What turned out to be unusual in this grouping of “A” authors taken from Part 23 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, is two incidental pairings of authors with the same name, two with the same year of birth.

ALFRED, WILLIAM. 1922-1999. Add as a new author entry. Longtime professor in medieval studies at Harvard University, specializing in early English literature.
      -Hogan’s Goat. New York City: French, 1965. [Play.] Setting: New York City, 1890. TV movie: PBS, 1971 (scw: William Alfred; dir: Glenn Jordan). “A play in blank verse about the bitter political maneuvering among Irish-Americans in Brooklyn in the late 19th century.”

ALLINGTON, MAYNARD. 1931- . Career US Air Force officer, 1951-76, when he became a writer. Author of three wartime thrillers included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Court of Blue Shadows. Washington: Brassey’s, hc, 1995. Updated setting: Europe, past. “A survivor of the Dachau concentration camp is haunted by his experiences […] as he searches for retribution.” [Reviewed in the New York Times.]

      The Fox in the Field. Washington: Brassey’s, hc, 1994. Setting: India, World War II. “Derek Carr, a gambler and former arms smuggler blackmailed into working for British intelligence.”
      The Grey Wolf. Warner, pb, 1986. [Corrected date.] Setting: Russia, World War II. “A thrilling tale of a British agent and his involvement in a military coup against Stalin, based on actual events in the USSR in 1942.”

ANDERSON, DON. 1931- . Add as a new author entry. BBC national and international television news reporter; left to form his own media, communications and web company in the 1990s.
      Heatshield. Pan, UK, pb, 1990. Setting: Ireland, future. “On a secret mission in the Russian space shuttle, a cosmonaut is forced into a crash landing off the coast of Ireland.”

ANDERSON, DON. 1931- . [Note that though they share the same name and year of birth, this is not the same author as the one above.] Author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Price We Pay… Washington: Ye Galleon Press, hc, 1998. [Corrected spelling of publisher.] Setting: Seattle WA.

ANDERSON, LINDA. 1949- . Add as a new author entry. Member of the English Department of The Open University as Reader in Creative Writing, previously at Lancaster University.
      -To Stay Alive. Bodley Head, UK, hc, 1984. Setting: Belfast, Northern Ireland. “Set in the bleak months before the 1979 Republican hunger strike in Long Kesh prison.” Short listed for the Higham and Sinclair Prizes.

ANDERSON, LINDA (née KIRCHMAN). [Noted here to distinguish her entry from that of the author above.] Add maiden name. Author of two romantic suspense novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Secrets of Sadie Maynard. Pocket, pb, 1999. Setting: West Virginia. [Photojournalist Memphis Maynard returns to her West Virginia hometown to solve the 1936 murder of her grandmother, Sadie Maynard.]

      When Night Falls. Pocket, pb, 2000. Setting: North Carolina. [Former prosecutor Lannie Sullivan in reclusion is stalked by a rapist recently released from jail.]

   It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these “maps in mysteries” posts, since last October, as a matter of fact, unless my records are off. British mystery fan and bookseller Jamie Sturgeon has been saving these for me, patiently waiting till I did something useful. Like get them online, as I’m finally doing now.

   The first comes from an author I’d frankly never heard of until now. I imagine that his books are scarce, too, but Jamie had one for sale last November:

LAURENCE GEOGHEGAN The Brackenbridge Enigma. Methuen, UK, 1929.

   The next two are from books by Herbert Adams, a writer best known for his golfing mysteries:

HERBERT ADAMS The Nineteenth Hole Mystery. Collins, UK, 1939. [Roger Bennion]

HERBERT ADAMS The Body in the Bunker. Collins, UK, 1935. Lippincott, US, 1935. [The map is from the Collins edition, but it may have also appeared in the Lippincott.]

   I don’t suppose many of the authors in this blog entry are going to be familiar to many of you. They certainly weren’t to me, and there wasn’t much I was able to add by searching the Internet. These came from the top end of Part 24 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, speaking alphabetically again, all in the A’s, except where pen names came into play.

