I’ve missed this year’s Winter Solstice by a day, but no matter. This cover gives me the chills every time I look at it. Those of you who live in more temperate climes simply don’t know what you’re missing. (Or you do, and that’s why that’s where you are.)

   Unfortunately, I can’t find any indication of who the artist is who did the cover.

AVON. Paperback original, June 2005.

      From the back cover:

In a historic, if isolated, New England hotel, some of the most respected names in archaeology are coming together to celebrate the work of Julius Garrison, a legend in the field. It’s a conference Emma Fielding is determined to attend — braving a furious winter storm to get there — even though Garrison is no friend to her or her family. And when the honoree’s lifeless body is discovered outside the snow-bound inn, Emma suddenly finds she is a murder suspect, along with a surprising number of the other guests. The bitterness widely spread by a cantankerous old man has had fatal consequences, forcing Emma Fielding to put her archaeological skills to forensic use to uncover the truth. But a strange series of thefts and attacks — and eerie rumors about a ghostly prowler — suggest that truth may be more deadly than Emma imagines.

   I decided to finish up the W’s in Part 9 this morning, which quickly required backtracking and filling in details for two prolific and popular but now relatively forgotten authors, Patricia Matthews and Alan Sewart, along with their various pen names. (Along with, of course, the rest of the W’s.)

BRISCO, PATTY. Pseudonym of Patricia (Anne Klein) Matthews, 1927-2006, q.v. Add death date. Under this pen name, the author of four gothic romantic suspense novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, all in unstated collaboration with her husband, writer Clayton Matthews. One of these is shown below (Avon, pb, 1973).

MATTHEWS, PATRICIA (ANNE KLEIN) (née ERNST). 1927-2006. Add year of death. Pseudonyms: Patty Brisco, Laura Wylie, qq.v. Married Marvin Owen Brisco, 1946, divorced 1961; married writer Clayton Matthews, with whom she often collaborated, 1972. Best known for her historical romance novels, with titles such as Love’s Avenging Heart, beginning in the late 1970s; also a prolific writer of Gothic and romantic suspense novels, with over 15 included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV under her own name and two pen names. Series character Casey Farrel, at least in one book a female member of the Governor of Arizona’s task force on crime, appeared in four books, each in collaboration with Clayton Matthews. The cover image of one is shown below (London & New York: Severn House, 1994).

NASH, PADDER. Pseudonym of Alan Sewart, 1928-1998, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of eight detective novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Published between 1982 and 1986 by Robert Hale in the UK, all eight feature Sgt. Boggis as the primary series character, but that each of them has the word “Grass” in the title indicates the stories are told through the eyes of a professional informer. One of these is shown below (Hale, 1982).

SEWART, ALAN. 1928-1998. Add year of death. At one time Chief Inspector of police in Bolton, Lancashire, UK. Pseudonyms: Padder Nash, Alan Stewart Well, qq.v. Under his own name, the author of 24 detective and thriller mysteries included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Published only in the UK by Robert Hale between 1978 and 1986, the starring character in five of them is Sgt. Harry Chamberlayne, while Chief Superintendent Evans appears in another four. (Neither appears in the novel shown below, Hale, 1979.)

WELL, ALAN STEWART. Pseudonym of Alan Sewart, 1928-1998, q.v. Add year of death. Under this pen name, the author of four mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, all published in the UK by Robert Hale between 1980 and 1984.

WHITE, VALERIE. 1915-1975. Add both dates and the following biographical data: Born in South Africa; trained as a commercial artist; stage and television actress, mostly in England. Author of three mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Case. Arthur Barker, UK, hc, 1954. SC: John Case.
      Case for Treachery. Arthur Barker, UK, hc, 1955. SC: John Case. “A nuclear thriller.”
      Lost Person. William Heinemann, UK, hc, 1957. Add SC: John Case. [The beautiful wife of one of the richest men in the world first disappeared from her hotel in Cannes in 1935.]

WILLIAMSON, GEOFFREY. 1897- . Year of death not known. Author of one marginally crime-related novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      -The Lovable Outlaw. William Heinemann, UK, hc, 1930. Add setting: India.

