Hard Boiled Detective

by Herbert Ruhm (Editor)

PAPERBACK ORIGINAL FIRST EDITION, Vintage Books #V-309, published January 1977. First Edition, First Printing, so stated, no previous hardcover. Edited and with an introduction by Herbert Ruhm. Contents ‘The False Burton Combs’ by Daly, C. J., ‘The Road Home’ by Collinson, P., ‘The Gutting Of Couffignal’ by Hammett, D., ‘Kansas’ by Davis, N., ’Take It Or Leave It’ by Nebel, F., ‘Goldfish’ by Chandler, R., ‘Angelfish’ by Dent, L., ‘Legman’ by Gardner, E. S., ‘Once Around The Clock’ by Coxe, G. H., ‘The Turkey Buzzard Blues’ by Constiner, M., ‘It's So Peaceful In The Country’ by Brandon, W., ‘ Killer Come Home’ by Hamlin, C., ‘Big-Time Operator’ by Fairman, P. W., and ‘Five O’Clock Menace’ by Fischer, B. Original 2.45 cover price. Paperback, 396 pages, 18 cm.

Genres: Mystery, Noir, Short Stories, Pulp

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[David]

A good little collection, there, shweetheart! Every cliché in the book in this book, but then it doesn't pretend to be anything else--just an anthology of stories employing all the favourite tropes of the hard-case, noir PI, with a bunch of neat reversals, lots of violence, but also lots of brainwork and outwitting.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superior collection of stories from Black Mask Magazine. My only complaint is that one of the stories, by Lester Dent gets reprinted too much, and maybe another Oscar Sail story would serve better.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: a selection of short stories from the pulp mystery magazine Black Mask.