The Green Hornet in The Infernal Light

The Green Hornet in The Infernal Light
Author	Richard Wormser, writing as "Ed Friend"
Cover artist	Gil Kane (back cover)
Publisher	Dell Publishing Company
Publication date	September, 1966
Country	United States
Format	Paperback
Page count	127
ISBN	Pre-ISBN era
Publication Order
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The Green Hornet in The Infernal Light is a novel written by Richard Wormser under the pseudonym "Ed Friend." It is a tie-in novel to the television series and, as such, is intended to be set within the same universe as that series, although a number of minor discrepancies appear throughout the text. It was released in September 1966, the same month that the television series debuted, and only underwent a single printing. It had a cover price of fifty cents (USD). The novel was marketed to an adult readership, while another tie-in novel released the same year, Dell's The Green Hornet: The Case of the Disappearing Doctor, was marketed to juveniles.

Development

One of the many licensed products to arise from ABC's Green Hornet television series was a paperback novel published by Dell, which had previously published a one-shot Green Hornet comic book story in 1953. William Dennis of ABC and Hester Mundis of Dell headed up the project. In late 1966 a draft of the novel was submitted to Green Hornet co-creator and owner George W. Trendle for approval. He provided several notes, foremost of which was to keep the relationship between Britt Reid and Lenore Case strictly professional.

Plot Synopsis

Britt Reid attends a meeting of the City-County Medical Society where the keynote address is delivered by world-renowned surgeon Dr. Ephraim Prescott. A number of prominent doctors are in attendance, including pediatrician and child psychologist Ellen Johns. During his talk, the lightbulb on Prescott's lecturn explodes. Robert Pletton, the chief engineer of the Aura Lamp Company, the local business which supplied the lectern, apologizes stating that the bulb was a prototype and ha has his assistants replace the bulb with another. Prescott seems dazed by the experience, but is able to finish his address normally. After the meeting, Britt and his valet change into their masked vigilante personas of the Green Hornet and Kato and travel to the Aura Lamp Company's office, where they spy Pletten kissing a much younger woman who remarks about wishing she'd seen the bulb explode on Prescott and asking if he suspected anything. 

The Green Hornet and Kato return home and rendezvous with D.A. Frank Scanlon, who admits that, while Pletten appears to be a model citizen, he neither likes nor trusts him. Reid shares his concern that Pletten had done something to Prescott, who is scheduled to perform a routine gallbladder surgery on business magnate Maxwell Kinson the following morning, and asks Scanlon to have Prescott postpone the surgery. Scanlon sends in the bomb squad as cover for he and Reid to investigate the operating room and they find nothing unusual. As they leave, the chief operating nurse dies in a car explosion.

The next day, Reid has crime beat reporter Mike Axford investigate the nurse's death, but no discernable motive can be discovered. Axford praises Hank Guyon, a young co-worker who's work has impressed him, and asks to have him assigned to crime beat with him. Together, the two cover Kinson's surgery which is going ahead as planned. Immediately afterword, Axford calls Britt to announce that Kinson dies during the procedure causing Prescott to announce his permanent retirement. Axford also sends Guyon to interview Pletten, feeling that the businessman won't recognize the young man as a crime reporter and is therefore more likely to speak candidly to him. On a hunch, Reid decides that he and Kato will visit Pletten's office as well. When they arrive, they encounter Pletten and Julie Carr, his day secretary. The former informs them that they've just missed Guyon. Britt accepts Guyon's offer to drive him back to the Daily Sentinel's office. On the way, they come across a crime scene and Britt is horrified to realize that the perpetrator is Henry Guyon, who has been shot dead for robbing a bank.

That evening, the Green Hornet and Kato scout Julie Carr's home, and find a large stash of money. As they depart, they are attacked by the Donaldson brothers, but escape. Later, the heroes use the Hornet scanner to overhear a conversation between Pletten and Ellen Johns where Pletten gives the home to Johns, claiming that Carr has moved away and isn't returning. On their way home, the Green Hornet and Kato find Carr's dead body in the street. They travel to Pletten's home, placing the corpse there and, evading both a trap fence and an attack dog in the process.

