Sun 3 Apr 2022
From Kenneth R. Johnson:
I am hoping to repost my on-line reference book, The Digest Index, this year; to that end I am trying to tie up some loose ends. One minor quandary concerns a short-lived digest imprint called Pennant Mystery. I have one volume, The Six Iron Spiders by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. The back cover ad lists itself and three other titles:
Death out of Thin Air by Stuart Towne
So Much Blood by Bruno Fischer
The Purple Parrot by Clyde B. Clason
I have been absolutely unable to confirm the existence of these three other titles from any secondary sources. They are not listed in the World Catalog or the National Union Catalog. There are no known cover reproductions anywhere and I have not seen any of them offered for sale in the 14 years since I first posted The Digest Index. I am beginning to suspect that these are phantoms, advertised but never actually published.
Does anyone out there actually have one of these, or at least have seen one on the hoof?
April 3rd, 2022 at 3:09 pm
I see that the Taylor book is designated at Pennant Mystery No.2. It would seem likely (but not definitively) that #1 *should* have been published.
April 3rd, 2022 at 3:31 pm
#1 was published, I believe, and was the Clayton Rawson writing as Stuart Towne book. I cannot absolutely verify this but I do recollect that my father had a copy of this as well as this title. And I do believe it was this imprint.
April 3rd, 2022 at 5:37 pm
Thanks, Marcia. This may be the most solid information we have that the first Pennant Mystery may actually exist.
April 3rd, 2022 at 5:08 pm
for Stuart Towne (pseudonym for Clayton Rawson), the following may help:
https://www.jwkbooks.com/pages/books/9869/stuart-towne-clayton-rawson/death-out-of-thin-air
For Bruno Fischer:
according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Fischer
So Much Blood (1939, aka Stairway to Death)
http://what-when-how.com/pulp-fiction-writers/fischer-bruno-pulp-fiction-writer/
https://www.biblio.com/book/stairway-death-much-blood-fischer-bruno/d/1400728611
https://www.amazon.com/Stairway-Death-Vintage-Pyramid-No/dp/B001OG5U68?refinements=p_27%3ABruno+Fischer
For Clyde B. Clason:
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=Clyde+B.+Clason&chips=q%3Aclyde+b+clason%2Conline_chips%3Apurple+parrot
HTH
April 3rd, 2022 at 5:35 pm
All good information about the authors and the books themselves, thanks! Not too much, though, about the elusive Pennant paperback editions of each that Ken is looking for. The hunt goes on.
April 3rd, 2022 at 8:18 pm
You might try to contact Gary Lovisi of PAPERBACK PARADE on Facebook. He might have a line on these.
April 4th, 2022 at 9:17 am
I have been keeping a mystery bibliography for some years now and I have the four books listed as being published by Maco Pennant, but I have not been able to backtrack the source of my information. “Maco” is a word not in your query or the comments, so in the slim chance that this may be a help …
April 4th, 2022 at 10:35 am
Both very helpful suggestions. Thanks!
April 4th, 2022 at 11:34 am
Might the books have been previously published with other titles or with other author names?
April 4th, 2022 at 5:42 pm
Addressing the last questions, MACO was the publisher, Pennant Mystery was the imprint. All four books had been previously published in hardcover under the same titles and bylines. Considering that #2 advertises all four titles, they were presumably intended to be issued as a group and not sequentially. Paper rationing is mentioned inside; it’s possible that their paper allotment was cut at the last minute and they only had enough to print one title.
That’s my beat-up copy that’s displayed by the way, even though it’s credited to Victor Berch in Bookscans. Victor sold me a lot of rare paperbacks very cheaply; giving him credit when I scanned them for Bookscans was a public way to say “thank you.”
April 7th, 2022 at 7:22 am
David’s suggestion that Gary Lovisi be contacted has paid off. He has a copy of the Stuart Towne, #1, and says that the last two were never published.
So ends the hunt, and with a definitive answer. Thanks everyone for all your suggestions!