WISE, ERNIE. 1925-1999. Add year of death. Born Ernest Wiseman, he changed his name when he went into show business at a young age. As a comedian, well known as part of the comedy duo, Morecombe and Wise, considered by Wikipedia as “an institution on British television.” With Eric Morecambe, co-author of one book included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Morecambe & Wise Special. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, UK, hc, 1977, hc. A humor miscellany, including a short Sherlockian parody: “The Whitechapel Murders: A Tale of Sheerluck Holmes and Dr. Wits-end.”

WYLIE, LAURA. Pseudonym of Patricia (Anne Klein) Matthews, 1927-2006, q.v. Add year of death. Under this pen name, the author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Night Visitor. Pinnacle, pb, 1979. Reprinted as by Patricia Matthews, Severn House, 1988. Delete series character: Casey Farrrel does not appear, even though so stated in the CD version of CFIV.

   As I promised a couple of days ago, here’s a small collection of some other paperbacks that Victor Kalin did the artwork for. I’ve admired his paintings for quite a while, but I really don’t know very much about him, other than he was born in 1919.

   There are a couple of websites you could look into, both dealing with the sale of original art, a hobby I regret I never got into. The first is

http://www.askart.com/askart/k/victor_kalin/victor_kalin.aspx

      and the second is

http://new.artnet.com/artist/651160/victor-kalin.html

   Other than the covers he did, that’s about all I know about him. If you know more, please drop me a line.

   And of course, here below are only a small fraction of the covers he did.

   In the limited time I had today to spend working on Part 9 of the Addenda, I was in the W’s, but branched out from there as usual. No big names this time around, but they all wrote crime fiction, in one form or another.

MOREL, DIGHTON. Pseudonym of Kenneth Louis Warner, 1915-1990, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of one title in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV perhaps more science-fictional than crime related. See below.
      -Moonlight Red. Secker & Warburg, UK, hc, 1960. Add the dash. Ned Brooks provided the following description of the book, based on the author’s entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Donald H. Tuck: “An apocalyptic disaster novel in which an epidemic drives everyone mad.”

PALMER, JOHN. Pseudonym of Edgar John Palmer Watts, 1904-1988, q.v. Add year of death. [Note: This is not the John Palmer who with Hilary St. George Saunders wrote under the joint pen name of Francis Beeding.] Under this byline Watts wrote four crime adventure novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below. Series characters Guy Plant and Freya Matthews (P/M) appeared together in two of them.
      Above and Below. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1967. Setting: Ship. (P/M)
      The Caves of Claro. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1964.
      Cretan Cipher. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1965. Setting: Crete.

      So Much for Gennaro. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1968. Setting: Ship. (P/M)

SELWYN. Pseudonym of Selwyn Victor Watson, 1912-1989, q.v. Add both dates. Under this pen name, the author of one mystery novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Operation Ballerina. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1953. A review in Punch begins: “The secret agent. The blonde. The gun. The coincidences. The brutality … ”

WANDER, KEITH W. 1941-2001. Add year of death. Born in Buffalo NY, lived after retirement north of Traverse City MI. Author of two works of Christian fiction, both mysteries included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Add the one marked with an asterisk (*) below.
      Brothers for Life. Illinois: Crossway Books, pb, 1991. Add setting: Michigan (Leelanau County).
      (*) Last Resort. Illinois: Crossway Books, pb, 1990. Setting: Michigan (Leelanau County).

WARNER, KENNETH LOUIS. 1915-1990. Correct spelling of middle name and add year of death. Pseudonym: Dighton Morel, q.v.

WATTS, EDGAR JOHN PALMER. 1904-1988. Add year of death. Pseudonym: John Palmer, q.v.

WATSON, SELWYN VICTOR. 1912-1989. Add both dates. Pseudonym: Selwyn, q.v.

   In the comment he left to my Cover Gallery post for paperback artist Darcy (who turned out to be pulp artist Ernest Chiriacka), Juri Nummelin admitted being a known leg-man.

   Juri, This may not be exactly what you meant, but when I saw this rendition of Nancy Bush’s heroine Jane Kelly, I immediately thought of you.

   The artist is not identified, but in terms of catching a would-be buyer’s eye, or at least mine, the cover is yet another example where simpler is better.

KENSINGTON. Paperback reprint, September 2007; hardcover edition: October 2006. [The same artwork is used on each.]