The next day, the morning papers report that a valuable Monet painting was stolen from Robert Pletten's personal collection in his home. Pletten is adamant that the Green Hornet was the perpetrator. However, when Britt Reid arrives to look into the matter personally, he discovers that Pletten's entire collection are mediocre imitations. The investigating officer, [[Inspector Karin|] realizes that the Green Hornet is too much of a professional to be taken in by such forgeries and surmises that the supposed theft may have just been a ruse on Pletten's part to make a bogus insurance claim. This leads the inspector to become convinced that Pletten is actually the Green Hornet.

Britt and Kato visit a nearby paintings conservator and finds that he was hired by Joyce Huddleston, Pletten's night secretary to restore his collection of paintings. That afternoon, Britt and Leonore Case have lunch with Ellen Johns who reveals that she's looking to create a center for handicapped children with Pletten as chairman. She admits that the project would cost around two million dollars.

That evening, Britt and Reid visit Joyce Huddleston's apartment. When Britt confronts her she refuses to believe that Pletten killed Carr and pleads ignorant as to why he'd be interested in Johns. Huddleston signals the gigantic Gibby, one of Pletten's goons who lives in the apartment next door, after Britt defeats him, he warns Huddleston to go into hiding, then he and Kato depart. The following night, the Green Hornet and Kato sneak into Pletten's house where they discover his cellar leads into a tunnel. They follow the passage into a carriage house which had been modified into a workshop where a team of blind workers build specialized bulbs. The workers are overseen by Gibby.

The following  night, the Green Hornet and Kato sneak into Pletten's house where they spy him hosting a group that includes Ellen Johns. They also discover that his cellar leads into a tunnel. They follow the passage into a carriage house which had been modified into a workshop where a team of blind workers build specialized bulbs. The workers are overseen by Gibby, Pletten's lackey who attacked Britt at Joyce Huddleston's apartment. The heroes are discovered, but the Green Hornet is able to toss a pack of the bulbs to Kato, he makes a quick escape as his companion disables Gibby. The workers mob the Green Hornet, but he's able to get away and down the street where he sneaks into a closed  restaurant to signal Kato via the Hornet sting. Once reunited, the pair return to Pletten's home. Using the Hornet scanner, they overhear an argument between Pletten and Johns. The Green Hornet and Kato rush inside the house and fend off an ambush by Ham and Gibson. When they reach Pletten, he allows them to take Johns without protest. Once inside the Black Beauty, they quickly discover that Johns has emotionally and mentally regressed to a child-like state. They take her back to Britt's home, knowing that they don't have to worry about her remembering their secret identities in their current state. Britt calls up Lenore to come over and tend to Johns and Britt pieces together Pletten's master plan: to regress the majority of the world's population to a child-like state which he will rule over. Britt surmises that their enemy had perfected his Pletten Treatment by experimenting on transients and other individuals society wouldn't miss. Once he believed the formula to be stable, he decided to test it on the advanced intellect of Ephraim Prescott. With her specialized intellect, Johns was to have retrained the affected individuals to carry on the work of society in their new state. Britt notifies Lenore that they'll check Johns into the hospital tomorrow. He also calls Mike Axford, asking him to visit Prescott who he believes will be in a similar state as Johns. The next day, Scanlon uses the Hornet Sting to page Britt to his office. Ham Donaldson has offered to turn in evidence against Pletten, in part because Mac was killed in their most recent conflict with the Green Hornet and Kato. It becomes obvious that Pletten has been claiming to be the Green Hornet in order to boost his reputation in the criminal underground. It also becomes apparent that Ham had been subjected to a form of the Pletten Treatment, but the effects have since been reversed. Britt deduces that the fumes from his gas gun act as an antidote to the Pletten Treatment. He also learns that Prescott's situation indeed mirrors Johns' and that psychiatrists are completely oblivious to its true cause. The Green Hornet and Kato close out the day by visiting Mr. Regnier, who supplied Pletten with the blind workers at his factory. As they leave, Regnier tips off the police to their presence, and the duo evade the resulting cordon by driving through the police garage.

