The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont is a loving tribute to pulp fiction (not that Pulp Fiction) and the writers who created it. The book stars Lester Dent (aka Kenneth Robeson the creator/writer of Doc Savage), Walter Gibson (aka Maxwell Grant the creator/writer of The Shadow) and a young western writer whose writing speed has given him the nickname of The Flash, but is better known as L. Ron Hubbard. The story is an homage to the pulp mysteries these writers created as they investigate the death of a young and unsuccessful author H.P. Lovecraft.

The book is a great throwback to the days of old with the pulp authors who created lurid scenarios that their heroes had to weave their way through. The book starts with a Chinatown mystery about a comedian who poked fun at the wrong person and was murdered while in a closed room with an honest policeman right outside the door. This mystery leads us deeper into a Chinatown plot that goes back to the Communist uprising and ties into the death of H.P. Lovecraft.

Gibson, Hubbard and Dent are the main characters (along with Dent’s wife, Gibson’s mistress, a Chinese restaurant owner’s family and a loyal taxi driver) who push along the mystery and go on an adventure worthy of their characters. Along the way we have cameos by Joe Kavalier, Orson Welles (who has a great idea for a movie about The Shadow investigating the death of a publisher ), a couple kids trying to sell a comic strip, Stan the Man (who works for a publisher owned by his cousin’s husband), an ex-navy man trying to escape his past, a cowboy named Lew and a pharmacist.

The book is a decent mystery with good characters and a nice plot. But the best part of the book is the obvious love the author has for the writers, their characters and the time frame. It’s filled with jokes and cameos and nods to the industry. But most of all it’s a load of fun.