   A number of the entries in Part 24 are for authors whose works were published by Major Books, a rather minor paperback company that started up in the late 1970s. They published a wide array of books, though, including fiction in all genres. Of interest to us is their crime fiction, of course, including a number of gothics. Most of their books are rather hard to find today. Getting their wares into sales venues was more than likely their greatest problem.

   The added settings for the Major Books were sent to Al Hubin by Ken Johnson. Dan Roberts provided me with the cover images. Thanks to both!

ADDLEMAN, D. R.
      A Contract on Stone. Major, pb, 1977. Add setting: Los Angeles. “He’d been set up, trained, and programmed; John didn’t know he was also the target!”

ALEXANDER, MARSHA. Pseudonym of Marsha Bourns, 1940- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of romantic fiction, including four gothic or occult paperbacks cited in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Birthmark of Fear. Major, pb, 1976. “There was something evil about the house on Scorpion Crest, but Thea tried to ignore it … until the ‘accidents’ began!”

      The Curtis Wives. Major, pb, 1979.
      House of Shadows. Major, pb, 1977.
      Whispers in the Wind. Major, pb, 1977. Add setting: California. “What was the strange horror that gripped the house when the baby was born…?”

AMES, EDNA. Pseudonym of Andrew J. Collins, q. v. Under this pen name, the author of one gothic romantic suspense novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The House of Secrets. Major, pb, 1976. Add setting: California. “Her brother’s mysterious death brought her back to the lonely beach house … back to the edge of terror!”

ANONYMOUS.
      The Orphan Seamstress: A Narrative of Innocence, Guilt, Mystery, and Crime. New York: Burgess, hc, 72pp, 1850. Setting: New York, New Jersey, 1840s. Add: also contains ss: The Step-Mother [also no author stated]. The book is referred to several times in a doctoral thesis by Paul Joseph Erickson entitled Welcome to Sodom: The Cultural Work of City-Mystery Fiction in Antebellum America. Note: Shown below is a later edition published by Dick & Fitzgerald, no date given, but circa 1860s.

ANTHONY, JED. Pseudonym of Theodore D. Irwin, 1907-1999, q.v.
      _Divorce Racket Girls. Design Publishing, pb, 1951. (Intimate Novels #6.) Previously published as Collusion (Godwin, 1932) as by Theodore D. Irwin. “A bombshell of a true story which blows the lid off a whole foul world and explosively discloses the debauches and treacheries of the divorce racket.”

BOURNS, MARSHA. 1940- . Pseudonym: Marsha Alexander, q.v.

COLLINS, ANDREW J. Pseudonym: Edna Ames, q.v.

IRWIN, THEODORE D. 1907-1999. Add pseudonym: Jed Anthony, q.v. Author of one work of fiction included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, possibly true crime in novelized form. See below. This now constitutes the author’s complete entry.
      Collusion. Godwin, hc, 1932. Add: also published (abridged) as: Divorce Racket Girls (Designs, 1951), as by Jed Anthony. Setting: New York City. Film: Majestic, 1934, as Unknown Blonde (scw: Leonard Field, David Silverstein; dir: Hobart Henley). Delete reference to film previously cited: Age of Indiscretion (MGM, 1935). The lurid cover below is of the Hillman paperback reprint, #18, 1949.

   I’ve been too long away from working on the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, and it felt good to get back. This afternoon I tackled the further end of Part 24, alphabetically speaking. Nothing seems to be known about James Yardley, the second of these two authors. I’ll report back later if more digging turns anything up.

WOLFERT, IRA. 1908-1997. Noted journalist and war correspondent during World War II; received the Pulitizer Prize for The Battle of the Solomons, published in 1943. Author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. The following is now the author’s complete entry.
      Tucker’s People. L. B. Fischer, hc, 1943. Add: Victor Gollancz, UK, hc, 1944. Also published as The Underworld (Bantam, 1950). Add setting: New York City. Film: MGM, 1948, as Force of Evil (scw: Abraham Polonsky, Ira Wolfert; dir: Polonsky). “Based loosely on the rise and fall of Dutch Schultz, the book presented a vivid picture of life among the poor and restless in New York City.” [The movie, starring John Garfield as a crooked lawyer, is considered by many a classic film noir.]

