'Errol Lecale' - Tigerman Of Terrahpur

'Errol Lecale' - Tigerman Of Terrahpur (NEL 1973)



A STRANGE HORRIFIC METAMORPHOSIS AT MIDNIGHT — ONLY ONE MAN CAN SOLVE THE SAVAGE MURDERS: THE SPECIALIST.

Blurb

The victims of the Tigerman of Terrahpur are women - those who venture out after dark. But why does the tiger kill without eating? Why are their clothes ripped off? Can it be, as-it seems, that the tiger has actually raped them?

Fearing that this tiger infestation will drive the state and its people back into the dark ages and so undo all the reforms created by an enlightened Rajah, the services of Eli Podgram are sought.

Eli Podgram - the Specialist. He knows the ways of werewolves and vampires as no one else and it is he who has to find the Tigerman of Terrahpur.

As pulphack has pointed out, Tigerman Of Terraphur finds Baker reworking his Peter Saxon effort The Darkest Night as the first of six 'Specialist' adventures, a likable enough Sari-ripper in its own right that gets its business done with the minimum of fuss.

Eli Pogram is 'The Specialist', a man who has spent a lifetime fighting phantoms and otherworldly types. He's had a down on those who follow the left hand path from his youth when he was bitten by a vampire while exploring a Transylvanian castle. Within hours of the attack he set about a peasant girl in the forest but managed to tear himself from her and rush off to the doctor who swiftly exchanged his blood with that of a dying priest. Pogram still sports a scar on his forehead and a white cross burnt into his hair as a memento of his brief vampire career.

The girl-child he waylaid, Mara, was struck deaf and dumb as a consequence but, overlooking her bizarre dress sense, she is otherwise none the worse for the experience. Pogram has done all in his power to make amends and they have developed a powerful telepathy whereby he can visualise her thoughts. Her advanced psychic abilities come in handy when the going gets tricky, but they'll evaporate the moment she loses her virginity so no prizes for guessing who gets hypnotised, kidnapped and fondled on a regular basis throughout the series.

Finally, there's Hugo, Pogram's Camargois manservant who supplies the brawn whenever it's required. He has wandering hands where the ladies are concerned and is always up for copping a slapped face from an outraged french maid, but he's loyal and supremely competent.

These three receive a visit at their office in Russell Square from the Diwanof Terrahpur on behalf of his excellency, the ultra-liberal Maharajah. A were-tiger is on the prowl, doing the bidding of the thriving underground cult of Kali who seek a return to the good old days of gory human sacrifice, the suttee and all that glorious barbaric stuff. Anyway, on the boat over, Mara is snogged by a fellow passenger and Hugo feels so bad about it he vows not to shag any more women for the duration of the trip by way of expiation.

When they arrive in India it's clear that the Specialist will have to be on top of his game if he's gonna expose the Tigerman and overcome the Goddess and her thuggee hordes. There is a truly wonderful episode wherein the statue of Kali, wearing a natty necklace of freshly severed human heads, rises from her throne and toughs up Hugo (who has barely survived being burnt alive by a mob) and, happily, when we finally learn the identity of the were-tiger it is exactly who we thought it would be all along!