Living Death (1982 Edition) by Jon Messman

Near Fine Copy

 Printing History

Written by Jon Messman (1920-2004)

Award Books

1969

Charter Books

ISBN 441 48541

January 1982

Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, And Real Cool Cats

Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, And Real Cool Cats

The first comprehensive account of how the rise of postwar youth culture was depicted in mass-market pulp fiction. As the young created new styles in music, fashion, and culture, pulp fiction shadowed their every move, hyping and exploiting their behavior, dress, and language for mass consumption and cheap thrills. With their lurid covers and wild, action-packed plots, these books reveal as much about society’s deepest desires and fears as they do about the subcultures themselves. Featuring approximately 400 full-color covers, many of them never before reprinted, along with 70 in-depth author interviews, illustrated biographies, and previously unpublished articles, the book goes behind the scenes to look at the authors and publishers, how they worked, where they drew their inspiration and, often overlooked, the actual words they wrote. It is a must read for anyone interested in pulp fiction, lost literary history, retro and sub-cultural style, and the history of postwar youth culture.

Printing History

edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre 

December 2017

PM Press

 

Merry Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas

The Christmas Day Murder 

by Lee Harris

Christine Bennett #3

Former nun Christine Bennett is looking forward to the christening of her friend Maddie's baby. But when she goes to the church basement of the town that was flooded out thirty years before, Christine stumbles upon the skeletal remains of a body, the grim result of a thirty-year old murder. Trying to sort out the sordid puzzle from the past, Christine manages to unravel the dark secrets of the once close-knit community, and also reveals a killer who's not afraid to kill again....

Printing History

Written by Syrell Leahy (1935- )

Fawcett Books

ISBN 449 148718 

September 1993 

Lancer Double Trouble

Lancer Double Trouble

Joy House

by Day Keene 

He Was Hunted By The Cops

The Mob

And A Man Hungry Woman

Man On The Run 

A hunted man has nowhere to run, but Mark had to run, into the arms of a man hungry woman who offered him a haven of lust and greed.

City Of Sin

Milton K. Ozaki

The Story Of What Women And Greed Can Do To An American Town

A Town On The Loose

Pete brought his bride home to a city run riot with every conceivable corruption. She had a  honeymoon no decent girl ever dreamed of, in a town no honest man ever lived in.

Printing History

Lancer Books 

72-628

February 1956

Joy House

by Day Keene

1954 by Day Keene

City Of Sin

(Murder Honeymoon)

by Milton K Ozaki

1913-1989

1952 by Hanro Corp

Down Town- And Dead by Marc Brody

Downtown And Dead

The first time Marc Brody saw Bella Cadena she was asleep, in his bed. It was 4 a.m. and he was tired until Bella woke up. She was a student of yoga and hypnotism, and what happened to Marc when Bella started to solve the mysterious kidnapping of heiress Vicki Jarman is strictly for the psychoanalyst, but she was beautiful. Brody didn't mind the cooperating but what he didn't like was the killing attention of hoodlums who figured he knew too much. While Marc was playing tag with gunmen he had to solve a downtown murder that was somehow involved with an African mystery and blackmail, and a 5 million dollar fortune. Which was nothing to what happened when Brody found four women in his apartment, each one waiting for the other wanted.....

Printing History

Written by W. H. "Bill" Williams

Horwitz Publications, Inc

Unnumbered Series

July 1956

This Way To Hell by Spike Morelli

This Way To Hell

Cover by Reginald Heade

When dames get tough anything can happen and usually does. Shaun O'Malley, slick, confident shamus, finds that he is up against a syndicate that is completely merciless in which women play a major part. Free-lance agents, who's sell their own mothers, and whom no country would own, are seeking secret information in the U.S. Vice and murder walk hand in hand as they make contacts with the underworld. The breathtaking Julie, who has a figure that would make even Venus de Milo hide in shame, and who would risk anything in the adventurous arms of a ruthless killer, finds O'Malley too tough to handle. Shaun likes his women and likes them beautiful, but there are limits to which he won't go. He'll take what he can get when he can, but there can't be strings attached. From ship to shore, from Chicago to Chicago, it's rough tough going all the way and he has to use his wits to keep alive.