      _The Underworld. Bantam, pb, 1950. See Tucker’s People.

YARDLEY, JAMES. Author of two spy novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below. The leading character in each is Kiss Darling, the “chick with the computer brain and the venus body.”
      A Kiss a Day Keeps the Corpses Away. Michael Joseph, UK, hc, 1971. Signet, US, pb, 1971. Add setting: England. “A madman millionaire […] holds the fate of mankind in a handful of pills.”

      Kiss the Boys and Make Them Die. Michael Joseph, UK, hc, 1970. Signet, US, pb, 1970. “As the rising waters of the Nile build up behind the Aswan Dam, the entrance to a 3000 year old temple of Rameses II is dramatically exposed.”

   Additional installments of the online Addenda to Allen J. Hubin’s Revised Crime Fiction IV don’t usually occur as quickly as this, but I uploaded Part 24 to the website this afternoon.

   A primary source of much of the new data this time came from Kenneth R. Johnson’s new online index of digest paperbacks of the 1940s.

   As Ken says in the first two lines of his introduction, “The digest-sized paperbacks are very much the forgotten step-children of the American paperback revolution. The earliest series predate the advent of Pocket Books by two years. They were published in parallel with the smaller mass-market paperbacks, flourishing even amid the paper rationing of World War II.”

   Later on he states: “The largest genre published was detective fiction (almost 1100 books); western fiction was much less prolific (circa 325 books), and science fiction was marginally on the radar. Almost as prolific as the mysteries was a long-defunct genre called ‘love novels,’ with circa 925 books.”

   If Ken’s bibliography is not complete, it certainly comes close. At present it includes, he says, 2688 books, but he’s very anxious to add any that he’s missed, if you have information about them.

   But as I said up toward the top, from Ken’s index so far, Al Hubin has already discovered pages of information now incorporated into Part 24 of the Revised CFIV Addenda. This consists largely of dates and settings, but many alternate titles as well and a stray pen name or two, previously unknown to Al.

   In Part 21 of the Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV is the following entry, which after I’ve expanded it a little, includes just about all that’s known about either the author or the publisher.

DAY, LULA M(ADELAINE). 1902?-1992?
      The Mystery of the Red Suitcase. Virginia: Hip Books, pb, February 1946. Add setting: Calumet, Indiana. Leading characters: Miss Lula Day, Squire Dunnett & Lt. Inspector Steve Badger. Note: Eleven other titles by this author were announced but none was published; all apparently were to have the same leading characters. [In Chapter One of this book, the man found shot in Miss Day’s garden turns out to be her ex-brother-in-law. Investigating the crime is Lt. Badger. Squire Dunnett is an aged attorney; as it happens, “Squire” is his first name.]

   The book is a regular paperback in size, although perhaps a trifle slimmer than others published in 1946 – thinner paper perhaps, as in all it’s 232 pages long, or in other words, a full-sized novel. This is the only book that Hip Books seems to have published, although as you will soon see, others were definitely in the planning stages. The only address given for Hip is Alexandria, Virginia, not exactly the publishing capital of the US, then or now.

   On the title page it says, under the Hip Books line, that the book was published “under arrangement with Owl Press, Inc.” Sherrie Tellier has followed up on this lead and reports back that “Owl Press is still in existence, but claims not to have any information on this book.”

   Not surprisingly, as it’s my feeling that Owl Press was hired to do the finished product only as an outside job, and they had nothing to do with the book from the editorial end.

   Oh, one more thing, before I get to the author herself, Lula M. Day. There’s nothing on the back cover but general information about Hip Books, and nothing about the story itself. You may have gotten the same impression about name of the company as I did, but no, the tagline for the one-book publishing firm is “They fit your hip.”

