Brian Leno per norm supplies the signature, this time from the 1960s run of Belmont paperback originals of The Shadow ghosted by Dennis Lynds under the house name Maxwell Grant. Typically denigrated as a “Spy-Fi” reading of the character, not up there with the near 300 short novels done for The Shadow Magazine by Walter B. Gibson. Lynds did all of the Belmont PBOs, except the first one — The Return of the Shadow. That one came off Gibson’s typewriter and of course is considered canonical.
Note that Brian complains about the smell off his copy. I bet Brian would prefer to have a smelly book than no stinking book at all.
Here’s Brian:
Thought I’d let you see the latest addition to my Shadow collection.
Book is in really nice shape but if The Shadow was trying to hide in the darkness I’d still be able to smell him out.
But I guess it was cheap enough and the smell isn’t overpowering, so it’ll do.
Gibson’s double signature incorporating Maxwell Grant is, of course, cooler.
And tomorrow another entry in the Sam Spade Sweepstakes rains down. Check out the review by James Reasoner. James likes this kind of thing, even mentions he enjoyed the prequel novel Spade & Archer done by Joe Gores a few years ago.
I could barely skim that one.
A “back story” for Spade beyond the couple of refs in the Hammett novel? Didn’t — and doesn’t — need it.
And as the year 2025 rolls to a close, I notice that currently Eph Book — a.k.a. Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years — is priced at 9% off retail on Amazon.
A few days ago it was 11% off, after they initially tiptoed into the sales idea with 5% off. I’m curious if they’ll keep dinking around, or if it’ll revert to the $40 full retail and sit there throughout 2026.
After I reported yesterday that neither Brian Leno nor I could dope out six of the signatures on the 1977 Bouchercon program booklet, Brian waded back in. Nothing he likes better than deciphering autographs and kicking ass — and he’s still got a few to parse out, so we’re safe for now.
Of the six, it looks as if Brian has nailed down three, maybe three and a half:
Between the W and the Y the name John M______. The name John Mullen is on the Lackritz list, but this one doesn’t seem to match.
“The one between the W and Y is probably John Nieminski,” Leno says. “It’s a good guess anyway.”
Yeah, Nieminski was a commonly seen name in crime fiction circles in that era.
Under WAL, in blue ink, Peter (?) S (?) B (???). Doesn’t quite match the auto of Peter S. Beagle, but in haste he might have put the “l” in Beagle in the wrong position.
“I checked my Peter S. Beagle signature, wasn’t him,” Leno confirms. “So I went on a search and I believe it’s Peter E. Blau. A Bouchercon regular, I believe — in the Baker Street Irregulars crowd.”
To the right of the blue siggie, M____ E_____ (???).
“The M E looks really familiar to me with that big sweeping cloud-like beginning to the name. I’ve seen it before but can’t remember no matter how hard I try. Could it be Michael Eaton? — but it doesn’t look like Michael. Or Marvin P. Epstein, the Sherlockian collector? No cap P or lowercase p visible, but a possibility just the same.”
Under MURDER, the name Charles S_______.
To the right of Charles S______, past Michelle Slung, and above the Davis in Dorothy Salisbury Davis, some squiggling at an up-and-down angle. I can’t tell if the name starts at the top or the bottom. Or if the squiggles are two autographs.
“I think the under MURDER is Charles Shibuk. Worked with Otto Penzler, etc. Fairly sure. I think Shibuk could be ruled a definite unless and until something better comes along.
“The one written up-and-down on the lower right side of the sheet I keep thinking of Dorothy B. Hughes. She was there, signing books. But her signature is very distinct and readable, so probably not unless she had a writing cramp of epic proportions.”
I almost can see Dot Hughes in the squiggles — especially if she was in a hurry, trying to work her pen in that cramped space. Maybe one of the last ones to sign.
“I’ll look a little more,” Brian says, “but honestly I’ve taken it about as far as I can, I think. Hate to admit it. I got the three by just entering in the search engine the parts of the name I think I know and then adding Bouchercon.”
Haven’t done one of these in awhile — and for once it’s not coming from that maniacal Autograph Hound Brian Leno. At least not directly.
Brian did tip me to a plethora of John Hancocks on the block that decorated the cover for the slim program book for the 1977 Bouchercon in NYC. But I’m the one who popped for it.
I’ve been on a The Shadow kick lately, plowing through almost a dozen of the short novels. The Gahan Wilson cartoon of Jack Kerouac’s favorite pulp avenger plunged in the first hook. Wilson signed just below his byline on the illo. The major Shadow scribe Walter Gibson did his Double X mark (just below the AT THE) where the top of the Xs makes a W followed by the rest of Walter B. Gibson and the lower half makes an M followed by the rest of Maxwell Grant, the Street & Smith house name for writers working on The Shadow Magazine. I already have his Double X mark in a first edition of The Shadow Scrapbook, but that hook was in, sharply tugging.
