I’m not exactly sure why I’m attracted to this cover. Sometimes perhaps simpler is best. The cover design is attributed to Michael Accordino. Google suggests that he was the art director at Simon & Schuster at the time.

POCKET. Paperback reprint, November 1999. Hardcover first edition: Simon & Schuster, May 1998. The same cover design was used for each.

      From the back cover:

   Attorney Willa Jansson has finally managed to unload some of her sixties baggage, but her rebellious mother can’t seem to mellow out. When Mom heads for Cuba with a band of graying “brigadistas” Willa figures it’s just a pilgrimage to lefty Graceland. But then the rest of the group returns without her mother, and Willa fears the worst. Risking disbarment for “trading with the enemy” she rushes to the rescue — and discovers that her mother may have finally gotten into more trouble than she can get herself out of.

   In a deadly game of cat and mouse, Willa follows her mother’s path from Havana to Mexico City, from California back to Havana, getting manipulated, misled, and nearly arrested along the way. Soon she finds two angry governments, at least one ruthless killer, and her old flame, Lieutenant Surgelato, are hot on her trail. Racing against time, Willa realizes that, much more than politics and police work, it is intuition that will help her find her mother — and those things that only a daughter knows.

   I was working on Part 21 this afternoon, the books falling into a wide range of categories. Note the cover by Robert McGinnis on one of Hard Case Crime’s most recent offerings.

KUHN, GEORGE ROBERT. Born and educated in Columbus, Ohio. Indicate that his full name is used on his collection of short stories already included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. Add SC: Joe John Jameson = JJ. [A private detective based in Newark NJ, but whose cases take him all over the world.]
      Comic Tragedy. Vantage, hc, 1967. Add: Story collection, all with JJ (contents below).

         The Cat Burglar’s Friend and The Joneses
         The Gangster and the Girl
         The Haunted House
         The Invisible Man of Ohio
         Mr. Cartridge’s Deal
         One Man’s Town
         The Reform School Boy
         The Town Drunk Rebuilt

KURTZ, SYLVIE (LANGLOIS). 1960- . Add full middle name and year of birth. Author of many romance novels, many having criminous components. Add the one indicated with a (*) below. This is now the complete entry for her in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      Blackmailed Bride. Harlequin, pb, 2000. Setting: New Hampshire. “Dr. Jonas Shades needed someone to play his wife … with time running short, he had no choice but to blackmail his bride…”

      -Broken Wings. Leisure, pb, 1996. Setting: Texas. [Time-travel romance: pilot from the present returns to the past to help a woman fulfill her murdered fiancé’s dream. ]
      One Texas Night. Harlequin, US, pb, 1998; Silhouette, UK, pb, 2000. Add setting: “In the midst of a Texas thunder storm, Melinda Amery witnesses her neighbor’s murder and … wakes up in a jail cell, her memory fractured…”
      * -Silver Shadows. Leisure, pb, 1997. “… all the elements that readers of romantic suspense desire: suspense, romance, a brooding hero, a forceful heroine, and a figure of unbearable evil to be destroyed.”

KYLE, ROBERT. Pseudonym of Robert Terrall, 1914- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of nine mystery & detective novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, all published as Dell paperback originals between 1954 and 1964. Private eye Ben Gates appeared in five of them, including the one below.
      Kill Now, Pay Later. Dell, pb, 1960. Mayflower, UK, pb, 1965. SC: PI Ben Gates. Add: Also published as by Robert Terrall, q.v: Hard Case, pb, 2007.

TERRALL, ROBERT. 1914- . Pseudonyms: Robert Kyle, q.v., John Gonzales. Under his own name, the author of four novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. As Kyle, nine additional; and as Gonzales, five more. When Davis Dresser stopped writing Mike Shayne novels under his “Brett Halliday” byline, Terrall took over in part and wrote another 25 of them, mostly as Dell paperback originals.
      Kill Now, Pay Later. Hard Case Crime, pb, 2007. Previously published as by Robert Kyle. SC: PI Ben Gates. “Gates takes a job guarding the presents at a ritzy upper-class wedding.”

   Carl Buchanan has come up before on this blog, in particular in this post made last January. At the time it had just been discovered that “Carl Buchanan” was the pen name of James Robert Peery, a fact which produced a flurry of activity, including a list of the stories he’d done for the detective pulp magazines.

