Originally published in as 1959 as Gold Medal # 900, and now republished as an e-book in March 2024 by Cutting Edge Books, Return to Vikki is a caper story of the heist to end all heists. Why rob a bank when you can simply take the whole damn bank with you? It seems that a bank is being moved from one spot in midtown Manhattan to another and that all the money is being trucked out at night in caravan of armored trucks with police escort. While it seems like an impossible caper, it is just too rich with loot to be passed up. You get the whole caper routine here from the meticulous planning to the way the brazen robbery is carried out to the differences between the conspirators to the problems they encounter along the way and any good caper story has lots of problems that must be dealt with.
It is also the story of a guy who thought he could leave the life of crime and go straight, but finds that leaving is often more difficult than one could ever have imagined. Frank Shelby thinks he left the life behind when he snuck out and settled in Blaine, Ohio, marrying Nancy, and carrying a briefcase to the office each day. But, as he soon learns, it does not matter how many years have gone by, they are not going to forget him. They are not going to leave him behind. Indeed, the story opens with a scene reminiscent of Dick Van Dyke coming home to Mary Tyler Moore — only Nancy kisses Frank and tells him that a friend of his showed up, a Mr. Benson. Frank pauses, something freezes inside him, realizing that after five long years the long arm of the crime boss has arrived. Thing is Arnold Benson knows all about Frank’s job, Frank’s wife, Frank’s house, and every little comment he makes seems like a threat.
Tomerlin does a great job of showing how shocked and unmoored Frank feels upon being discovered and how reluctantly he is lured back to the life. Apparently, Hanford (the boss) is convinced that no one can plan a job like Frank, no one has his talents. And, this incredible caper requires Frank’s presence whether he wants to join in or not.
The lure, of course, includes Vikki, the exotic dancer in Hanford’s new club who was Frank’s old flame and who he left behind five years earlier without so much as a goodbye, see you around. Vikki is all manner of sensuality and womanly perfection and Frank does not know from one second to the next whether Vikki has been pining for him all these years or is simply a tool of Hanford’s to seduce him back in. She does not make it easy for Frank either, alternately throwing herself at him and vengefully coming after him with her claws.
While there is nothing too complicated about the plot, it has all the right elements between the impossible caper, the reluctance of Frank to get involved, and the seductive siren call of sweet little Vikki to make it a first-class read.
Pulp, Crime, & Mystery Books 