      From the back cover:

Take today. Jane Kelly, thirtysomething ex-bartender, current process server, and owner of The Binkster, a pug, is dutifully putting in slave-labor hours working for Dwayne Durbin, local “information specialist” (i.e., private investigator), and on the road to becoming a P.I. herself. Next thing she knows, she’s socializing with the Purcells, a rich, eccentric family with a penchant for going crazy and/or dying in spectacularly mysterious ways.

From what Jane can tell, the Purcells all want Orchid Purcell’s money. And when Orchid turns up in a pool of blood, the free-for-all has just begun. Then when Jane finds a second body, it seems weird city is about to get even weirder … and a bit more deadly.

In her second smash outing, Nancy Bush’s wickedly funny heroine, Jane Kelly, proves herself a worthy successor to Stephanie Plum, but with a wit, style, and dog that are definitely all her own.

   I continued to work in Part 9 this afternoon, still in the S’s but getting into the T’s. As you’ll quickly see, this entailed some backtracking to fill in the cross-referencing that developed.

BOUNDS, SYDNEY JAMES. 1920-2006. Add year of death. Pseudonyms: Max Storm, George Sydney, qq.v. Other pseudonyms: Maxwell Chance, V. L. Scott. Born in Brighton, England. An early science fiction fan and writer, he later branched out into other fields: crime novels, westerns, war stories and others. Much of his mystery fiction was written under house names; included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV are nine such novels, the bylines being Brett Diamond, Earl Ellison, Rick Madison, Rex Marlowe, Desmond Reid & Peter Saxon. One of these is shown below: White Mercenary [as by Peter Saxon], Amalgamated Press, UK, pb, 1962. SC: Sexton Blake. [Rewritten by W. Howard Baker.]

KEY, L. J. Pseudonym of Daniel Tamkus, 1934- . Add confirmed year of birth. Under this pen name, the author of one marginal crime-horror novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      -The Spawn. Dell, pb, 1983. [The Royces – a special family, a privileged clan living in a closely guarded enclave, a paradise of wealth and tradition no stranger could penetrate. They thought themselves safe…]

STORM, MAX. Pseudonym of Sydney James Bounds, 1920-2006, q.v. Add year of death. Under this pen name, the author of one paperback original included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Murder Be My Mistress. Badger, UK, pb, 1959. Also published as: The Set-Up, as by J. K. Baxter (Badger, 1962).

SWIFT, FRANCINE MORRIS. 1938-2007. Add both dates. Described as a true Sherlockian, a long-time member of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (“Hatty Doran”); received her investiture in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1994. One short work is included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Hound’s Tale. London: Sherlock Holmes Society, pb, 18 pages, 1992. SC: Sherlock Holmes. [A chapbook offering a “decidedly canine view of the events on Dartmoor.”]

SWIFT, RACHELLE. Pseudonym of Jean Barbara Lumsden, 1916-1998. Add year of death. Under this pen name, author of a number of romance novels; two with mystery content are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The House at Green Bay. Robert Hale, UK, hc, 1969. Setting: New Zealand.
      A Taunt from the Past. Robert Hale, UK, hc, 1970. Setting: Wellington, NZ.

SYDNEY, GEORGE. Pseudonym of Sydney James Bounds, 1920-2006, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of one Sexton Blake novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Countdown for Murder. Amalgamated Press, UK, pb, 1962. SC: Sexton Blake. Note: According to a website devoted to the character, the book was revised by W. Howard Baker & George Paul Mann.

TACK, ALFRED. 1906-1993. Add year of death. Born and lived in London, England. Besides a number of non-fiction books on marketing and business management, Tack was the author of 16 mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Of these books, published between 1946 and 1975, only four have been reprinted in the US. A series character named John Harley appeared in four of his earliest mysteries, including his first, shown below (Herbert Jenkins, 1946). In this book Harley, formerly of the Royal Artillery, is a new salesman for a firm whose managing director has just been murdered.

TALBOT, HAYDEN. 1892- . Add year of birth; date of death unknown. Born in New York NY. Father of Betsy Talbot Blackwell, editor-in-chief of Mademoiselle between 1937 and 1971. A grandson, James Madison Blackwell IV, was on the staff of Newsweek from 1963 to 1985. Playwright and author of one work included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      It Is the Law. Allen & Unwin, UK, hc, 1923. Silent film: Fox, 1924 (scw: Curtis Benton; dir: J. Gordon Edwards). A play by Elmer Rice was earlier based on Talbot’s original story (1922). (The link leads to a full synopsis and review.)