Printing History

 Written by William Simpson Newton (1923-2009)

 Leisure Library

#7

October 1952

Real Men December 1961

December 1961

Printing History

Stanley Publications, Inc

Volume 6 No 6

December 1961

The Devil Wears Wings by Harry Whittington

The Devil Wears Wings

 

Buz Johnson belonged in the high living, hard drinking generation of World War II flyboys who inspired the saying "Show me a hero and I'll show you a bum." A dozen years after the war he was drinking his way to oblivion at a jerkwater Florida airport, teaching playboys and rich widows how to fly. He was deep in debt, his girl had walked out on him, and we was living from paycheck to paycheck, looking forward only to the next drink. Then Sid Coates came up with the bank caper, and he needed Buz to fly the getaway plane. Buz had a chance to reclaim his pride and make a bundle besides. All he had to do was get up his nerve and be willing to kill if it came to that. He figured he was as ready as he'd ever be.

Printing History

Harry Whittington (1915-1989) 

Abelard-Schuman Ltd

1960

Black Lizard Books

October 1987

ISBN 88739-036

Bonus Cover

Sin Drunk by John Dexter

His Passion Pitch Made Society Wantons

Lust Sell......

and passion purveyor Pierre Drysdale, the Park Avenue interior decorator who spent more time on the client's bodies than he did on their wall. The lust merchant who pampered the idle monied wantons who needed a man and not an argument. And in Pierre there was never any argument, for the price war right and the women were ready, and he was the stud benefactor to their every wanton hunger. It was an easy sell, a sin harvest that would delight any conscienceless guy who was on the prowl for riches and witches. And each new mark on the avenue of passion tramps brought him a new way of sinning, a new method to sell his....

......Passion Product

Printing History

John Dexter

Midnight Reader

MR 478

March 1963

The Lady Has A Scar by Hank Janson

Best Of Tough Gangster Authors

When a successful but brutish playwright is stabbed to death in the aftermath of a wild party, there are no shortage of suspects. But which is the killer? In his latest assignment, Chicago Chronicle crime reporter Hank Janson finds himself participating in a striptease party game, being roughed up by the police, and dodging the attention of a determined nymphomaniac, while he desperately tries to separate the clues from the red herrings.

Printing History

Written by Stephen D Frances (1917-1989)

Gaywood

1950

Telos 

ISBN 978-1-84583-873

October 2013

Cover

Reginald Heade

Framed In Blood by Brett Halliday

Was It An Act Or Accident She Left The Door Open?

Cover by Robert Stanley

Bert Jackson could have been a great reporter, if he had the patience for it. Married to a woman with expensive taste, Jackson has spent himself into the kind of debt that he’ll never pay off. He needs a big score, and he needs it tonight. Working the city hall beat, Jackson has stumbled upon the greatest corruption scandal in Miami history. If he publishes it, he could win a Pulitzer. But it’s money that he wants, and he’ll risk death to get it.  Using the information in his story, Jackson plans to blackmail a powerful local official for $10,000, and he asks Mike Shayne for help. Shayne has seen too many blackmail artists wind up dead to get involved with something like this, and he warns Jackson to stay away. When the reporter turns up dead, it’s up to Shayne to uncover his final scoop.

Printing History

Written by Davis Dresser (1904-1977)

Dodd, Mead, & Company 

1951

 

Dell Publishing Company

#578

1952

#958

September 1957

#2714

November 1962, June 1967

Bonus Covers

 

Robert McGinnis Cover

 

Robert McGinnis Cover

The March Hare Murders by E.X. Ferrars

The Murderer Shot Twice

The Case Was Too Simple

Afterwards it was easy to see how it had happened. Someone had fired through the open doorway. One shot had caught Mark Verinder between the eyes. The other had hit Deidre Masson and though she, too looked dead, she wasn't. And the testimony was clear enough, up to a point. Motive, time, the right gun. Everything seemingly was explained until Inspector Upjohn remembered the March Hare and the Mad Hatter, and that gave him the true solution.

