Parent company | Doubleday |
---|---|
Founded | 1928 |
Country of origin | United States |
Distribution | Worldwide |
Fiction genres | Crime, mystery |
The Crime Club was an imprint of the Doubleday publishing company, which later spawned a 1946-47 anthology radio series, and a 1937-1939 film series.
Many classic and popular works of detective and mystery fiction had their first U.S. editions published via the Crime Club, including all 50 books of The Saint by Leslie Charteris (1928-1983). The imprint also published first editions in Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu series.
The Crime Club began life in 1928 with the publication of The Desert Moon Mystery by Kay Cleaver Strahan, and ceased publication in 1991. In the intervening 63 years, The Crime Club published 2,492 titles.
Stories from this imprint were first dramatized on The Eno Crime Club, a detective series broadcast on CBS from February 9, 1931 to December 21, 1932, sponsored by Eno Effervescent Salts. The Crime Club novels were not adapted for the later Eno Crime Clues, heard on the Blue Network from January 3, 1933 to June 30. 1936.
The Crime Club returned on the Mutual Broadcasting System as a half-hour radio series with adaptations from the Doubleday imprint. Each installment was introduced by the series host, The Librarian, portrayed by Barry Thomson and Raymond Edward Johnson (who was better known as the host of Inner Sanctum Mysteries ). The series began December 2, 1946 and continued until October 16, 1947.
In 1937, Universal Pictures made a deal with Crime Club and were granted the right to select four of their yearly published novels to adapt into films. [1] The unit responsible for these films was producer Irving Starr with former film editor Otis Garrett often directing. [1] Eleven films were made in the series between 1937 and 1939. [2] The first film in the series was The Westland Case , based on the Jonathan Latimer novel Headed for a Hearse . [3]
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn.
Inner Sanctum Mystery, also known as Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster. In all, 526 episodes were broadcast.
A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.
Anthony Berkeley Cox was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts.
Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes, who wrote as Marie Belloc Lowndes, was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc.
Anthony Gilbert, the pen name of Lucy Beatrice Malleson, was an English crime writer who was a cousin of actor-screenwriter Miles Malleson. She also wrote fiction and a 1940 autobiography, Three-a-Penny, as Anne Meredith.
Margaret Lindsay was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in successful films of the 1930s and 1940s such as Baby Face, Jezebel (1938) and Scarlet Street (1945) and her leading roles in lower-budgeted B movie films such as the Ellery Queen series at Columbia in the early 1940s. Critics regard her portrayal of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hepzibah Pyncheon in the 1940 film The House of the Seven Gables as Lindsay's standout career role.
Charles Fulton Oursler was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was an author of mysteries and detective fiction. His son was the journalist and author Will Oursler (1913–1985).
Danger on the Air is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Otis Garrett. The film was based on the novel Death Catches Up with Mr. Kluck by author Xanthippe.
Eric Taylor was an American screenwriter with over fifty titles to his credit. He began writing crime fiction for the pulps before working in Hollywood. He contributed scripts to The Crime Club, Crime Doctor, Dick Tracy, Ellery Queen, and The Whistler series, as well as six Universal monster movies.
In Agatha Christie's mystery novels, several characters cross over different sagas, creating a fictional universe in which most of her stories are set. This article has one table to summarize the novels with characters who occur in other Christie novels; the table is titled Crossovers by Christie. There is brief mention of characters crossing over in adaptations of the novels. Her publications, both novels and short stories, are then listed by main detective, in order of publication. Some stories or novels authorised by the estate of Agatha Christie, using the characters she created, and written long after Agatha Christie died, are included in the lists.
The House of Fear is a 1939 American mystery film directed by Joe May and starring William Gargan, Irene Hervey and Dorothy Arnold. After an actor is killed during the middle of a play the theatre is closed. A year later a young producer re-assembles the cast and re-opens the theatre, intending to the stage the same play performed on the night of the murder.
The Black Doll is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Otis Garrett and starring Donald Woods and Edgar Kennedy. The film was the second in Universal's Crime Club series following The Westland Case.
The Witness Vanishes is a 1939 American mystery film directed by Otis Garrett and starring Edmund Lowe, Wendy Barrie, and Bruce Lester.
Inside Information is a 1939 American mystery film directed by Charles Lamont. The film stars Dick Foran, Harry Carey, and June Lang. It was released on June 2, 1939. During production, the working title of the film was Metropolitan Police.
The Westland Case is a 1937 American mystery film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, and Carol Hughes.
The Last Express is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Otis Garrett and written by Edmund Hartmann. It is based on the 1937 novel The Last Express by Baynard Kendrick. The film stars Kent Taylor, Dorothea Kent, Don Brodie, Paul Hurst, Addison Richards, Greta Granstedt, Robert Emmett Keane and J. Farrell MacDonald. The film was released on October 28, 1938, by Universal Pictures.
The Lady in the Morgue is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Otis Garrett and written by Eric Taylor and Robertson White. It is based on the 1936 novel The Lady in the Morgue by Jonathan Latimer. The film stars Preston Foster, Patricia Ellis, Frank Jenks, Thomas E. Jackson, Wild Bill Elliott, Roland Drew and Barbara Pepper. The film was released on April 22, 1938, by Universal Pictures.
Gambling Ship is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Aubrey Scotto and written by Alex Gottlieb. The film stars Robert Wilcox, Helen Mack, Edward Brophy, Irving Pichel, Joe Sawyer and Selmer Jackson. The film was released on December 16, 1938, by Universal Pictures.
The Last Warning is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and written by Edmund Hartmann. It is based on the 1938 novel The Dead Don't Care by Jonathan Latimer. The film stars Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, Kay Linaker, E. E. Clive, Joyce Compton and Frances Robinson. The film was released on January 6, 1939, by Universal Pictures.