Robert Albert Bloch was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small amount of science fiction. His writing career lasted 60 years, including more than 30 years in television and film. He began his professional writing career immediately after graduation from high school, aged 17. Best known as the writer of Psycho (1959), the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock, Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft, who was the first to seriously encourage his talent. However, while he started emulating Lovecraft and his brand of cosmic horror, he later specialized in crime and horror stories working with a more psychological approach.
Eleanor Alice Hibbert was an English writer of historical romances. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty and the three volumes of her history of the Spanish Inquisition, Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. She also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under pseudonyms Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.
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.
Hans Hellmut Kirst was a German novelist and the author of 46 books, many of which were translated into English. Kirst is best remembered as the creator of the "Gunner Asch" series which detailed the ongoing struggle of an honest individual to maintain his identity and humanity amidst the criminality and corruption of Nazi Germany.
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.
Goldmann is a publishing house in Munich and part of the Random House Publishing Group, in turn belonging to the Bertelsmann group. They are the best-selling commercial publishers in Germany, especially in paperbacks.
Tod Goldberg is an American author and journalist best known for his novels Gangsters Don't Die (Counterpoint), Gangster Nation (Counterpoint), Gangsterland (Counterpoint) and Living Dead Girl, the popular Burn Notice series (Penguin/NAL) and the short story collection The Low Desert: Gangster Stories (Counterpoint).
Basil Frederick Albert Copper was an English writer and former journalist and newspaper editor. He became a full-time writer in 1970. In addition to horror and detective fiction, Copper was perhaps best known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth.
Luise Rinser was a German writer, best known for her novels and short stories.
Gerhard Zwerenz was a German writer and politician. From 1994 until 1998 he was a member of the Bundestag for the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).
Estelle May Thompson (1930–2003) was an Australian crime fiction writer, author of 16 novels and one biographical memoir. Her crime thrillers have been published worldwide in hardcover and paperback, most also in large print editions, Braille and/or as audio cassettes. Five have been translated.
One of Those Things is a 1949 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney. Although best known for his series featuring Lemmy Caution and Slim Callaghan, this was one of several stand-alone novels he wrote featuring hardboiled private detectives. It was also published under the alternative title Mistress Murder.
From London Far is a 1946 mystery thriller novel by the British writer Michael Innes. It is a standalone novel from the author who was best known for his series featuring the Golden Age detective John Appleby. Like much of Innes' work it contains elements of farcical humour. It was published the same year in the United States by Dodd, Mead under the alternative title The Unsuspected Chasm.
They Cracked Her Glass Slipper is a 1941 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It is his second novel, and was published by Jarrolds Publishing on 18 December 1941. 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.
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.
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.
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.
