Category: crime fiction

July 1941 issue ~ cover art by Raphael DeSoto

July 1941 issue

cover art by Raphael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

~ Cleve F. Adams, “Nobody Loves Cops”, ‘Engelhardt & Dewey, Car 97, LA’, 5th of 6 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Not in the Script”, 24th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 37th of 43 stories in BM

~ Wyatt Blassingame, “The Bishop and the Tinkling Belle”, 4th of 6 stories with The Bishop, political writer on a Southern newspaper, 60ish and peg-legged, ‘young Eddie narrates’, 6th of 8 stories in BM

~ Jim Kjelgaard, “Curse of the Beaver”, ‘again, the wilderness’, 4th of 6 stories in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Calling All Hearses”, 10th of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 16th of 27 stories in BM

~ C.G. Tahney, [pseud of Charles Green, not to be confused with Charles M. Green], “Murder in Ten Easy Lessons”, Nickie, aka ‘Sherlock in short pants’, 2nd of 5 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

G-Men (First National, 1935)

G-Men (First National, 1935). Fine+. Locally-Produced Trolley Card (21″ X 27″).
In G-Men, James Cagney deliberately moves away from the gangster roles that made him famous, playing a determined government agent who fights organized crime from the other side of the law. The film was a conscious effort to counter earlier crime dramas like The Public Enemy, which had glamorized outlaws, by portraying law enforcement as heroic and just. The film was also the debut of journeyman actor Lloyd Nolan. This striking trolley card, produced locally in San Francisco for the Loews Warfield, has never been offered by Heritage Auctions before. The bottom corners have been clipped and there is some overall toning, which does little to detract from the wonderful likeness of Cagney pointing a gun at the viewer.

1936 Doubleday hardcover

First American Edition of THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1936), preceding the British edition by one month).

A masterpiece of genre fiction, basis for the 1942 film noir starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Laird Cregar. The film was Ladd’s first appearance on the big screen, and the only time he ever played a villain. He became famous as a result of the film’s success, and would go on to be cast along-side Veronica Lake in ‘The Glass Key’ and ‘The Blue Dahlia.’ Copies in dustjacket are quite scarce, this being the only jacketed copy of the American edition we’ve seen offered in the trade since 2009.

September 27, 2013