   It would seem as though tracking Lula Day down would be easy. How many Lula Day’s could there have been? The answer is another surprise. Lots of them, and believe it or not, she’s not the only Lula M. Day who shows up on Google. The dates as given above are extremely tentative, and come from this lady:

   The book takes place in Indiana, and Ohio is the next state over, making this my choice. Al Hubin has countered with:

   If you were to search online yourself, you’d come up with at least one other Lula M. Day, perhaps two. (It is not clear whether the two I just found are the same person or not.)

   This is all that various researchers, including Victor Berch, have come up with so far. We’ve all come to the same dead ends. Perhaps by posting even these incompleat results, someone will stop by, discover what we’ve found, and tell us more. That’s what we’re hoping.

   I’ve not read the book, but I’ve skimmed through the first couple of chapters, and at glance one and two, the story-telling appears solid enough. There are plenty of other reasons why there there were to be no more books from either Lula Day or Hip Books, but they did have plans, as I alluded to up above.

   What comes after THE END? [At the bottom of page 227.] Steve Badger has just proposed to Lula Day, upon which she “came unglued all at once.”

   And on the next page:

      AND SO THEY WERE MARRIED

      (More About Steve and Lula Badger)

2. “THE MYSTERY OF THE CAT THAT CAME BACK” …

Started on a motor honeymoon to California, McNulty’s wire reached them at Topeka, Kan. The wife of the city’s wealthiest manufacturer had fantastically vanished from her bed in the night; next night her frantic husband similarly disappeared; the third night it was their bachelor son. Was it kidnapping or the supernatural? Reluctantly the Badgers interrupted their wedding-trip. But the night they returned to Calumet to help solve the case, the missing woman’s huge Persian cat reappeared in the house. Lula writes in the first person how the clue of the Cat led to Chicago and Wisconsin and finally cracked the mystery wide open. . . .

3. “THE MYSTERY OF THE TALKING CARPET”

Arrived in Hollywood at the home of Lula’s relatives, Steven becomes embroiled in a different enigma. A waitress in a Drive-In Stand has been summoned home by plane to Arizona. Suddenly the plane veers over the Pacific and the girl is hurled out, falling so peculiarly that she lives to tell the story. Steven becomes interested. Quickly he develops a still greater mystery, involving well-known movie people, which he solves by a ruse of the girl’s bedroom carpet. Another inspirational detective mystery rich in the atmosphere of picturedom.

4. “THE MYSTERY OF THE WALKING SUSPENDERS” . . .

Returned to Calumet and ensconced in their new home in County Downe suburb, a wealthy Irish contractor is discovereddead in his skyscraper office with an arrow in his back and open window behind him. The contractor’s fine son is suspected of the killing. Steven follows the case to a night when rank upon rank of mysterious suspenders are seen “marching” in the darkness across the grounds of a country estate. In one of her most poignant and realistic stories, Miss Day tells the secret of the phenomena and the reconciliation that follows with the son’s wife when Steven – with Squire Dunnett’s aid – proves how the arrow reached the father’s back. , . .

5. “THE MYSTERY OF THE LAUGHING NUGGET” …

An eccentric old bank president is found frozen to death in his home in a town near Calumet. The coroner declares he has not died naturally and county authorities “borrow” Steven’s service. to determine the cause of death, and – if necessary- — apprehend his slayers. Steven and Lula find bloody tracks in an upper room that seem to disappear into a doorless wall. Finally a sizable gold nuggett is located on which is engraved a grinning face, opening an Alaskan chapter in the victim’s. life where the secret of his death is found, Squire Dunnett at his best in this volume. . .

6. “THE MYSTERY OF THE STRAWBERRY BLOUSE” …

An Indiana farmhand, cutting diagonally across a cornfield to catch a bus, notices a peculiar “cornstock” rising ten inches above the soil. Looking closer, he is horrified to recognize it as the hand of a woman. Presently the body of a girl is disinterred from her make-shift grave. Pinned to her “strawberry blouse” is an address in town for police to investigate. When the housewife at the address is summoned to identify the body at the morgue, she stuns authorities by screaming that the dead girl is herself at 23 years old. Furthermore, the dead girl’s clothes are identified as having been worn by the housewife at a party at the age she has indicated. Lula describes how Badger runs up against a wall in this one, but shrewd old Squire Dunnett traces the mystery to Chicago and developes an explanation that makes the case unique …

