*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Post-war faux American gangster novels (often termed pulps due to their paper quality) written and published in the UK have become something of a collector thing over the last decade or so. Written mostly by house names and featuring sleazy dame covers, the most famous of these are by the Hank Janson/Reginald Heade combo, but there are plenty of other fish in the sea too, for all the rarity of editions that have survived the decades. This update features four of them by two different authors, and the titles and covers really do say it all. (Note that one author is Bart Banarto on one volume, Bart Barnato on another — they couldn’t keep the house names straight!).
PICTURED:
BIGTIME PAYOFF by BART BANARTO 1st UK PB 1950s Edwin Self GD/VG £40 (spine worn)
DAMES PLAY DUMB by BART BARNATO 1st UK PB 1950s Edwin Self GD/VG £40 (staple rust) SOLD
KILLER BAIT by DUKE LINTON 1st UK PB 1953 Scion VG £50 (Roger Davis cover art)
SINNER by DUKE LINTON 1st UK PB 1953 Scion FA £25 (cover creased and worn) SOLD