So I've been on this cross-country road trip (which is why this blog hasn't been updated since June 1973, or something) and while I have many, many adventures to recount... I thought I'd share a list of books I picked up today at Kayo Books on Post Street in San Francisco, just a block east of Dashiell Hammett's old apartment. I've been dying to visit this shop--which sells all vintage paperbacks, all the time--since Bill Crider mentioned it on his blog. I spent an hour shopping, though I easily could have disappeared inside this place for days on end.My purchases fell into two categories: lurid true crime, and lurid fiction. The true crime:
Sintown U.S.A., a beat-up (but entirely readable) Lion pb. The real skinny on mid-century sin palaces like... Buffalo! Pittsburgh! Oklahoma City! Er... Fresno! (Edited by Noah Sarlat.)
Hollywood R.I.P, by I.G. Edmonds, a Regency paperback from 1963 detailing all kinds of grisly L.A. death stories. Harlan Ellison was a Regency editor for a brief while; I wonder if this was one of the titles he acquired.
Patty/Tania by Jerry Belcher and Don West and The Strange Case of Patty Hearst by John Pascal and Francine Pascal. What can I say? In a Patty Hearst mood.
Sudden Endings by Vin Packer (a.k.a. Marijane Meaker). An upbeat Gold Medal about 13 infamous suicides. How could I resist?
The "Dutch" Schultz Story by Ted Addy. Yeah, I can't seem to pass up gangster paperbacks, either.
The Girl in Lover's Lane by Charles Boswell and Lewis Thompson and The Girl in the Death Cell by Fred J. Cook. Apparently, Gold Medal had this "classic murder trials" series, all of which focused on girls, judging from the titles. The latter, Death Cell, covers the infamous Ruth Snyder/Henry Judd Gray case that inspired James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice.
As for the fiction:
A Man Called Spade. Hammett, of course. A Dell mapback, too. Beat to shit, but only $10... which is a great price for this edition. Had to own it.
As Tough As They Come, edited by Will Oursler. One of those great hardboiled anthologies, up there with The Hard-Boiled Omnibus. Also a beat to shit copy, but only $3 for a thick little hardboiled bible.
The Big Kiss-Off by Day Keene. There's always room for more Keene.
Suddenly By Shotgun by Norman Daniels. Hollywood starlet noir.
The Deadly Desire and Run for the Money by Robert Colby. Pretty sure Crider mentioned these. At $3 a pop, worth the risk.
42 Days For Murder, by Roger Torrey. Not a vintage paperback, but a Dennis McMillan reprint from 1988. Still, I couldn't resist, because it's about an SF PI who goes to Reno. (Coincidentally, I am a nerd currently in SF, and headed to Reno in the near future.)
Anybody out there ready any of these?
9 comments:
"Sintown U.S.A." was one of the very first vintage pbs I ever bought. Inclusion of Fresno (!) was the big draw for me, as I grew up there.
Great store! It's not open many hours a week, so I'm glad you were able to get there when it was. I've read most of the fiction, and all the murder trials series. You have some entertaining reading ahead.
Kayo Books sounds like a place where I could get in serious trouble and stimulate the economy is a single afternoon. I am dying to go there.
My favorite bookstore and one I should get to more, considering I work in the area. I actually jumpstarted my Fredric Brown collection at Kayo after reading about your fondness for him here.
GawdDAMN this sounds great! I'll be in SF for four days later this month, so I've gotta go.
You were in SF, a few blocks from my office, and I didn't know it? Darn. Next time, look me up! : )
Lauren, you work only a few blocks from Kayo? Why aren't you in there all the time? Hell, I'd be...
I'm back in town for Bouchercon (the world mystery convention) this October - it would be great to meet up, if you've got time for a beer.
I've read THE BIG KISS-OFF by Keene. I'm a bit hit-and-miss with Keene, but thought this was one of his better efforts.
Ron C.
I bought "42 Days of Murder" the same day I bought "Halo in Brass" by Howard Browne. They were my first non-Chandler non-Hammett detective books. Browne was a great writer but Torrey did have something and deserves to be reprinted more often
-Dan Luft
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