7. “THE MYSTERY OF THE MOON’S BREAKFAST” …

Six Scot brothers, reputable citizens of Calumet, die off a week apart by mysterious poisoning. With no hidden scandals in their lives that Badger can discover, the safe deposit box of the eldest is opened and a little bag of buttons comes to light, along with vague papers about “the moon’s breakfast.” In the midst of investigation into their deaths, Steven and Lula have a strange and bizarre guest at County Downe, their suburban home – apparently a foreign nobleman – who talks wildly of revolutions. Subsequently this personage is involved in Steve’s and Lula’s abductions while Squire Dunnett drops tragically from sight, and Lula, shut in an abandoned auto factory, almost loses her life. In the end the bag of buttons, the “nobleman” and the abductions, are uniquely tied together – and it isn’t a revolution. One of Miss Day’s best. . . .

8. “THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED COFFEE-CUP” …

Badger’s growing. reputation as a homicide sleuth causes him to be retained by a Chicago millionaire to investigate someone impersonating him back east. Steven and Lula journey to Vermont, find the “millionaire” as purported to have died and been buried the week before, but when the impersonator’s family vault is opened nothing is found within the casket but an old-fashioned moustache cup, with saucer. Convinced it has significance and is not a hoax, Steven follows the trail of the coffee-cup to Philadelphia and Florida, then back to Vermont. The reason the impersonation and the presence of the cup in the casket tie together one of the most poignant stories in the Lula Day series. . . .

IN MISS DAY’S STENOGRAPHIC BOOKS FOR FUTURE PUBLICATION

      “The Mystery of the Flying Elephant”
      “The Mystery of the Spinster’s Bedroom”
      “The Mystery of the Screaming Village”
      “The Mystery of the Thing Against the Moon”

   None of these, as far as can be determined, was ever printed. What would be interesting to discover is whether any or all of them were ever written.

   Another small-sized installment to the Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV this time, uploaded this evening and online now as Part 23.

   Says author Allen J. Hubin:

    “You’ll notice a fair number of titles associated with Ireland, and they came out of my work with Gangsters or Guerrillas? by Patrick Magee (the last reference work I plan to go through).

    “I’m thinking that the bibliographic end is in sight. Maybe after #24 I’ll finish updating my manuscript of the print Revised CFIV and leave all the rest to exist only online. (I’m sure the flow of new and corrected information will continue.)”

   Still working with some “A” authors tonight, alphabetically speaking, as I was a few days ago, but this time from Part 4. One of these authors is rather well-known, but if you are a reader of vintage western fiction, you will recognize the name of another far more readily.

ADAMS, LETA ZOE. 1900-1953. Correction of both dates. [Also see the comment from Victor Berch.] Author of a number of stories for the romance and western pulp magazines in the 1930s and 40s. Of five novels to her credit, two for Young Adults, one is a mystery included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Mirror Murder. Phoenix Press, hc, 1937. Setting: Washington state. Leading characters: Elsa Kent and Sheriff Alex Boone.

ARCHER, JEFFREY (HOWARD)
      -Kane and Abel. TV movie [mini-series]: CBS, 1985 (scw: Robert W. Lenski; dir: Buzz Kulik)
      Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. TV movie: USA, 1990 (scw: Sherman Yellen; dir: Clive Donner). [Archer’s first novel, said to have been inspired by his real-life experience of near-bankruptcy.]

ARRIGHI, MEL. 1933-1986. Born in San Francisco; a professional actor for many years before turning to writing. Author of three plays produced in New York City and 12 novels, nine of which are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. A TV movie was adapted from one; see below.
      Alter Ego. Add TV movie: CBS, 1987, as Murder by the Book (scw: Michael Norell; dir; Mel Damski). Leading character: D. H. ‘Hank’ Mercer/Biff Deegan (Robert Hays). [A writer’s private eye creation appears to him as being real.]