TAMKUS, DANIEL. 1934- . Add confirmed year of birth. Pseudonym: L. J. Key, q.v. Under his own name, author of story or screenwriter for two Hollywood films.

   Yes, in case you were wondering, I do indeed take requests. This one’s from Michael Grost, whose website A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection is one you should visit and revisit often. I know I do.

   Said Mike, in a recent email:

   Steve, Victor Kalin did two different covers for Rinehart’s The Window at the White Cat. One is a sort of pun, in which a house also forms a cat face. The other shows a rainy building. Both are very good. His two covers for The Case of Jennie Brice are also atmospheric.    — Mike

   Victor Kalin is a favorite of mine also. He did ‘dark and gloomy’ very well, which meant he did a lot of covers for the gothics in the 1960s and early 1970s, but from the 1950s on, his work appeared on all kinds of mystery fiction, not to mention the occasional western or SF novel. I’ll set up a Cover Gallery for him in a day or so.

   To see what Mike means about the cover, you won’t if you’re sitting too close to the screen. You may have to move yourself backward, or refocus your eyes, to obtain the full effect. (Or vice versa, as the case may be.)

DELL D411. Paperback reprint: 1st printing, new Dell edition, March 1961. Previous Dell edition #506 [mapback], with many other later reprintings. Hardcover edition: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1910.

      From the back cover:

         Politics and Poker …

that was the occupation and the preoccupation of the members of the White Cat Club.

Once on the inside, a man’s business was his own and nobody gave a damn if he was the mayor of the town or the champion poolplayer of the first ward.

It was a noisy, crowded, masculine kind of retreat, which explained the sign that hung proudly over the door:

         “The White Cat Never Sleeps.”

But murder entered the wakeful chambers of the White Cat and its victims slept the deep, long sleep of the dead.

   You realize, of course, that this includes only a small portion of the Smiths whose entries can be found in Allen J. Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV. These came from Part 9 of the online Addenda to the Revised CFIV.

   The first of these is, so far as I can tell without having actually having read one, a prime candidate for inclusion in Kevin Burton Smith’s online compendium of fictional private eyes, to be found at thrillingdetective.com:

SMITH, CYNTHIA (S.). 1934- . Add confirmed year of birth & middle initial; delete previous reference to CA. Author of books on marriage and business, plus a five book series of adventures of Emma Rhodes, “private resolver” who traveled around the world solving problems of the rich and famous for a $20,000 fee. Results were guaranteed within two weeks or the fee was returned.
      Impolite Society. Berkley, pb, 1997. Setting: Portugal.

      Misleading Ladies. Berkley, pb, 1997. Setting: England.
      Noblesse Oblige. Berkley, pb, 1997. Setting: Brussels.
      Royals and Rogues. Berkley, pb, 1998. Setting: Russia.

      Silver and Guilt. Berkley, pb, 1998. Setting: London.

SMITH, MARY-ANN TIRONE. 1944- . Ref: CA. Born in Hartford CT; married Jere Smith. Author of several novels, including one literary thriller included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      An American Killing. Headline, UK, hc, 1998. Henry Holt, US, hc, 1998. Setting: Washington DC, Rhode Island. [True-crime writer Denise Burke’s research into a new book may be involved with the death of a US Congressman.] Note: FBI agent Penelope “Poppy” Rice, a minor character in this book, reappeared as the primary detective in Love Her Madly (Holt, 2002) and at least one other subsequent book.

SMITH, MICHAEL MARSHALL. 1965- . Ref: CA. Author of science fiction and thriller novels and short stories. Lives in London; his first three novels are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      One of Us. Collins, UK, hc, 1998. Bantam, US, hc, 1998. Setting: Los Angeles, 2017. Publishers Weekly: “Smith’s ear for the nuances of classic hard-boiled narrative is surpassed only by his skill at exceeding expectations for the conventional mystery/suspense tale.”
      Only Forward. Collins, UK, pb, 1994. Bantam, US, pb, 2000. “Futuristic work that features Stark, a tough loner who is hired to find and retrieve a kidnapping victim in his home metropolis.”