Printing History

Written by Morna Doris McTaggart (1907-1995)

Collins Crime Club

September 1949 

Doubleday & Company

October 1949

Pocket Books

#735

October and November 1950

Stripper, You're Stuck by Carter Brown

She was a doll brain who thought she could heist a fortune in moola and mayhem:

Get wise baby, this game has no encores....

Printing History

Written by Alan G Yates (1923-1985)

Novelette Series 

"Lovely" Mysteries

1953

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Fit To Kill by Brett Halliday

Mike Shayne

The Suave Private Eye With Deadly Cool

Tackles A Treacherous Case Of Sudden Death

Intrigue And Pulse Pounding Mystery

Robert McGinnis Cover

Contraband Blonde

She was a foxy, fair haired American in distress whom Tim Rourke had chivalrously smuggled into the states. She was also hot copy for an underground revolution story Tim had been working on in Central America, and he wanted an exclusive, in all areas. Mike Shayne had no intention of cutting in on his friend's private territory. But when Rourke was kidnapped, the blonde disappeared and a bug eyed killer began spilling blood, and mike knew it was time to step from the sidelines, only once he did, he became the perfect target for murder.

Printing History

Written by Robert Terrell

Dell Publishing Company

D#314

January 1959

#2562

February 1966

May 1976

Bonus Cover

The Saint And Mr. Teal by Leslie Charteris

The Saint Outwits Scotland Yard

The Saint vs Scotland Yard

Trapped by murderers, thieves, and vice lords on one side and Scotland Yard on the other, the Saint battles his way out of a tight corner.

Contains three novellas

The Gold Standard

The Man from St. Louis

The Death Penalty

Printing History

Written by Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin (1907-1993)

 

Hodder and Stoughton (UK)

January 1933 

Doubleday& Company (USA)

May 1933

Avon Books

#629 

1955

Trivia

Original title was Once More For The Saint

Perfumed Poison by Carter Brown

Soft light and sweet music....

Sweet music and black lace...

Black lace and blackmail......

Blackmail and.......................

Printing History

Written by Alan G Yates (1923-1985)

Transport Publishing Company

for and on behalf of Horwitz Publications

Novelette Series

1954

Collectors' Series No 13 

1955

w/ Murder She Says and Sin-Sation Sadie

Second Collector’s Series Vol 2 #9

w/Shamus Your Slip Is Showing

June 1960

In The Hour Before Midnight by Jack Higgins

Stacey Wyatt was a gifted piano player and a soldier of fortune, and escaped prisoner from an Egyptian prison. He was on his way to a second chance at life. Or was it death?

Stacey Wyatt knows the power of the Mafia. He has seen what its brutal vengeance and sinister corruption can do. But when he is broken out of prison and brought to Sicily, his only choice is to enter the Mafia's shadowy world of treachery and death. His was a simple job, rescue the daughter of a wealthy businessman from the Sicilian bandit who had kidnapped her. The money was big, and the risk was worth it. But it's only when he's in too deep that he realizes the tables have turned, the job was a setup, and the only person left to trust is himself.

Printing History

written by Harry Patterson (1929-)

copyright 

1969 by Jack Higins

Fawcett Gold Medal Books

P3355

November 1975

G.P. Putnam's Sons
2000

Bonus Cover

Carter Brown Triple Play

Stark House Mystery Classics 

The First 3 Al Wheeler Mysteries

Stark House Press brings back a true classic writer from down under.

 Carter Brown was the pen name for Alan Geoffery Yates (1923-1985). He worked as a salesman, a film sound recordist, and an encyclopedia salesman before becoming a publicity write for Qantas Airlines. During his time with Qantas he started writing and in 1951 began writing full time with Horwtiz Publishing House. Mr Yates turned out more than 300 Carter Brown Mysteries from 1951 until 1984. He passed away on May 5th 1985. He was posthumously awarded a "Ned Kelly" in 1997.