   I won’t reproduce the list of his short fiction here — you can follow the link above for that — but here now is the revised entry for Buchanan as it presently exists in Part 9 of the online Addenda for the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:

BUCHANAN, CARL. Pseudonym of James Robert Peery, 1900-1954, q.v. Born in Mississippi; served in U.S. Army’s Signal and Intelligence Divisions in WWI; worked in banking and cotton before settling into journalism; published two mainstream novels under his real name. Under this pen name, the author of a number of short stories for the US detective pulp magazines and three crime novels published in the UK, included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Black Cloak Murders. Pearson, UK, hc, 1936. Setting: North Carolina.

      Night of Horror. Mellifont, UK, pb, 1939.
      The Red Scorpion. Mellifont, UK, pb, 1939.

[UPDATE] A week or so ago, I received an email from Suzanne Peery Schutt, who has agreed to allow me to share it with you. She says:

    “My sister-in-law sent me your web site, and I just wanted you to know that I am the daughter of James (Jim) Peery. He was a brilliant man who died at age 54. His two novels are Stark Summer, 1939, and God Rides A Gale, 1940. These were the war years and it was difficult making a living as a writer, so he moved to Jackson from Eupora, working as news editor of radio station WJDX and was Mississippi correspondent for United Press.

    “He died of a thrombosis way too soon, at age 54. I was a junior in college. I cherish my memories: I never had to look up a word in the dictionary as he knew them all. I have no copies of the pulp magazine stories; I was just a child but remember him at the typewriter in the parlor of the family home in Eupora. It was built in 1908 and is still standing despite damage from Katrina. The family who owns it now has renovated it and I go back at least 3 times a year to see it and remember my wonderful heritage.

    “Daddy was married to his childhood sweetheart, Sudie Leigh, and my mother. Mother was a school teacher and superintendent of education for Webster County. For a time, she supported the family so that Daddy could write his two novels.

    “I live in Clinton, am married to Wallis Schutt, an engineer, and we have three grown children. I am an avid reader and quilt maker.”

            Best regards,

              Suzanne Peery Schutt

[UPDATE #2] 12-11-07. In the interest in keeping this entry on Mr. Peery complete, here are the combined listings of his pulp stories written as Carl Buchanan, as far as Victor Berch and I have been able to determine them, taken in part from The FictionMags Index:

BUCHANAN, CARL

   Victor adds “There is one other [detective] tale under the name Robert Peery, who, I assume, is our man.”

   To which I agree, and although it is has not yet been confirmed that Robert Peery is indeed James Robert Peery, here again from The FictionMags index are the following:

PEERY, ROBERT

   In addition, James Robert Peery had a letter published in the July 1939 issue of Clues, which neither Victor nor I have seen. If anyone has a copy of the magazine, we’d love to know what he had to say.

   Working in Part 5 this afternoon, I annotated the tail end of this portion of the Addenda. I imagine it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. If you have know anything about any of these authors that’s not said here and should be, please let me know.

   We probably haven’t found all of Dick Wordley’s early crime fiction, for example. The one just added came from a purchase on eBay I recently made. Nor do I know anything about Maurice Worth and the sleuth in all three of his books, Derek Haring. Tell me more, if you can.

WORDLEY, DICK. 1923-1995. Add both dates. Australian writer with five known crime novels; he also wrote non-fiction: history, sport, travel and psychology. A crusading journalist for abducted children, his account of a child taken from Australia to Greece by its father, Cathy’s Child was made into a film in the 1970s. Below is the author’s current entry in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, adding the one indicated with a (*).
      Death is a Trotter. Australia: Invincible, pb, ca.1949. Add setting: Australia.
      Jig for the Hangman. Australia: Invincible, pb, ca.1962. Add setting: Tasmania.

      Murder Doesn’t Miss Much. Australia: Invincible, pb, n.d.
      Murder Got Married. Australia: Invincible, pb, ca.1950.
      * Murder Is a Handicap. Australia: Invincible, pb, n.d. Setting: Australia.

WORTH, MAURICE. Joint pseudonym of Maurice Henry B. Mash, 1882- , q.v. & Willan George Bosworth. Add year of birth to the former. Under this pen name, the author of thee mystery novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below. Series character: DH = Derek Haring. Setting in all three books: England.
      The Golden Pheasant Mystery. Hutchinson, UK, hc, 1927. DH
      The Pagoda Mystery. Hutchinson, UK, hc, 1928. DH
      The Plaza Mystery. Hutchinson, UK, hc, 1928. DH

YELDHAM, PETER. 1927- . Radio, TV, stage and film writer in Australia; TV producer. Author of one published play and three mystery paperbacks included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. One of the latter is cited below.
      Without Warning. Sydney, Australia: Pan, pb, 1995. Add setting: Sydney.