      Spares. Collins, UK, hc, 1996. Bantam, US, hc, 1997. Setting: Virginia, future. [A former cop named Jack Randall frees several clones being held prisoner for their body parts.]

SMITH, NAOMI GLADISH. 1935- . Add confirmed year of birth. Born in England to American parents, now lives in Illinois and Florida. Currently the author of Christian fiction; her first book was a gothic romance, a mystery novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Buried Remembrance. Ace, pb, 1976. “She fled the pain-filled memories of love, but Death would not let her forget …”

SMITH, NEVILLE (ROY?). 1940-1998? Add tentative middle name and year of death. British actor and TV screenwriter with one film to his credit; also the author of the novelized version. See below.
      Gumshoe. Fontana, UK, pb, 1971. Ballantine, US, pb, 1972. Setting: Liverpool. Novelization of film: Columbia, 1971 (scw: Neville Smith; dir: Stephen Frears). Leading character: amateur PI Eddie Ginley (Albert Finney). A Time magazine review of the film is available online.

SMITH, WYNNE. 1953- . Add year of birth. Author of a regency romance novel sufficiently criminous to be included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Rushmoreland Rubies. Pageant, pb, 1988. Setting: England, 1800s. Published as Regency Romantic Intrigue Series, Book 1. [Lady seeking the rubies disguises herself as a housemaid in the home of the man who inherited them after the mysterious deaths of two heirs.]

   After spending the afternoon scraping a quarter inch of ice off my driveway, I decided that less strenuous activity was the order of the remainder of the day. More from Part 9 follows, mostly in the S’s.

RYTON, ROYCE (THOMAS CARLISLE). 1924- . Add both middle names. Noted playwright with one criminous drama included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Unvarnished Truth. London: French, pb, 1978. [3-act play, a comedy-farce: A row between a married couple leaves the woman dead.]

SANCTON, THOMAS [SR.]. 1915- . Add as a new author entry. Born in the Panama Canal Zone. Managing editor of The New Republic in 1943; wrote extensively on race and the South while with the magazine and later as Washington editor of The Nation. Currently at work in New Orleans on a memoir of his early involvement in civil rights movement. Father of Thomas A. Sancton, jazz clarinetist & former Paris bureau chief for Time magazine.
      -Count Roller Skates. Doubleday, 1956. Setting: New Orleans. Reprinted as The Magnificent Rascal, Crest, pb, 1958. From a Time magazine review: “… camera-eye reporting on jazz joints, brothels and the irrecoverable sights and sounds of New Orleans before World War I.”

      _The Magnificent Rascal. See: Count Roller Skates (Doubleday, 1956).

SANDERS, ELSIE H(ELEN?). 1919?-1994? Tentatively add middle name and both dates. Author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Kenya Nights. Grayson & Grayson, UK, hc, 1944. Setting: Kenya. “… novel of romance, jealousy, attacks by leopards & mad natives …”

SARMIENTO, DOROTHY. 1908-1995. Add both dates. Author of one mystery novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below:
      Roles and Relations. Chapman & Hall, UK, hc, 1956. Setting: England. “… a murder story set in a country house where a group of psychiatrists are meeting.”

SAVI, E(THEL) W(INIFRED) née BRYNING. 1865-1954. [Slightly revised biography.] Mother of Gerald B. Savi, q.v. Born in Calcutta; privately educated. Married John Savi in 1884 and lived in rural India until 1896. Settled in England, 1909, when she began to write. One of her many romantic novels is marginally criminous and is included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      -The Devil Drives. Putnam, UK, hc, 1921. Putnam, US, hc, 1922. Setting: India.

SAVI, GERALD B(ARTON). Son of novelist E(thel) W(inifred) Savi, q.v. Spent ten years in an official capacity in Burma and author of a number of novels set there; many are criminous, at least marginally. Five are included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, including the first cited below; add the one indicated with an asterisk (*).
      -Alive or Dead. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1938. Add setting: Burma.

      (*) The White Pig. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hc, 1937. Setting: Burma. “… a thriller concerned with government officials in Naga country and the Burmese jungles.”

   It was Dan Roberts who identified the cover artist for the Philip Race book a couple of posts ago, thanks to the timely assistance of Graham Holroyd’s Paperback Prices and Checklist.

   Darcy is the name, and at the moment it’s the only part of his (or her) name that I know. Here are a few other covers in the artist’s portfolio: