Tag: pocket paperback

The Moving Target x 13

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

British 1971 Fontana reissue

1974 Bantam reissue

1977 Bantam reissue – cover art by Mitchell Hooks

British 1978 Fontana reissue

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]

Killer in the Rain x 6

London: Hamish Hamilton, 1964. First UK Edition, preceding all others. The first collection of these stories.

“Killer in the Rain” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1935)

“The Man Who Liked Dogs” (Black Mask Magazine, Mar. 1936)

“The Curtain” (Black Mask Magazine, Sept. 1936)

“Try the Girl” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1937)

“Mandarin’s Jade” (Dime Detective Magazine, Nov. 1937)

“Bay City Blues” (Dime Detective Magazine, June 1938)

“The Lady in the Lake” (Dime Detective Magazine, Jan. 1939)

“No Crime in the Mountains”(Detective Story Magazine, Sept. 1941)

introduction by Philip Durham

1st Pocket edition, December 1965

June 1973 Bantam reissue

cover art by Tom Adams

2011 Penguin UK reissue

July 1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd print

cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie

August 25, 2013

1979 Pan/Macmillan reissue – cover photo by Robert Golden

[post reworked 7/4/25, 3/1/26]

Pickup on Noon Street x 7

1952 Pocket reissue

cover art by Tom Dunn

better image than previously posted

1956 Pocket reissue

cover art by Robert Maguire

1960 Ace edition from the UK

1965 Pocket reissue (7th printing, October of ’65)

better image than previously posted

June 1973 Ballantine reissue*

cover art by Tom Adams

1977 Ballantine mass market, 3rd print*

cover art by Whistlin’ Dixie

1980 Ballantine reissue

cover art credited to Richard Waldrep

“Pickup On Noon Street” (Detective Fiction Weekly, May 1936, originally titled “Noon Street Nemesis”)

“Smart-Aleck Kill” (Black Mask Magazine, July 1934)

“Guns at Cyrano’s” (Black Mask Magazine, Jan. 1936)

“Nevada Gas” (Black Mask Magazine, June 1936)

these stories were first gathered into a book in 1950, Houghton Mifflin’s The Simple Art of Murder

August 25, 2013

[*covers from owner’s own copies]

[updated 6/6/25]

The Case of the Half-Waken Wife x 2

December 1957 Cardinal paperback reissue, first printing

cover painting by Mitchell Hooks

better image than previously posted

1962 Pocket reissue

cover art by Robert McGinnis

The Case of the Long-Legged Model x 4

1958 Morrow hardcover, first edition of the 55th Perry Mason novel

June 1960 Pocket paperback reissue, first printing

cover art by Charles Binger?

better image than previously posted

June 1964 Pocket reissue,  6th printing

cover art by Robert McGinnis

better image than previously posted

1962 Brazilian edition