Mucker Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Billy Byrne is a low class American born in Chicago's ghetto. He grows up a thief and a mugger. "Billy was a mucker, a hoodlum, a gangster, a thug, a tough." He is not chivalrous nor kind, and has only meager ethics - never giving evidence against a friend or leaving someone behind. He chooses a life of robbery and violence, disrespecting those who work for a living. He has a deep hatred for wealthy society.He trains as a prizefighter but can not stop drinking... moreBilly Byrne is a low class American born in Chicago's ghetto. He grows up a thief and a mugger. "Billy was a mucker, a hoodlum, a gangster, a thug, a tough." He is not chivalrous nor kind, and has only meager ethics - never giving evidence against a friend or leaving someone behind. He chooses a life of robbery and violence, disrespecting those who work for a living. He has a deep hatred for wealthy society.He trains as a prizefighter but can not stop drinking. When falsely accused of murder, he flees to San Francisco and is shanghaied aboard a ship. Ironically, enforced sobriety, brutal ship's discipline and productive work improves him. The ship's secret mission is soon enacted - the hijacking of a specific yacht to take a millionaire's daughter, Barbara Harding, for ransom.Originally two stories, The Mucker begun in August 1913 and published by All-Story Weekly in October and November 1914; and The Return of the Mucker begun in January 1916 and published by All-Story Weekly in June and July 1916. The book version was first published by A. C. McClurg on 31 October 1921. From January 1922 to August 1939, Methuen (UK) published a version of The Return of the Mucker under the title The Man Without A Soul. less

Billy Byrne squared his broad shoulders and filled his deep lungs with the familiar medium which is known as air in Chicago. He was standing upon the platform of a New York Central train that was pulling into the La Salle Street Station, and though the young man was far from happy something in the nature of content pervaded his being, for he was coming home... moreBilly Byrne squared his broad shoulders and filled his deep lungs with the familiar medium which is known as air in Chicago. He was standing upon the platform of a New York Central train that was pulling into the La Salle Street Station, and though the young man was far from happy something in the nature of content pervaded his being, for he was coming home. After something more than a year of world wandering and strange adventure Billy Byrne was coming back to the great West Side and Grand Avenue. Now there is not much upon either side or down the center of long and tortuous Grand Avenue to arouse enthusiasm, nor was Billy particularly enthusiastic about that more or less squalid thoroughfare. The thing that exalted Billy was the idea that he was coming back to _show them_. He had left under a cloud and with a reputation for genuine toughness and rowdyism that has seen few parallels even in the ungentle district of his birth and upbringing. A girl had changed him. She was as far removed from Billy's sphere as the stars themselves; but Billy had loved her and learned from her, and in trying to become more as he knew the men of her class were he had sloughed off much of the uncouthness that had always been a part of him, and all of the rowdyism. Billy Byrne was no longer the mucker. less

The house on the hill showed lights only upon the first floor -- in the spacious reception hall, the dining room, and those more or less mysterious purlieus thereof from which emanate disagreeable odors and agreeable foods... moreThe house on the hill showed lights only upon the first floor -- in the spacious reception hall, the dining room, and those more or less mysterious purlieus thereof from which emanate disagreeable odors and agreeable foods. From behind a low bush across the wide lawn a pair of eyes transferred to an alert brain these simple perceptions from which the brain deduced with Sherlockian accuracy and Raffleian purpose that the family of the president of The First National Bank of -- Oh, let's call it Oakdale -- was at dinner, that the servants were below stairs and the second floor deserted. The owner of the eyes had but recently descended from the quarters of the chauffeur above the garage which he had entered as a thief in the night and quitted appareled in a perfectly good suit of clothes belonging to the gentlemanly chauffeur and a soft, checked cap which was now pulled well down over a pair of large brown eyes in which a rather strained expression might have suggested to an alienist a certain neophytism which even the stern set of well shaped lips could not effectually belie. less

Two fisted action from all three Mucker novels!Billy Byrne is the Mucker. Born and brought up on the tough streets of Chicago, Billy is familiar with the hard and seedy side of life in the big city, where only the strong survive and it is a good idea to be able to terminate a disagreement with your fists. But in 'The Mucker' our hero is about to leave his familiar territory and take off on an adventure across the globe which will bring him up against a lost colony of Japanese Samurai warriors... moreTwo fisted action from all three Mucker novels!Billy Byrne is the Mucker. Born and brought up on the tough streets of Chicago, Billy is familiar with the hard and seedy side of life in the big city, where only the strong survive and it is a good idea to be able to terminate a disagreement with your fists. But in 'The Mucker' our hero is about to leave his familiar territory and take off on an adventure across the globe which will bring him up against a lost colony of Japanese Samurai warriors. In the second novel of this collection, 'The Return of the Mucker', Byrne finds himself in further scrapes in revolutionary Mexico whilst the third story, 'The Oakdale Affair' features our hero as a supporting character in an adventure featuring the Oskaloosa Kid. The Mucker stories are considered by many critics to be some of their author's finest writing. Certainly he identified strongly with his principal character, and this provides an authenticity to tales which will satisfy Edgar Rice Burroughs fans with their customary and generous helpings of adventure, action, hairsbreadth escapes and the rescuing of pretty girls. A must for all ERB collectors-all the Mucker stories in one volume-available from Leonaur in softcover and hardcover with dust jacket. less