Just so that you know that not all of the books in my basements are gothics, here are a few that I unboxed this past weekend coming from the other side of the crime fiction spectrum. These entries as I’ve annotated and expanded them will appear in Part 25 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV.

BARCLAY, JOHN. Pseudonym of Jack Matcha, 1919- 2003, q.v.; other pseudonym John Tanner, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of one novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      Ask for Lois. Monarch, pb, 1962. Add setting: Hollywood CA.

DAVIDSON, JOHN. Pseudonym of Charles Nuetzel, 1934- .
      Delete: Blues for a Dead Lover. (Uptown, pb, 1962.) No crime content. [A jazz musician goes on a book-long binge when his girl friend dies in a plane accident.]

FRITCH, CHARLES E(DWARD). 1927- . Add pseudonym Eric Thomas, q.v. For many years editor of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, beginning in 1979. Under his own name, a science fiction writer and the author of one private eye novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      _Negative of a Murder. Sydney, Australia: Phantom, pb, 1960. See: Negative of a Nude (Ace 1959).
      Negative of a Nude. Ace, pb, 1959. Australian title: Negative of a Murder (Phantom, 1960). Setting: Los Angeles, CA. Add series character: Hollywood private eye Mark Wonder. Rewritten as Strip for Murder, by Eric Thomas (Kozy, 1960). Says James Reasoner on his blog: “Mark Wonder […] is hired to recover some blackmail photos.”

MATCHA, JACK (B.) 1919-2003. Pseudonyms: John Barclay, John Tanner, qq.v. Born in New York City; degrees from Columbia (1942) and USC (1959). A reporter with the Baltimore Sun; playwright and TV writer in the 1970s. Taught at Los Angeles Southwest College circa 1978. Under his own name the author of one crime novel included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV.
      Prowler in the Night. Gold Medal, US, pb, 1959. Digit, UK, pb, 1959. Setting: Los Angeles, CA.

MERRICK, GORDON. 1916-1988. Actor from 1938-41; journalist from 1941-44, with the Washington Star, Baltimore Evening Sun, and New York Post. Beginning in 1947, the author of 14 novels, including three cited in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, one marginally; to this list add the one below:
      The Strumpet Wind. William Morrow, hc, 1947. Reprinted as The Night and the Naked, (Pop. Library, 1952). Setting: France, 1944. [Espionage novel and love story “told against the turmoil of occupied France during the Second World War.”]
      _The Night and the Naked. Popular Library, pb, 1952. See: The Strumpet Wind (Morrow, 1947).

NORTON, (FRANK ROWLAND) BROWNING. 1909-1989. Born in Ohio; reporter and editor for the Youngstown Vindicator, 1941-1959. Professor of journalism, Ohio State University, 1959-71. Short story writer and co-author of one mystery novel previously included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV. To this add the title marked with an asterisk below.
      I Prefer Murder (with Charles A. Landolf). Graphic, pb, 1956. Phantom, Sydney, Australia, pb, 1957.
      * Tidal Wave, Ace, pb, 1960. Setting unknown: “Lake Iroquois.” [A man investigates the death of his brother by drowning.]

TANNER, JOHN. Pseudonym of Jack Matcha, 1919-2003, q.v. Other pseudonym: John Barclay, q.v. Under this pen name the author of two books included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV, , the first one of which is to be deleted:
      Delete: Gambler’s Girl. Athena, pb, 1961.   [The book is a western.]
      The Killer Came Naked. Brandon House, pb, 1974.

THOMAS, ERIC. Add: pseudonym of Charles E. Fritch, 1927- , q.v. Under this pen name, the author of two novels included in the (Revised) Crime Fiction IV; see below:
      Psycho Sinner. Athena, pb, 1961. Add series character: Hollywood private eye Mark Wonder. Says James Reasoner on his blog: “Mark Wonder is hired by beautiful starlet Silvi McClair to find out who’s trying to kill her.”
      Strip for Murder. Kozy Books, pb, 1960. Add setting: Los Angeles, CA. Leading character: private eye Christopher Sly. [Sly is hired by a stripper to recover some photos she’d posed for.] According to James Reasoner on his blog, this book is “a very loose rewrite of Negative of a Nude” (Ace, 1959), written under the author’s own name.

WALTERS, HANK. Add as a new author’s entry.
            Hood’s Mistress. Novel Books, pb, 1961.
            Lucky Rape. Novel Books, pb,1960. Setting: Maine. [Tough noirish novel about hoodlums, bank robbery, rape and other assorted criminal activity.]