Their heroes' exploits dominate the newspaper headlines over the following days as they make a series of daring entries to ascertain the whereabouts and medical records of all the individuals affected by Pletten's treatment. They cure Johns followed by a host of others and mobilize the individuals into a mob which storms Pletten's secret factors. The site appears to have been vacated only moments before, but it allows the Green Hornet and Kato to gather precious samples of Pletten's specialized bulbs. The group then uses a hidden elevator to expedite their travel to Pletten's home. After using the Hornet Sting to discreetly discover a trap, The Green Hornet, Kato, and the mob discover a gloating Pletten in his bedroom. The Green Hornet states that he's turning Pletten over to his former victims rather than the police. When Pletten protests that such treatment is inhuman, the Green Hornet instead gives the villain a dose of his own formula, thus ensuring that Pletten will never victimize anyone again.

Later, back at the Daily Sentinel's offices Axford rants to Britt about how he's convinced that the Green Hornet was in cahoots with Pletten from the beginning. Britt praises Axford for a story exonerating Prescott from Kinson's death, however he points out that the papers have also exonerated the Green Hornet from any possible collusion with Pletten: it's widely reported that the Green Hornet is the one who took Pletten down. Axford declares that one of these days he'll get Britt to see the light regarding the Green Hornet and Britt quips that they've all had enough of seeing lights.

Characters

The novel includes the following characters, listed in order of appearance:

• Dr. Ephraim Prescott, a world-renowned surgeon.
• Carl Pfefferman, a local surgeon.
• Britt Reid, the Green Hornet, a wealthy publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper who moonlights as the masked vigilante known as the Green Hornet. The general public, police force, and criminal underworld all believe him to be a criminal mastermind.
• Robert Pletten, the chief engineer, general manager, and a major shareholder of the Aura Lamp Company.
• Mac and Hamilton "Ham" Donaldson, twin brothers who serve as Pletten's chief lackeys.
• Dr. Drew Andrews, a local pastor.
• Dr. Ellen Johns, a local pediatrician and child psychologist who begins the book engaged to Andrews.
• Kato (TV series), Britt Reid's closest confidante who also serves as his valet and crime-fighting partner.
• Joyce Huddleston, Robert Pletten's night secretary.
• Frank Scanlon, the county's district attorney. He and Lenore Case are the two who know the Green Hornet and Kato's true identities and nature.
• Sgt. Ben Goldman, a member of the police department's bomb squad.
• Mike Axford, the crime beat reporter for the Daily Sentinel. He is obsessed with capturing and exposing the identity of the Green Hornet.
• Dr. Garrsinger, the administrator of a local hospital.
• Nona Diamond, the hospital's chief operating room nurse.
• Lenore Case, Britt Reid's confidante and secretary. She and Frank Scanlon are the two who know the Green Hornet and Kato's true identities and nature.
• Jean Reynaud, the hospital's operating room night supervisor.
• Hank Guyon, a tenacious young reporter at the Daily Sentinel reporter.
• City editor, the unnamed city editor of the Daily Sentinel, a role filled in the television series by Bill Corman, and possibly others.
• Julie Carr, Robert Pletten's day secretary.
• Inspector Karin, a member of the police department's burglary detail.
• Emil Sedona, a paintings conservator who keeps Robert Platten's collection of paintings in pristine condition.
• Gibson, aka "Gibby", one of Robert Pletten's lackeys who also serves as the overseer of his secret factory.
• Luther Pendragon, a local psychiatrist.
• Mr. Regnier, a businessman who runs a job placement agency for blind men.
• W.L. Wallace, a petty criminal with a tendency toward alcoholism.
• Bill Forne, also referred to as Ruel. A man who was convicted of robbery twenty years ago.