YORK, ANDREW. Pseudonym of Christopher Nicole, 1930- . Under this pen name, the author of 18 mystery thrillers included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, some of them reprinted in the US under Nicole’s own byline. Jonas Wilde, who appears in the book cited below, is a British agent whose “business is death.” He appeared in nine titles, all between 1966 and 1975.
      The Dominator. Hutchinson, UK, hc, 1969. Add setting: Copenhagen, Stockholm.

YOSHIMURA, AKIRA. 1927-2006. Add year of death. Prize-winning Japanese author of twenty novels and collections of short stories, one of which is included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      On Parole. Harcourt Brace, US, hc, 2000. Setting: Tokyo. Translation from the Japanese. [A man convicted of killing his wife is paroled from prison after 15 years.]

   The artist signed his name to this cover, but only the top half of the lettering shows. It’s along the bottom edge, over to the right. If someone has a copy of the hardcover edition, the artwork is the same, and the signature is intact. I like the fine line work, and the coloring.

FAWCETT CREST Paperback reprint, October 1990. Hardcover edition: Fawcett/Columbine, September 1989. Both publishing imprints were part of Ballantine at the time. First edition: Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hardcover, 1989.

      From the back cover:

   France’s most prestigious restaurant directory, Le Guide, has pressed culinary expert Monsieur Pamplemousse into delectable service. His mission: create a dining extravaganza for the maiden voyage of a luxury dirigible carrying the French and British heads of state.

   But Monsieur Pamplemousse senses disaster even before leaving the ground. First his car is run off the road by a van full of nuns, then a local circus performer and new-found friend, Yasmin, suffers a terrible “accident” on the trapeze.

   All is certainly not well, but Monsieur Pamplemousse suspects the mystery and misfortune will soon lift — abound the celebrity blimp!

    “The funny, exciting mystery will delight readers who may weep with envy of the feasts that are ordinary fare for M. Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites.”
      PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

   Cover art by F. Accanero. A quick search on Google brings up a handful of other paperbacks he did the cover art for, mostly as Franco Accanero, but once again, no website.

WARNER paperback original; 1st printing, September 1975.

      From the back cover:

But there was far more to the story than was ever told. Two of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger, played pivotal roles in the historic happenings. Here are the facts, never before revealed, of the confrontation: two of the most remarkable intellects the Earth ever produced pitted against beings intelligent enough to conquer space. Read now —

[A PERSONAL NOTE] The cover’s really only OK. Leaving off the Holmesian pipe and cap, it’s a fairly generic sci-fi cover and to my mind, not particularly eye-catching.

   There is a reason why I’m posting it here, and you can believe the story or not, as you wish, but it is true.

   I don’t always remember where or when I bought a particular book I have in my collection, but sometimes I do, and I’m sure it’s the same way with you. And I certainly do in this case, and here’s why.

   My daughter Sarah and her husband Mark had been living in Illinois for only a year, no more than two, as I recall — Charleston, in fact, if you’d like to look them up — and to entice me to visit, besides of course the obvious, Sarah mentioned that there was going to be a library sale somewhere in St. Louis where, it was said, they were going to be offering a million books. (I may have the number wrong. Maybe it was only half a million.)

   So of course I went. I saw the sights in Charleston (other than Sarah’s school, it didn’t take long) and in Champaign-Urbana, where Mark works (that took a little longer), and we checked out all of the bookstores anywhere in between.

   Came Saturday, we all got up early and drove the couple of hours over to St. Louis. There were lots of books, but the sale was rather disappointing. Maybe if I didn’t have to mail back anything I found, I would have bought more, but I don’t think I spent over $60 or $70. This is for paperbacks at 50 cents each, so it was a sizable amount, but I didn’t buy nearly as many books as I’d expected. (I’ve spent as much as $200 at some sales.)

   Anyway, this book by the Wellmans (father and son — in fact, Wade Wellman is actually Manly Wade Wellman, Jr.) was one of the books. So I know exactly where I bought this book and how much I paid for it.

