PaperBack: “Running Scared”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Running Scared, by Gregory Mcdonald (Signet, 1973). Mcdonald, of course, wrote the very popular Fletch series, three books from which have been adapted for film and TV. Running Scared (published originally in 1964) was his first novel, and also served as the basis for a movie, a 1972 feature starring Robert Powell and Gayle Hunnicutt. Cover art by Stanley Borack.

PaperBack: “Silver Doll”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Silver Doll, by “Blair Treynor,” aka Selina Abraham Treynor (1888-1967). Cover illustration by Stanley Borack.

READ MORE: “Taking the Fifth: Widow’s Pique,” by J. Kingston
Pierce (Killer Covers).

PaperBack: “Back Country”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Back Country, by William Fuller (Dell, 1954). This novel launched Fuller’s series starring Brad Dolan, who is described by The Thrilling Detective as a “hard-boiled adventurer, smuggler and wanderer … a sort of pre-Travis McGee Travis McGee and certainly no stranger to trouble. Or violence. Or babes.” Five more Dolan yarns were released as paperback originals over the next half-decade, the series concluding with 1959's Tight Squeeze.

Cover illustration by Stanley Borack.

PaperBack: “Come Be My O.R.G.Y.”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Come Be My O.R.G.Y., by “Ted Mark,” aka Theodore Mark Gottfried (Berkley Medallion, 1968). This is the ninth entry in a once-popular series starring Steve Victor, a lascivious secret agent known as The Man from O.R.G.Y. Cover illustration by Stanley Borack.