A paperback book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic.
Charles Ray Willeford III was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and literary criticism. Willeford wrote a series of novels featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. Willeford published steadily from the 1940s on, but vaulted to wider attention with the first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues (1984), which is considered one of its era's most influential works of crime fiction. Film adaptations have been made of four of Willeford's novels: Cockfighter, Miami Blues, The Woman Chaser, and The Burnt Orange Heresy.
They Came to Baghdad is an adventure novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 5 March 1951 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2.50.
The Rose and the Yew Tree is a tragedy novel written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd in November 1948 and in the US by Farrar & Rinehart later in the same year. It is the fourth of six novels Christie published under the pen name Mary Westmacott.
Absent in the Spring is a novel written by Agatha Christie and first published in the United Kingdom by Collins in August 1944 and in the United States by Farrar & Rinehart later in the same year. It was the third of six novels Christie wrote under the pen name Mary Westmacott.
Jason Starr is an American author, comic book writer, and screenwriter from New York City. Starr has written numerous crime fiction novels and thrillers.
Charles K. Williams was an American author of crime fiction. He is regarded by some critics as one of the finest suspense novelists of the 1950s and 1960s. His 1951 debut, the paperback novel Hill Girl, sold more than a million copies. A dozen of his books have been adapted for movies, most popularly Dead Calm and The Hot Spot.
Fer-de-Lance is the first Nero Wolfe detective novel written by Rex Stout, published in 1934 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. The novel appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine under the title "Point of Death". The novel was adapted for the 1936 film Meet Nero Wolfe, and it was named after a venomous snake with the same name. In his seminal 1941 work, Murder for Pleasure, crime fiction historian Howard Haycraft included Fer-de-Lance in his definitive list of the most influential works of mystery fiction.
Mapback is a term used by paperback collectors to refer to the earliest paperback books published by Dell Books, beginning in 1943. The books are known as mapbacks because the back cover of the book contains a map that illustrates the location of the action. Dell books were numbered in series. Mapbacks extend from #5 to at least #550; then maps became less of a fixed feature of the books and disappeared entirely in 1951. The occasional number in the series between #5 and #550 contains no map, but some sort of full-page graphic or text connected with the book's contents.
Murder Twice Told is a collection of two short thrillers by Donald Hamilton.
Gerald Alfred Butler was an English crime, thriller, and pulp writer and screenwriter. He was sometimes referred to as the "English James M. Cain", and his characters were noted as amoral and hardboiled. His novels include the best-seller Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1940), as well as They Cracked Her Glass Slipper (1941), Their Rainbow Had Black Edges (1943), Mad with Much Heart (1945), Slippery Hitch (1948), Choice of Two Women (1951), and his late career come-back There Is a Death, Elizabeth (1972).
Brian Moore's early fiction refers to the seven pulp fiction thrillers, published between 1951 and 1957, that the acclaimed novelist Brian Moore wrote before he achieved success and international recognition with Judith Hearne (1955) and The Feast of Lupercal (1957).
Alphabet Hicks is a mystery novel by American writer Rex Stout, starring his detective, Alphabet Hicks, first published in 1941. Private investigator Alphabet Hicks was the protagonist of one novel and one short story written by Stout.
They Cracked Her Glass Slipper is a 1941 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It was his second novel, published by Jarrolds Publishing. It follows the hardboiled style of his best-selling debut, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands. It is Butler's only novel not to have received an American publication by Farrar & Rinehart or its successor Rinehart & Company.
Slippery Hitch is a 1946-written but 1948-published crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. Published by Jarrolds Publishing on 27 May 1948, it was Butler's fifth novel and is written in the noirish hardboiled style of the era. American editions were published by Rinehart & Company and Dell Publishing.
Mad with Much Heart is a 1945 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It was his fourth novel, and second most popular, after Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1940). The book is written in the noir style popular at the time. The first British hardcover edition was published by Jarrolds Publishing on 28 June 1945. The American hardcover edition was published by Rinehart & Company on 22 August 1946.
There Is a Death, Elizabeth is a 1972 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It was his seventh and final novel, published after a twenty-one-year absence from the literary industry.
Their Rainbow Had Black Edges is a 1943 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It is his third novel and is written in the noir style popular at the time.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is a 1940 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It was his first novel, originally published by Nicholson and Watson in April 1940. It quickly became a best-seller and the author was signed to a multi-book deal with Jarrolds Publishing. By 1945, the novel had sold over 232,000 copies in England alone. It received numerous American editions by such publishers as Farrar & Rinehart, Dell Publishing, and Carroll & Graf Publishers. The book was also translated into several languages, including French and Swedish. By 1960, it had sold in excess of 750,000 copies.