   Well, here now comes the part that you’re not going to believe, and I wouldn’t either, except I was there. I opened the book up to glance through it, to see if it was worth keeping — the condition’s not entirely the best, as you can see — and inside was a bookplate.

   My head spun for a moment, I collected my thoughts and looked again. If I could carry a tune, I suppose I could have heard the theme for the Twilight Zone. The book was not mine — I hadn’t paid for it — and it never had been. I’d never seen it before in my life.

   I solemnly swear that the above story and final statement is true.

            Signed on this date, December 6th, 2007.

                      Steve Lewis

   Cover artist identified as Cliff Miller, a commercial artist who’s done hundreds of paperback covers (mysteries, science fiction, Nancy Drew), but so far I haven’t been able to find a website for him.

BANTAM paperback reprint, April 1990. Hardcover edition: Charles Scribner’s Sons, February 1989. [Fourth in the Leo Haggerty series.]

      From the back cover:

“A SIZZLER.”    — Publishers Weekly
             ———
         SWEET JANE vs. THE BAD GUYS

   Escorting a young rock singer from the airport to his Washington hotel and guarding the door of her penthouse for the night sounds like a piece of cake to Detective Leo Haggerty. Sure, Jane Doe of the Pleasure Principle has gotten some death threats, but what celebrity hasn’t? To Leo, this small job sounds like sweet financial gain with a minimum of pain — and Jane’s real easy on the eyes.

   The headstrong songwriter does have some real enemies, though. For starters, the guys in her bad are furious that she won’t sell out and sign a major-label contract with them — but that’s no reason to kill somebody, is it? When the cushy job explodes into violence, Leo has to put his life on the line — or Jane might make the hit list before she even puts an album out.

         THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE
             ———

“The Things We Do for Love is a credit to … the hard-boiled private eye tradition. The prose is lean .. .with colorful touches along the way.”     — The Philadelphia Inquirer.

   Beginning work on Part 21 yesterday, I found myself annotating the entries for a number of authors known primarily for their romance fiction. One large subcategory of romance fiction is known as “romantic suspense.” There wouldn’t be a name for it if it didn’t exist, as you will see below:

BAHNSEN, KIMBERLY JEANNE. 1956- . Pseudonym: Kylie Brant, q.v.

BARTON, BEVERLY. Pseudonym of Beverly Beaver, q.v. Born in Alabama. Under this pen name, the author of many romance novels, some having criminous components. Add the one indicated with a (*) below. This is now her complete entry in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      After Dark. Zebra, US, pb, 2000. Zebra, UK, pb, 2001. Setting: Alabama. [A book in the author’s “The Protectors” series.]
      * Her Secret Weapon. Silhouette, pb, 2000. [Book Four in the “A Year of Loving Dangerously” series.]

      A Man Like Morgan Kane. Silhouette, US, pb, 1997. Silhouette, UK, pb, 1999. Setting: Birmingham AL. [A book in the author’s “The Protectors” series.]

BEAVER, BEVERLY. Pseudonym: Beverly Barton, q.v.

BRANT, KYLIE. Pseudonym of Kimberly Jeanne Bahnsen, 1956- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of many series romances, many having criminous elements. Add the ones indicated with a (*) below. This is now the complete entry for the author in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      * Bringing Benjy Home. Silhouette, pb, 1997. Setting: Arkansas, Virginia, California.
      Falling Hard and Fast. Silhouette, pb, 1999. Setting: Louisiana. [Sheriff Cage Gauthier has an unresolved murder on his hands in the sultry town of Charity LA.]

      Guarding Raine. Silhouette, US/UK, pb, 1996. Setting: California.
      * An Irresistible Man. Silhouette, pb, 1995. Setting: Philadelphia.
      * McLain’s Law. Silhouette, pb, 1993. Setting: Philadelphia. [Detective Connor McLain is skeptical when Michele Easton claims she’s had dreams about kidnapped children.]
      * Undercover Bride. Silhouette, pb, 2000. Setting: Idaho. [Book 2 in the “A Year of Loving Dangerously” series: SPEAR agent Rachel Grunwald is assigned to infiltrate the Brotherhood of Blood compound.]
      * Undercover Lover. Silhouette, pb, 1998. Setting: Miami. [Undercover agent tackles a gang of smugglers.]