Printing History

Written by Alan G Yates (1923-1985)

Stark House Press

October 2017

ISBN 781944 520335

Wench Is Wicked

1955 by Horwitz Publications

Blond Verdict

1956 by Horwitz Publications

1960 by Signet Books (as The Brazen)

Delilah Was Deadly

1956 by Horwitz Publications 

Bonus Covers

Check Force: The Peking Plot by Ralph Hayes

 China was the oldest civilization in the world and was about to become extinct

 

An angry Chinese general, stewing over land currently controlled by the Soviets but, in his opinion, historically belonging to the Chinese, has a plan for taking back the region by force. This plan is backed solidly by Force III, knowing that such a conflict would soon escalate into war and could even extend to a World War.

20th Century Warlord 

The revolution in China was not over. General Sheng-Tse was clawing his way into power, pledged to recover lands lost to the Russians. And the war like general was backed by Force III, a secret organization dedicated to world destruction.  

Force III

Put an entire arsenal at his disposal, knowing the Chinese general would suck both Russia and the U.S. into the final war.

Chane: a fugitive CIA agent and

Karlov: a disaffected Russian spy

They were the only ones who could stop the coming crisis. For while the world celebrated detente, it would soon be mourning a devastated planet. 

Printing History

Written by Ralph E Hayes

Manor Books

12348

1975

Marked For Murder by Brett Halliday

When a crime wave grips Miami, Mike Shayne comes home to fight

Robert McGinnis Cover

 In the city room of the Courier, a reporter blocks out the clatter of typewriters to tell Miami the truth. In the past week, three murders have been committed in Miami Beach, and Timothy Rourke is the only person who sees the connection. As the mayor and the chief of police deny rumors of a crime wave, Rourke hollers from page one: Organized crime has taken over Miami, and the bloodshed has only just begun. Rourke is beaten to a pulp for exposing the mob's dirty dealings, and then he discovers a hot-eyed blonde in his apartment packing a .32. The situation is spinning out of control, and only one man can save the city from itself: Mike Shayne. He left Miami for New Orleans after the death of his beloved, and he will return with all the fury of an avenging angel. 

 Bonus Covers

Robert McGinnis Cover

Robert McGinnis Cover

Printing History

Written by Davis Dresser (1904-1977) 

Dodd Mead & Company 

1945

Dell Publishing Company

#222  1948

D291 1959 

#5386 June 1968

#5386 1970

Trivia

Originally published as “The Vanishing Blonde,” Mystery Book Magazine, December 1945

The Assassination Bureau, Ltd by Jack London and Robert L. Fish

A secret organization, The Assassination Bureau, Ltd., headed by Ivan Dragomiloff,  will assassinate evildoers, for example, corrupt police commissioners, legislators, politicians, etc.; but will not act unless convinced that the target truly is worthy of assassination. In a twist of fate, Dragomiloff finds himself pitted against the secret assassination agency he founded.

 Bonus Covers

 Printing History

Written by Jack London (1876-1916)

based on an unfinished novel

Finished by Robert Lloyd Fish (1912-1981)

McGraw-Hill

1963

The Film

 1969

 

 Cast

Oliver Reed as Ivan Dragomiloff
Diana Rigg as Sonya Winter
Telly Savalas as Lord Bostwick
Curd Jürgens as General von Pinck
Philippe Noiret as Monsieur Lucoville
Warren Mitchell as Herr Weiss
Beryl Reid as Madame Otero 

Clive Revill as Cesare Spado

Kenneth Griffith as Monsieur Popescu

Vernon Dobtcheff as Baron Muntzof

Annabella Incontrera as Eleanora Spado

Jess Conrad as Angelo

George Coulouris as Swiss Peasant

Directed by

Basil Dearden

Nice Girls Finish Last by Sparkle Hayter

Robin Hudson, a reporter for the All News Network, overcomes a loathsome boss and a dead-end career when she discovers that the murder of her gynecologist may be connected to random shootings at her network. 

