PaperBack: “End of a J.D."

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



End of a J.D., by “John Gonzales,” aka Robert Terrall (Gold Medal, 1960). This is the first of three entertaining novels starring New York City reporter Harry Horne. The subsequent works are Someone’s Sleeping in My Bed (1963) and Follow That Hearse! (1963). Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

Fishing for Hooks

From now through the end of March, my book-design blog, Killer Covers, will salute the artistry of Detroit-born painter and illustrator Mitchell Hooks, who died seven years ago today at age 89. At least one new book cover, film poster, or piece of magazine art credited to Hooks will be posted each day, the first of those being his work on the 1956 Dell release While the City Sleeps. Enjoy it here.

PaperBack: “The Disappearance of Penny”

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



The Disappearance of Penny, by Robert J. Randisi (Charter, 1980). Randisi noted in an interview with Shots that this was his “first mystery novel.” It was also his only novel featuring New York Racing Commission investigator Henry Po, though Po appeared later in three short stories. Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

PaperBack: “Hot Winds of Summer”

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



Hot Winds of Summer, by John H. Secondari (Popular Giant,
1957). This novel by an American author and TV producer was originally published in 1955 as Spinner of the Dream. Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

PaperBack: “The Confidential Agent”

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


The Confidential Agent, by Graham Greene (Bantam, 1951).
Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

PaperBack: “Double Agent”

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



Double Agent, by “Gene Stackelberg,” aka Arthur Eugene Adams (Popular Library, 1959). Adams (1917-2007) was an Iowa-born history professor at Michigan State University, and subsequently a professor of history and dean of the College of Humanities at Ohio State University. During various stages of his career, he also served as a consultant to the Central Intelligence Agency and as director of research for communist areas and a policy board member of Radio Free Europe. Adams wrote extensively about Russian history, a subject that informed his fiction, as well. Double Agent, which featured spy protagonist Bill McLean and was adapted as the 1967 British film The Man Outside, was his only novel carrying the Stackelberg nom de plume. He later wrote several other thrillers under his real name, including Quimby (1988) and Special Agent (2000), a tale dealing with the Colombian drug trade.

Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

(Special thanks to author-publisher Lee Goldberg for correcting information previously contained in this write-up.)

PaperBack: “The Widow and the Web”

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


The Widow and the Web, by Robert Martin (Bantam, 1955), the fourth novel in his series starring Cleveland, Ohio, gumshoe Jim Bennett. Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.