CLARE, CATHRYN. Pseudonym of Cathy Stanton, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of series romances, some having criminous elements. Add the one indicated with a (*) below. This is now the complete entry for her in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      The Baby Assignment. Silhouette, 1996 [Texas] [Woman and child on the run from danger with an FBI agent for protection.]
      -Blind Justice. Silhouette, pb, 1989.
      The Honeymoon Assignment. Silhouette, pb, 1996. Setting: Texas.
      The Wedding Assignment. Silhouette, pb, 1996. Add setting: Texas. [Former DEA agent kidnaps a bride-to-be about to make a dangerous mistake.]

MAGNER, (ELLEN) LEE. Full married name: Ellen Lee Magner Tatara, 1947-2002, q.v. Confirm both dates. Author of series romances, some having criminous elements. Add the one indicated with a (*) below. This is now the author’s complete entry in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      Dangerous. Silhouette, pb, 1996.
      * Owen’s Touch. Silhouette, pb, 1998. Setting: West Virginia. [A woman with amnesia may be on the run from a killer.]

STANTON, CATHY. Pseudonym: Cathyrn Clare, q.v. Born in Canada, moved to US when she married an American citizen.

TATARA, ELLEN LEE MAGNER. 1947-2002. Confirm both dates. Used a shortened form of her full married name, Lee Magner, q.v., as a pseudonym.

Cover artist: Edward Gorey.

DELL. Paperback reprint: July 2001. Hardcover First Edition: Delacorte Press, July 2000. [The same artwork was used on both.] Published posthumously.

      From the back cover:

Julia Larwood’s Aunt Regina needs help. She and two friends pooled their modest resources and invested in equities. Now the tax man demands his due, but they’ve already spent the money. How can they dig themselves out of the tax hole? Even more to the point: Can the sin of capital gains trigger corporeal loss?

That’s one for the sibyl, psychic counselor Isabella del Comino, who has offended Aunt Regina and her friends by moving into the rectory, plowed under a cherished garden, and establishing an aviary of ravens. When Isabella is found dead, all clues point to death by financial misadventure.

So Julia calls in an old friend and Oxford fellow, Professor Hilary Tamar, to follow a money trail that connects Aunt Regina and her friends to what appears to be capital fraud — and capital crime. The two women couldn’t have a better champion than the erudite Hilary, as once again Sarah Caudwell sweeps us into the scene of the crime, leaving us to ponder the greatest mystery of them all: Hilary, him — or her — self.

   No cover artist this time, as you can see. If the object of a paperback cover is to attract potential buyers, this one should have. The strategy may not have worked, though. There are only 12 copies offered for sale on ABE, suggesting not many were sold in the first place. (Or perhaps anyone who has a copy is keeping it.)

PINNACLE paperback original; 1st printing, April 1976.

      From the front cover:

A gold artifact from the sixth century, a treasure of the Czars. Many had died for it, and the killing continues …

      From the back cover:

    “Like so many of the Scythian tombs; it had already been robbed, perhaps centuries before. But then a secret compartment was discovered. In it was a single artifact, a sold gold stag nearly two feet long and twelve inches high. It was resting on an iron shield which covered the bones of one of the chieftains. The stag was in a prone position with its forepaws folded under and a long golden mane flowing back from its antlers to its tail. Its design and concept are so close to the abstract forms of today that one can hardly believe it was created twenty-five hundred years ago. In terms of value, there is no way to put a price tag on it. Except for a few precious gems, it is probably the most valuable piece of its kind in the world today…”

    Devlin looked at Irina, drank in her exquisitely beautiful face, a figure that put his blood on fire, and wondered why she was so eager to tell him this Russian fairy tale. Especially now, after he was suspected of killing a French diplomat. Even that unfortunate event could be traced to his first meeting with Irina. A most innocent meeting.

    Now it would be different. Their eyes spoke a language that was anything but innocent. The strong, heady aroma of cognac — and Irina — decided it all.

    Tomorrow he would see about that finding that goddamn stag…

[COMMENTS] In case you were wondering, and are old enough to wonder, yes, Basil Heatter is the son of Gabriel Heatter, the well-known radio commentator for the Mutual Broadcasting System during World War II, and on through the 1950s.

   And Tim Devlin, the primary protagonist of The Golden Stag, is a series character. He also appeared in Devlin’s Triangle, Pinnacle, 1976. He’s the head of Devlin Underwriters, a “small but highly respected marine insurance firm.”