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.
T.V. Boardman, Ltd. was a London publishing houses that turned out both paperback and hardcover books, pulp magazines, and comic books. Founded by Thomas Volney Boardman in the 1930s, Boardman Books is best known for publishing the long-running monthly series of hardcover Bloodhound Mysteries, most with jacket illustrations by Denis McLoughlin. Boardman's Best American Detective Stories of the Year series is thought by some scholars of the genre to be the best collection of hard-boiled fiction ever published. Boardman published the first British hardcover edition of Robert E. Howard's The Coming of Conan as well as other titles originated by Gnome Press in the United States. Besides mystery, fantasy, and science fiction, Boardman Books published other genres of fiction and nonfiction.
Not Quite Dead Enough is a Nero Wolfe double mystery by Rex Stout published in 1944 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. The volume contains two novellas that first appeared in The American Magazine:
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.
Where There's a Will is the eighth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1940 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was abridged in the May 1940 issue of The American Magazine, titled "Sisters in Trouble." The story's magazine appearance was "reviewed" by the FBI as part of its surveillance of Stout.
Black Orchids is a Nero Wolfe double mystery by Rex Stout published in 1942 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. Stout's first short story collection, the volume is composed of two novellas that had appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine:
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.
"Cordially Invited to Meet Death" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in abridged form as "Invitation to Murder" in the April 1942 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Black Orchids, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1942.
"Black Orchids" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in abridged form as "Death Wears an Orchid" in the August 1941 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Black Orchids, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1942.
"Not Quite Dead Enough" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in abridged form in the December 1942 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form as the first of two novellas in the short-story collection Not Quite Dead Enough, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1944.
"Booby Trap" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the August 1944 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form as the second novella in the short-story collection Not Quite Dead Enough, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1944.
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).
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.
Choice of Two Women is a 1951 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It was his sixth novel and was written in the hardboiled style, at the height of its popularity. It was first published as a hardcover edition in Britain by Jarrolds Publishing on 20 September 1951; Digit Books issued a paperback edition in 1960. In the United States, Rinehart & Company issued the book as a hardcover edition under the alternative title Blow Hot, Blow Cold on 2 July 1951 ; the Dell Publishing paperback edition was also issued under the alternate title in 1953.
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.
