Dell Mapbacks, More

Number 237. Allan MacKinnon was a British writer who worked on screenplays including Sleeping Car to Trieste and Men of Sherwood Forest among others.




Number 315. We've already discussed Bertha Cool and Donald Lam.




Number 389. One of my favorite mapbacks! The map is also a flow-chart...

Still More Mapbacks

Number 164. Alice Tilton was the pen name of Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909 –1976). "The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall" was a shortlived radio series that ran for about a year on the Mutual network, 1944-1945. Taylor was born in Boston and many of her books take place around the city and Cape Cod.




Number 150.




Number 84. Read all about it here.

More Mapbacks

A couple of these are in rough shape, but the images are so nice I decided to scan and post them anyway.

Number 112. Brett Halliday, (nom de plume of Davis Dresser, July 31, 1904 - February 4, 1977), was also known as Asa Baker, Mathew Blood, Kathryn Culver, Don Davis, Hal Debrett, Elliot Storm, Anthony Scott, and Anderson Wayne. He wore an eye-patch his whole life due to a barbed-wire accident as boy.



Number 78.




Number 193.

More Map Backs

Number 295. Helen McCloy (1904 - 1994), aka Helen Clarkson wrote more than 30 mystery novels, plus many short stories. She was educated at The Friend's school in Brooklyn and at the Sorbonne in France. She was also married to Davis Dressler (aka Brett Halliday), author of the Mike Shayne mysteries.



Number 305. I guess I'll start including large scans of the maps, too. The Million Year Picnic is also the name of a venerable Cambridge, Mass comic-book store.




Number 104. Cleve F. Adams (1895-1949) also wrote the screenplay for "The Fatal Witness" (1945) starring Evelyn Ankers.

Dell Map Backs

A batch of the wonderful Dell "Map Back" books. First published in 1943, they ran numbers 1 through about #550, when the maps were no longer featured on the backs. Numbers 1-5 were also map-less, although a later printing of #4 ("The American Gun Mystery") did have a map.

Number 55, The DA's Daughter by Herman Peterson.



Number 111, Greenmask by Jefferson Farjeon. Joseph Jefferson Farjeon (June 4, 1883--June 6, 1955) was a decendent of Thomas Jefferson. A prolific author of mysteries, he wrote over 80 novels.



Number 135, Meat for Murder by Lange Lewis.

Stocking Stuffers

A few treats I found in my Christmas Stocking this year. Thanks Santa!

Happy New Year

Some photos from the family vault as I take time to reflect on years past. All circa 1950-1954.

View of New Haven from East Rock:


Sister with dolly at Clark's Pond (about 1/4 mile from the Door Tree):


Mom and grandpa:


Sister and dad at Toy Town (Winchendon, MA):


Brother (me) and sister:

Jeff Buckley

Backstage somewhere with Paul McCartney. Jeff put out one amazing album (Grace) before he drowned in the Wolf River. Also one of the few musicians to do a credible cover of a Leonard Cohen song.

Two Kings

Elvis Presley and B.B. King, in Memphis. December 7, 1957.

Jack Nitzsche

Jack Nitzsche (1937-2001) produced and/or arranged gazillions of artists throughout his 63 years. The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Captain Beefheart, Doris Day, the list is nearly endless. Here's his arrangement of the Sonny Bono-penned hit "Needles and Pins".