Howard M. Fast

Howard M. Fast (1914–2003, born in New York City) – author and screenwriter, famous for being blacklisted for membership in the Communist Party during the McCarthy era. He wrote about Diaspora Jewish history, the Maccabees, and the Holocaust. His best-known books were Citizen Tom Paine (1943) and Spartacus (1951). Fast also wrote 21 mystery novels under the pseudonym of E.V. Cunningham, many of them including Jewish characters. The lead in seven of these novels is the Japanese detective, Masao Masuto, who partners with Sy Ledger, a Jewish detective. Ledger’s Jewish identity is a critical element of the series’ thematic structure, functioning in three main ways:

Minority Solidarity: Masuto and Ledger are both outsiders in the wealthy, predominantly white enclave of Beverly Hills. Their partnership reflects a shared experience of discrimination, as they both face bigoted attitudes from suspects and sometimes within their own police department.

The “Meat-and-Potatoes” Foil: Ledger’s character is often used as a grounded, traditional American counterpoint to Masuto’s Zen Buddhist practices and meditation-driven investigative style. His Jewish cultural background provides a secular, often skeptical perspective that balances Masuto’s more philosophical approach.

A Lens for Social Justice: Fast uses Ledger to explore historical traumas. For example, in Cunningham, E.V., The Case of the One-Penny Orange [pb, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1977] 978-0515048766, the investigation into a rare stamp leads back to the Holocaust and World War II. Ledger’s identity makes these connections personal, reinforcing the series’ recurring focus on the consequences of prejudice and historical memory. While Masuto is the lead, this novel involves the world of rare stamp collecting and high-stakes crime, often a setting where Fast introduced Jewish side characters or backgrounds tied to European history.

Cunningham, E.V., (The Assassin Who Gave Up His Gun [hc, Morrow, 1969] B0006CK6RE [pb, Ace, 1969] B00KR01VR4 [Features Harvey Krim, a cynical, world-weary investigator. Like many of Fast’s protagonists, his Jewish heritage is a quiet but firm foundation for his skepticism of authority and his personal code of ethics.]

Cunningham, E.V., (The Wabash Factor) [hc, Doubleday, 1986] 978-0385294386 [mass mkt pb, Dell, 1986] 978-0440193906 [Harry Golding is a “tough but lovable” New York detective and the central hero of this novel. He is a Jewish police officer characterized by his sharp “instinct for foul play”. [Google/AI – Amazon]

For Fast, being Jewish in these novels meant a refusal to ignore “foul play”. His detectives—whether Jewish like Golding, Krim and Ledger or not—often act as protectors for marginalized groups, a theme he explored more explicitly in his non-mystery works like The Jews: Story of a People (hc, The Dial Press, 1968) B0006BWLZU [pb, Random House, 1992] 978-0440505068. The main example of a Jewish detective in a Fast (rather than Cunningham) novel is the following:

Fast, Howard, (The Confession of Joe Cullen [hc, Houghton Mifflin, 1989] 978-0395509364 [pb, Coronet, 1990] 978-0340530672 [Detective Mel Freedman’s life changes forever the day Joe Cullen walks into his New York City office to confess to murder. Cullen, a pilot and Vietnam veteran, has come to admit his guilt in the murder of an American priest, thrown from a helicopter to his death in the jungles of El Salvador 800 feet below. But when a prostitute to whom Cullen also confessed turns up dead, Freedman quickly realizes that there is much more to Cullen’s story than meets the eye. As he digs deeper into the mystery, Freedman unravels a tangled web of conspiracy stretching from the cocaine fields of Central America all the way to CIA headquarters.  

Freedman is a Jewish officer in a precinct that is largely Catholic and Black. This positioning provides a secular, often skeptical lens through which to view the “confession” of the title character, Joe Cullen, who is a guilt-ridden Catholic. While the book delves into Catholic mysticism and the moral weight of a priest’s murder, Freedman represents the “tough-guy” procedural side of the narrative. His role is to untangle the political conspiracy—linking the CIA and drug smuggling—that lies beneath the religious guilt of the confession. – Amazon]