ARTHUR, BUDD. Add: Pseudonym of Herbert Arthur, Jr., 1928- , who may have been born Herbert Arthur Shapiro, Jr. He was the son of western writer Herbert Arthur Shapiro, 1899-1975, who changed his name to Herbert Arthur. Both Burt and Budd Arthur were prolific writers of western fiction; after Budd began writing, they often wrote in collaboration. Confusing the matter of what their names were when is that their original last name was often spelled Shappiro. See Steve Holland’s blog for more information on their careers and a checklist of their western fiction, which sometimes appeared as by Cliff Campbell. There are two entries for Budd Arthur in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, both apparently crime or gangster novels. See below.
      The Big Squeeze. Bouregy (Mystery House), hc, 1956. Phantom, Australia, pb, 1959. Add setting: Midwest; “Rock City.” Leading character: NYC cop David Ware.
      Swiftly to Evil. World Distributors, UK, pb, 1960. Setting: New York City.

AUERBACH, JESSICA (LYNN) (née SCHWARTZ). 1947- . Born in New Jersey; married Joshua Auerback, 1969. Author of four novels, two of which are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Catch Your Breath. Putnam, hc, 1996. Headline, UK, 1996. [A young mother is accused of abusing her chronically ill two-year-old son.]
      Sleep, Baby, Sleep. Putnam, hc, 1994. Headline, UK, 1994. Setting: Connecticut. Add TV movie: ABC, 1995 (scw: John Gray; dir: Armand Mastroianni). [A woman leaves her six-week-old baby girl unattended for five minutes.] Shown is the US paperback edition from Fawcett Crest.

   I spent some time with Part 21 this afternoon, largely in the S’s. There’s a PI series of sorts that Kevin Burton Smith doesn’t know about, yet, but what I also came across Van Siller, a writer with a lengthy career and over 20 books to her credit. There’s very little to be discovered about her on the Internet, and I have the strong feeling that she’s very nearly been forgotten.

FARROW, MICHAEL DAVID. 1944- . Pseudonym: Tommy Sledge, q.v.

HOWE, DORIS KATHLEEN. 1904-1994. Add as a new author entry. Ref: CA. English author of many works of romantic fiction under her own name and as Mary Munro & Kay Stewart. Joint pseudonym with sister Muriel Howe: Newlyn Nash, q.v.

HOWE, MURIEL. Maiden name and working byline of Muriel Howe Smithies, ca.1912-. Add tentative year of birth; also add joint pseudonym with sister Doris Kathleen Howe, 1904-1994: Newlyn Nash, qq.v. As Muriel Howe, the author of two mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Affair at Falconers. Macdonald, UK, hc, 1957.
      Pendragon. Macdonald, UK, hc, 1958.

NASH, NEWLYN. Add as a new author entry. Joint pseudonym of sisters Doris Kathleen Howe, 1904-1994, and Muriel Howe [Muriel Howe Smithies] ca.1912- , qq.v. Under this pen name, the author of two romance novels with strong criminous content.
      The Affair at Claife Manor. John Gresham, UK, hc, 1963. [The disappearance of a woman is invesigated by her brother.]
      Wild Garlic. John Gresham, UK, hc, 1962. Setting: Mediterranean Island.

SILLER, VAN. Pseudonym of Hilda van Siller, 1911-1982, q.v. Under this pen name, an American writer and author of more than 20 crime and mystery novels published between 1943 and 1974, some only in the UK. Series characters: Richard Massey (2 books), Allan Stewart (3 books), and Pete Rector (2 books). Massey appears in her first book (Echo of a Bomb, Doubleday Crime Club, 1943), which was a wartime espionage affair taking place in New York City and Virginia; its cover is shown below.

      The Red Geranium. Hammond, UK, hc, 1966. Delete: not criminous.

SKINNER, MICHAEL. 1924- . Pseudonym: Nicholas Spain, q.v.; other pseudonyms: Alix De Marquand, Cynthia Hyde. Under his own name, the author of three crime thrillers included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. All three were published in the UK by Robert Hale between 1978 and 1983.

