Had a hour to kill in Cardiff earlier this afternoon and so I drifted into Troutmark Books, a fine used book store in the Castle Arcade. Came away with another great stash of books.
Three Max Brand's Gunman's Goal, Galloping Broncos and The Big Trail - fine literary westerns. The writer's actual name was Frederick Schiller Faust. He was the author who created, among others, the character of Destry which was filmed most memorably with James Stewart in the role.
Slocum and the Helpless Harlots - which is another in the long running Slocum series by Jake Logan. Logan is a pen name that many writers have used including the prolific James Reasoner. Can anyone tell me who was responsible for this one?
I was pleased to find Edge no 9 - Bloody Summer as I collect the series and this title is one of the six I need (five now) to complete the run. And for £1.95 - can't be bad.
Two Dirty Harry novelisations - Dirty Harry and Sudden Impact - I'm not usually keen on novelizations but I'm trying to complete my collection of Dirty Harry tie-in fiction so these'll slot in nicely. I've heard good things about the Sudden Impact novelization so I may try that first.
I was especially pleased to find a copy of the Penguin 1990 edition of Riders of the Purple Sage - next to Owen Wister's The Virginian this is one of the most influential westerns of them all. This edition features the essay by Jane Tompkins which gives an interesting take on the history of both the author and this title.
Two Guy N. Smith horror novels - Crabs Moon and The Black Fedora - I used to read Guy as a kid and since then I've come to know him as a fellow pipe enthusiast, and I'm trying to collect his back list. I've a few to go yet, though.
Cop Hater by Ed McBain - this is a nice edition of the book that started the 87th precinct series way back in 1956 - this edition features an introduction written by McBain shortly before his death in 2005
The gem here is a Thriller Book Club 1957 edition of James Hadley Chase's, The Guilty are Afraid. The book was originally published in 1957 and although this is not a first edition proper it is a first Thriller Book Club edition and in excellent condition. Clean unmarked boards, none of the pages loose and great cover artwork. Not that first editions matter to me - I'm a collector but not that sort of collector. If a book appeals to me then I have to have it and this one sure did appeal. There' a detailed Crime Time article on the author HERE
6 comments:
I had no idea that those Dirty Harry novelizations even existed! Wow. They look really cool. Will you review one or both of them here on the Archive? Would love to see that.
I will do Chris - in the meantime I reviewed two Dirty Harry continuation novels earlier last week on the Archive. Check them out.
I have a book by Jane Tompkins called West of Everything - her take on the Westerns. I read it several years ago when I was just starting to read Westerns and I remember it as being provocative, to say the least, but I can't remember WHY. Your mention of her makes me think I'll have to pick it up again.
I love seeing book covers. BTW, I was going to ask you, so you thought the second Dirty Harry tie in book was overly graphic, but you collect Edge? you mean the Dirty Harry was worse than Edge?
Dirty Harry continuation novels? Wow, I'll head over to that post right now.
Charles - I think the violence in the Edge books is mostly handled tongue in cheek and works in the context of the story. But this opening to the Harry book simply went all out for sickening effect. Plus once the initial hit was done and the target's wife blasted as a potential witness, the further killings served no purpose.
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