RARA-AVIS: Markham by Block

Ted White (tedwhite@compusnet.com)
Sun, 06 Dec 1998 14:28:59 -0500 Thanks to Mark Sullivan for his response to my query about Block's
pseudonyms. In passing he asks a paranthetical question and commits
an error. To wit:

"(although, did Markham: the Case of the Pornographic Photos,
reprinted as Coward's Kiss originally carry Block's name?)"

One thing at a time. My edition of MARKHAM ("Markham was playing
with dynamite in 'THE CASE OF THE PORNOGRAPHIC PHOTOS' - A SAVAGE
CRIME NOVEL by Lawrence Block"), the 1961 Belmont edition, says
"Block" on the spine, and has the above quoted lines on the cover.
I might add the book is "Copyright 1961 by Markham Production Co."
I suspect it was a work for hire (like my LOST IN SPACE and CAPTAIN
AMERICA books) over which Larry has no control.

Secondly, I have two editions of COWARD'S KISS -- the Foul Play Press
and Carroll & Graf editions -- and both credit the original title as
DEATH PULLS A DOUBLECROSS when it was published in 1961 by Fawcett
Gold Medal Books. If MARKHAM has been republished under another
title it's news to me, and it certainly wasn't COWARD'S KISS.

I am indebted for the news that Westlake was Timothy J. Culver; I'll
have to look for that. And while I have the first three Sam Holt
books (which read more like Block than Westlake, oddly enough), I
missed the fourth. I assume it has "4" in its title, but what is
that title?

--Ted White

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