Another attraction was that this copy came from the collection of the late Richard Lackritz, an MD who delivered over 700 babies. Nice guy. I met him during the Boucheron in Austin, Texas in 2002, and got to drive his car. Finest such machine I ever drove, some luxury brand like Lexus. We were heading out for dinner — Lackritz, me, Dennis McMillan, Gary Philips, Kent Harrington — and Dennis insisted I drive, since Lackritz was a terrible driver. I only did one showboat move, summoning up torque, to give them their money’s worth — and so we didn’t miss the left turn for which no one gave me any advance notice.
An In Memorian gesture, then.
From that point on, any other consideration just iced the cake. Brian told me that two signatures at the bottom more than covered the cost. Isaac Asimov apparently goes for $200ish, more if in a desirable first edition of one of his books. “By itself,” Brian said, “I would guess Dannay adding ‘Ellery Queen’ pretty much, almost, pays for the item.”
And there are more. John Ball at the top center (I got to drive him around once, too), author of In the Heat of the Night. Brian Garfield, author of Death Wish, under the heavier inked siggie of Jon L. Lellenberg. I met Lellenberg as well; one of several claims to fame, he was the author of the last book issued by Arkham House. Stanley Ellin. Ed Hoch.
An autograph I would have never doped out was Christiana Brand, but Brian IDed it. Begins under the W in NEW and rolls in a line under YORK — the B in Brand directly under the O. Phyllis A. Whitney, mystery romance novelist, signed directly over MURDER. Dorothy Salisbury Davis signed bottom right, at an upward angle. Phyllis White (under 1977) was the widow of “Anthony Boucher” — I met her on a few occasions.
A checklist used while rounding up the autos remains in the booklet. Names on that list that I don’t see corresponding signatures for include Steranko, Robert Fish, Ron Goulart and Lin Carter. I have a ton of Lin Carter holograph material, correspondence from the 1950s and so on — but he ought to have made the cut. Maybe he ducked out early before Lackritz could corner him.
The six neither Brian nor I can identify begin, top down:
Between the W and the Y the name John M______. The name John Mullen is on the Lackritz list, but this one doesn’t seem to match.
Under MURDER, the name Charles S_______.
To the right of Charles S______, past Michelle Slung, and above the Davis in Dorothy Salisbury Davis, some squiggling at an up-and-down angle. I can’t tell if the name starts at the top or the bottom. Or if the squiggles are two autographs.
Under WAL, in blue ink, Peter (?) S (?) B (???). Doesn’t quite match the auto of Peter S. Beagle, but in haste he might have put the “l” in Beagle in the wrong position.
To the right of the blue siggie, M____ E_____ (???).
Under the Double X in Walter/Maxwell the name John L or T______ (???).
Autograph Hound Saturday, and again that distinguished Autograph Hound Brian Leno provides the John Hancock for the delectation of the discriminating connoisseur of the holographic arts.
Here’s Brian:
I got to thinking that more books inscribed to the late bookseller Gerry de la Ree might be out there, so I checked and found these two wonderful books. I already have signed copies of Dr. Lao and The Unholy City but these are de la Ree’s copies and the price was right.
I’m not crazy about books not directly signed, but hey, good enough for de la Ree, good enough for me.
Plus I enjoy the extra wording on the paste-in slips where Finney gives a little extra info about each book.
Will Murray digs away in aging archives, turning up cool tidbits.
Here’s Will:
I came across these excerpts from Mort Weisinger’s Pony Express gossip column in Writer’s Review back in the 1930s.
“DASHIELL HAMMETT is busy in Hollywood working for MGM on the sequel to The Thin Man and there’s even a chance that the good-looking author and ex-Pinkerton man of San Francisco will enact the leading role instead of William Powell.” (12/34)
“Erle Stanley Gardner, the slick-clicker, has peddled his Perry Mason novels, Case of the Velvet Claws and Case of the Lucky Legs to Warner Brothers, both slated to hit celluloid this annum. . . Ditto for Dashammet with his Money Man. . . .” (8/35)
Dashammet must be the 1930s version of Bennifer. . . .
Autograph Hound Saturday yet again, and Brian Leno goes all caveman on us. I’ve always liked cavemen.
Here’s a quick note from Brian:
Thought you might like to see the Og books, all inscribed by Irving Crump to the late bookseller Gerry de la Ree. At first, as I told you, I just bought the start of the series, but realizing I could not break up the set I bought them all.
Charles Livingston Bull was the illustrator of the Og, Son of Fire volume, and I liked that dj so much I hunted around and found his autograph, with a little drawing of a bunny, in a F. St. Mars volume.
Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour.
