Friday, December 29, 2017

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

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

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many of them never before reprinted, along with 70 in-depth author interviews, illustrated biographies, and previously unpublished articles, the book goes behind the scenes to look at the authors and publishers, how they worked, where they drew their inspiration and, often overlooked, the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
 

Sunday, December 24, 2017

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 

Saturday, December 23, 2017

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

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

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

Thursday, December 14, 2017

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

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Real Men December 1961

December 1961


Printing History

Stanley Publications, Inc
Volume 6 No 6
December 1961

Sunday, December 10, 2017

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




Friday, December 8, 2017

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

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

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

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

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

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

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

Sunday, November 26, 2017

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

Sunday, November 12, 2017

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


Tuesday, November 7, 2017

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

Friday, November 3, 2017

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

Monday, October 30, 2017

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

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

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




Monday, October 23, 2017

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

Thursday, October 19, 2017

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

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

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






Saturday, October 7, 2017

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

Sunday, September 24, 2017

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
 

Thursday, September 21, 2017

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

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

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.