1953 E. P. Dutton, 1953, first edition. A Gilt Edged Mystery.
1953 Dutton hardcover
Category: hardcover
The Underground Man x 11
1971 Knopf hardcover, first edition – cover design by Hal Seigel (owner’s copy)
London: Collins Crime Club, 1971. First UK Edition. The 16th novel in the Lew Archer series.
1979 Bantam reissue – cover art by Mitchell Hooks
1992 Warner reissue – cover art by Gary Kelley
1996 Vintage/Black Lizard reissue
Australian 2012 Penguin reissue
Australian 2024 Penguin reissue
[post updated 8/20/26]
Clean Break into The Killing
New York: E.P. Dutton, 1955. First Edition. In publisher’s trial dust jacket, date stamped March 1, 1955, on the bottom of the front flap.
Basis for Stanley Kubrick’s breakthrough 1956 film “The Killing,” starring Sterling Hayden in one of his defining roles.
1956 Signet reissue – cover art by Robert Maguire
1988 Black Lizard reissue – cover art by Kirwin
1956 United Artists – written and directed by Stanley Kubrick
Jonathan Cape hardcover, published April 13, 1953
Jonathan Cape hardcover, published April 13, 1953
true first of the first James Bond novel
The Girl from Hateville
cover art by Samson Pollen
published in 1957 by Bouregy as The Angry Dream
this is the 1958 Zenith reprint
better image than previously posted
1957 Mystery House hardcover reprint with original title
better image than previously posted
1990 Norton hardcover
Walter Mosley’s debut, Devil in a Blue Dress
first in the long-running Easy Rawlins series set in Los Angeles
1990 Norton hardcover
cover illustration by John Jinks
SMB Noir 
