A Salute to Some of the Books I Loved (or Lusted After)
- The Pulps: Fifty Years of American Pop Culture Edited by Toby Goodstone
- The Great American Detective Edited by William Kittridedge & Steven M. Krauzer
- One Night with Nora Blonde Ale Well, the empties are on my shelf…
- The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery Volumes One and Two Edited by Russ Kick
- Private Eye Action As You Like It… By Joe R. Lansdale & Lewis Shiner
- The Pulp Jungle By Frank Gruber
- The Hard-Boiled Detective: Stories from Black Mask Magazine Edited by Herbert Ruhm
- Four-&-Twenty Bloodhounds Edited by Anthony Boucher
- The Hardboiled Dicks Edited by Ron Goulart
- The Hard-Boiled Omnibus Edited by Joseph T. “Cap” Shaw
- Noir: The Illustrated Crime Fiction Quarterly
- The Detectives Edited by Christopher Mills
One book that should be on your bookshelf of well-loved volumes is The Great American Detective; an anthology of fifteen stories, “…starring America’s most celebrated Private Eyes.” Edited and with and introduction by William Kitteridge and Steven M. Krauzer. The introduction alone makes it a worthwhile read and each story has a short informative blurb about the author and the character featured. And just to top it off, the back matter has an annotated list of each featured authors work for those who’d like to investigate a particular writers work any further This has been one of my favourite books on my own shelf for decades. I’m certain that you already own it or are aware of it, but I thought I’d bring it up to you…just in case.
YES!!! A page on THE GREAT AMERICAN DETECTIVE is in the works. I loved that book–possibly the first crime collection I ever bought. It opened my eyes to a genre I hadn’t even realized I was falling in love with. My original copy was pored through so often through the years it disintegrated. I think I’m on my third copy now. From Nick Carter to Mack Bolan–what a trip!
I agree! It was one of the first anthologies of its kind that I remember buying. I thought Mack Bolan was an interesting choice to include, but it makes sense. Pendleton created an entire genre with that character. Without the likes of Race Williams and Mike Hammer, I don’t think there would be a Mack Bolan. Anyway it’s a great book and I look forward to seeing your take on it.
Sometimes drift off for a year or so, but I always make my way back to this site to discover some hidden nook… Just took a look at Pendleton’s site. RIP- what an epic career! Will dive in soon to the Mack Bolan Executioner series.