The Black Stiletto
Creator: Raymond Benson
Characters
Judy Cooper (The Black
Stiletto)
Martin Talbot
Soichiro Tachikawa
Freddie Barnes
Lucy
Franco DeLuca
Judy Cooper ran away from
Odessa, Texas at 14 because of her stepfather. Ending up in New York she finds
employment at the Second Avenue Gym, cleaning the building. It’s here that she
learns to box. Falling in love with a mobster named Fiorello, she lives with
him until he’s murdered by his Mafia pals. Becoming The Black Stiletto, she
goes after his killers. Now she doesn’t want to quit, and fights crime in the
city as a masked vigilante. She’s
twenty, a tall woman in black costume; a mask covered the top half of her head
and face. Dark eyes sparkled through holes in the black leather; a sweet smile,
mouth covered in lipstick. A knife sheath is strapped to her thigh, a stiletto
blade inside. Her costume is black leather jacket and belt, tight leather
pants, knee-high boots, small backpack and half hood-mask. Behind the costume,
she has a bubbly personality, and maybe falls in love too easily.
Freddie Barnes runs the Second
Avenue Gym, and has become her second father, taking care of her, and giving her
a place to live on the premises. She keeps the gym clean, and eventually
becomes a trainer.
Soichiro Tachikawa is her
third father, teaching her karate and judo.
His wife was killed at Hiroshima. He has a daughter named Isuzu. She is
kidnapped and hooked on Heroin by a black gangster. After The Black Stiletto
rescues her, the drug lord killed Soichiro in the second novel.
Lucy is a waitress at the East
Side Café, and a fried of Judy’s.
Martin Talbot is the son of
Judy Talbot, nee Cooper. Divorced, with a teenage daughter, he’s 49, and his
mother is 73, suffering Alzheimer’s in a nursing home. Martin was not aware of
his mother’s crime fighting in the 1950s as The Black Stiletto until he
discovers a hidden room behind a closet, where he found the costume of The
Black Stiletto, and her diary telling of her exploits. She had been famous,
though wanted by the police and FBI as a vigilante. Now Martin was make sure
her past remains a secret.
The Black Stiletto was a costumed vigilante who
operated in New York from 1958 to 1963, fighting petty criminals, the Mafia,
communist spies, as well as drug lords. Fast-forward to the current time, and
73 year old Judy Talbot, nee Cooper, is in a nursing home suffering from
Alzheimer’s. Her son, Martin was not aware of her past until discovering a
secret closet in their old home, and finding The Black Stiletto’s black costume
and mask, along with her diary telling about her deeds as the masked vigilante.
A secret he must keep without fail.
There
have been five books so far in the series.
“The Black Stiletto”
“Black & White”
“Stars & Stripes”
“Secrets & Lies”
“Endings & Beginnings”