At 37 with one filed marriage and several lousy dates behind her, Robin Hudson is working on a new attitude/ A positive Mental Attitude. Sure she will still be toiling away in the tabloid Special Reports Unit at the All News Network for her loathsome boss Jerry Spurdle. But amidst the cutbacks she thinks a good attitude might improve her karma. Besides, she's added to her personal defense system a new weapon. A hot glue gun with two settings, steam and spray. So what could go wrong? Then her gynecologist is murdered, and her boss sends her to investigate a link with the S&M sex club underworld. In the meantime, someone is taking potshots at ANN's male talent. Are the shootings connected to the murder of the doctor? To Robin? Her Positive Mental Attitude hanging by a thread, robin must solve the mystery, or she may never have another date.

Printing History

Written by Sparkle Hayter

Penguin Books

ISBN 14-024516

April 1997

Bloodtide by Robert Kalish

Murder Off The Maine Coast Plunges Skipper Gould Into The Hot Waters Of Atomic Espionage

His Fighting Instincts Kept Him Alive In 'Nam. Now He Needs Them Again For Another Deadly Mission...At Home.

The woman with the despair in her eyes wanted Skipper Gould to find her husband. He had taken his lobster boat out to sea one chill Maine morning and disappeared. No boat. No body. No trace. Skip[per was the editor of a small town newspaper, now. But the woman came to him because of what he had been. A Covert U.S. agent in Southeast Asia. A highly skilled fighter in the deadliest combat unit America had ever trained. Skipper's instincts warned him that his search for the missing fisherman was sweeping him towards a giant maelstrom of evil and violence. An international conspiracy swirling around a nuclear power plant on a quiet Maine cove. A massive anitnuke protest march, and a beautiful organizer whose luscious body could stop traffic. Whose secrets could stop Skipper...dead.

Printing History

Written by Robert Kalish

Avon Books

ISBN 380-89521

February 1985

 

Stand In For Sin by Marc Brody

A Crime Reporter's Inside Story

Trapeze artist, Hilary Carver got a knife in his back and he was found in the queerest set up for he he had ever came across. What was the mystery hoodoo haunting Darbin's circus? Why did several animals die? How did one go about finding a killer who had no name or or no face? Carver's foster daughter lovely Lauren Wallace pleaded to find the killer. Basso the Clown offered his help. But Marc could have done without him or his queer dwarf, Nahume. Drago Francesco, the voluptuous snake charmer, had a way with snakes, but when a deadly fer-de-lance was found in Brody's bed, he did not want her around anymore. As for Oscar Zimmerman, the loin tamer, and Khoklov, the strong man, Marc could live a lifetime without them! But Yorty, the Runyon type ex criminal, took care of him because he was his "brudder". Phyllis  Vincent, the stripper proved one final thing.....

Printing History

Written by W. H. Williams

Horwitz Publications Inc

Unnumbered Series

September 1956

1st Collector's Edition

June 1958

The Saint Sees It Through by Leslie Charteris

Simon Templar Fights An International Dope Ring

The Saint pits himself against a lovely lady, 

and unflappable psychiatrist, 

and a maze of murder.

The Saint, who sometimes travels under the name Simon Templar, collides with the weirdest group of sinister characters he's ever met, including a mysterious European psychiatrist, a monstrous glandular freak, and a peculiar lady poet. Something sinister linked them all together, and Simon has to find out what it was. The key might be the suave shrink. Then again, it might be Avalon Dexter, the sexy singer with the sincere smile. And the gift for getting The Saint tangled up in the murderous riddle.

Printing History

Written by Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin (1907-1993)

The Crime Club (USA)

1946

Hodder and Stoughton  (UK)

1947 

Avon Publications, Inc

T-619

First Printing May 1951

Second Printing November 1954

Curtis Books

07209 

Trivia

This was the final full-length novel featuring Templar to be solely written by Charteris, as the author chose to concentrate on short stories and novella-length Saint stories hereafter.