually, or it didn't used to be, anyway. And in the case of the book you hold in your hands -- first in the 'Tom