
cover art by Rafael DeSoto
better image than previously posted
[cover updated 6/21/26]


1964 Horwitz International reissue

cover art by Robert McGinnis
Gouache on board, 22 x 15 inches (55.9 x 38.1 cm)
Signed lower center right: R. M.Ginnis


1971 Signet reissue, third printing
cover art by Robert McGinnis
[updated 11/5/25, 3/29/26]

cover art by John Drew
better image than previously posted
~ Russell Bender, “Heat Target”, ‘mayor of a small Maryland town’, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ John K. Butler, “No Rest for Soldiers”, ‘WWI vets, bonuses & Russ McGregor’, 5th of 11 stories in BM
~ Lester Dent, “Sail”, 1st Oscar Sale story, set in Miami, 1st of 2 stories in BM, reprinted The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977), earlier version of this story reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010) as “Luck”. “Sail” and “Luck” reprinted in Luck: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Oscar Sail (Steeger Books, 2021).
~ Roger Torrey, “Jail Bait”, ‘1st (of 14) in Pat McCarthy series, with Marge Chalmers often his “sidekick”; he is ex-NYC cop, ex-agency man (Chicago & St. Louis) who dislikes cops’, 21st of 50 appearances in BM
©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

better image than previously posted

1949 Hillman reissue – first paperback edition

better image than previously posted

1991 Black Lizard paperback reissue
cover art by Kirwan


[post updated 6/13/25]
THE FIRST LEW ARCHER

1949 Knopf hardcover – cover illustration by Bill English
first in the long-running and deservedly respected Lew Archer series by Kenneth Millar, aka Ross Macdonald. After using his father’s name as the pen name for this novel, he was forced by John D. MacDonald to alter it for future novels, and Ross Macdonald was born.

March 1950 Pocket paperback, first printing
cover painting by Harvey Kidder

British 1951 Cassell hardcover

1954 Pan reissue – cover by Sax
better image than previously posted

1959 Pocket reissue, third printing – cover art by Jerry Allison (owner’s copy)

1966 Fontana movie tie-in edition



1977 Bantam reissue – cover art by Mitchell Hooks


1984 Bantam reissue – cover art by James Marsh

1998 Vintage/Black Lizard reissue

1990 Warner edition – cover art by Gary Kelley (owner’s copy)
[updated 9/6/25, 8/27/26]