SLEDGE, TOMMY. Add as a new author entry. Pseudonym of Michael David Farrow, 1944- , q.v. Occupation, under this name: actor, “standup detective.” Besides his longtime stage routine – sample lines: “I just rolled into town. Boy, do my sides hurt.” – the author of two humorous private eye novels. SC: Tommy Sledge, in both titles. His short radio plays have also aired on stations across the country as Tommy Sledge’s Dime Novel.

      Eat Lead, Clown! Full Court Press, pb, 1987. “This is one gumshoe who’s in over his head – in hilarious hijinks and murderous mirth!”
      Kiss It or Die! Private Shadow Press, pb, 1995.

SMITHIES, MURIEL HOWE. ca.1912- . Working byline: Muriel Howe, q.v.

SPAIN, NICHOLAS. Pseudonym of Michael Skinner, 1924- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of two crime novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      Name Your Vice. Kozy Books, pb, 1963. Delete the dash previously assigned. Add setting: New York City.

      Wine, Women & Bullets. Kozy Books, pb, 1963.

van SILLER, HILDA. 1911-1982. Pseudonym: Van Siller, 1911-1982, q.v.

   In all honesty, only one of these authors was familiar to me before this evening, but now that I’ve met them, all of their books sound interesting. Not that I’m likely to come across the work of one of them, but then again, one never knows. These all came from Part 19, by the way, working at the top of the page, or needn’t I have mentioned that?

ABDOH, SALAR. 1965- . Confirm correct date of birth. Graduate of U. of Calif. and CCNY; born in Iran and living in NYC. Author of one work of fiction included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Poet Game. Picador, pb, 2000. Setting: New York City. [A young agent is sent by a top-secret Iranian government agency to infiltrate a group of Islamic extremists in New York and thwart a terrorist attack.]

ABEL, JOEL S. 1938- . Confirm correct date of birth. Author of one book included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Jonah Game. Curtis, pb, 1973.

ABSHIRE, RICHARD K(YLE). 1945- . Add full middle name and year of birth. A former member of the Dallas Police Department; presently a reporter for The Dallas Morning News’ Garland bureau. Joint pseudonym with William R. Clair: Terry Marlow, q.v. Under his own name, the author of three cases for private eye Jack Kyle; and in collaboration with William R. Clair again, two adventures of a gent named Gants, a private eye whose cases took on supernatural overtones. Abshire also wrote one book in the men’s adventure series Talon Force under the house name Cliff Garnett. A paperback cover of one of the Jack Kyle books is shown below.

ABSINTHE, PERE. Add as a new author’s entry. Pseudonym of George C. Kelly, 1849-1895; other pseudonym: Harold Payne, qq.v.
      Who Shot Chief Hennessy? Street & Smith, 1902. Setting: New Orleans. (Novelized true crime.)

ADAMS, ERIC J. This combines two entries previously listed separately with the bylines now correctly identified. A producer, director, screenwriter, award-winner journalist, and novelist with three crime thrillers included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Birdland [as by Eric Adams]. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1997. Setting: California. “Katie Jacobs travels to Bodega Bay, California, where Hitchcock filmed the movie The Birds, in search of her long-lost brother … [he] has come under the spell of Madame Charay, a wealthy eccentric obsessed with the Master of Suspense.”

      Loss of Innocence. Avon, US, pb, 1991. Setting: Colorado, 1983. [Novelized true crime: Two young girls are murdered by another child, a 13-year-old neighbor boy.]
      Plot Twist [as by Eric Adams]. St. Martin’s, US, pb, 1995. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, 1995. [When the son of a true crime writer is kidnapped, the kidnappers demand the writer’s severed hands as a ransom payment.]

KELLY, GEORGE C. Add pseudonym: Pere Absinthe; other pseudonym: Harold Payne, qq.v.

PAYNE, HAROLD. Pseudonym of George C. Kelly, 1849-1895; add new pseudonym: Pere Absinthe, qq.v. Under this name, the author of one title included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Gilded Fly. Price-McGill Co., hc, 1892. Described as “a political satire” by Publishers Weekly, 28 Jan 1893.