A few years ago, I stumbled upon a couple of paperbacks from a publisher I knew nothing about: Cresta Books. They were nothing special, but were the acorn from which this mystery grew.
You see, one of the books featured a character named 'Bull' Rogers, a name I recognised from a series of books that had appeared back in 1952 from an outfit called Cooper Books. The title, Where's That Body?, didn't match any of the known Rogers novels, nor was the byline, Tower Jackson, that of the original author, Arnold Brede. Where's That Body? (1960) by Tower Jackson was, in fact, a reprint of The Climbing Corpse (1952) by Arnold Brede.
The mystery deepened when I discovered that Where's That Body? had earlier appeared from a publisher called Vawser & Wiles. This was around 1957-ish, although Vawser & Wiles as a company had been around since 1940, part of a group of companies established by newspaper publisher Hector Vawser Wiles (1902-1984).
Vawser & Wiles were chiefly known for hobby and craft books in the 1940s, and these later crime novels were unlike anything they had previously published. They even published an Ace Double-style pairing of two novels back to back.
The Vawser reprints had one additional twist, reprinting two novels from publisher Barrington Gray, which opens up another can of worms as Gray (also known as Grayling Press) published quite a few gangster novels over the years.
So that's four publishers who need to be investigated if we are to discover how these books were printed and reprinted, the same books recycled under different titles and bylines. And just to add to the confusion, I don't know the names of the authors of some of those later Cresta Books titles.
I do have the opening lines of some titles, and cover scans of a few, so what I intend doing is listing the books below with what information I have covering both Vawser & Wiles and Cresta Books. I will return to Cooper Books and Barrington Gray in a separate post.
If you have any of these books in your collection I'm after first lines and, hopefully, a cover scan. Drop me a line if you think you can help.
VAWSER & WILES
The Search is On by Ricky Commorde
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “A Dame Is Snatched” by Ricky Commorde (Barrington Gray, 1952)
Dames Meet Death by Len Cooper
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “Death Dates A Dame” by Johnny Death (Barrington Gray, 1952)
Opening line: “When your feeling that low that you could dangle your pins…”
Live to Remember by Lon Davies
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints unknown title by Kent Howard
Opening line: “Things were getting more hazy every second.”
The Lady Gambles by Rex Fuller
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints unknown title
Where’s That Body? by Tower Jackson
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “The Climbing Corpse” by Arnold Brede (Cooper Books, 1952)
Too Late to Die by John Kent
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “A Private Killing” by Kent Howard (Cooper Books, 1953)
The Wrong Line by Ray Manson
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints "Death Row" by Whit Conway (Cooper Books, 1953)
Opening line: “Well folks, here I am in Death Row—waiting for it.”
Easy Target by Steve Williams
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints unknown title by Kent Howard
Opening line: “Dumb Donovan lay on his bed in his apartment.”
Vawser & Wiles "Two Books in One"
Lead to Ice by Lee Dallas & Then There Was One by Tower Johnson
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Dallas: “Leo put the car out full stretch, but Vic cursed, his dark handsome face twitching as he gripped the leather case.” Reprints Dames, Diamonds and Death! by Chris Wheatley (Barrington Gray, 1953)
Johnson: “The train was late pulling into Paddington Station, so Bull Rogers leapt out of his coach and dashed across the platform and up the long ramp leading to the street.” Possibly a reprint of An Outside Job by Arnold Brede (Cooper Books, 1952)
CRESTA BOOKS
Love Is a Fever by (Author unknown)
Cresta Books
The Last Shot by Chris Duggan
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints “Heavy Sugar” by Christopher Grey (Cooper Books, 1952)
Live to Remember by (Author unknown)
Cresta Books
Where’s That Body? by Tower Johnson
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints “The Climbing Corpse” by Arnold Brede (Cooper Books, 1952)
The Princess Pays Up by (Author unknown)
Cresta Books
Too Late To Die by John Kent
Cresta Books
Reprints “A Private Killing” by Kent Howard (Cooper Books, 1953)
Shot in the Dark by Lew Davis
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints “Death Row” by Whit Conway (Cooper Books, 1953)
Opening line: “Well folks, here I am in Death Row—waiting for it.”
Life at Stake by Peter Lane
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints ?
Opening line: “Marsh said ‘Hello, Lou,’ and shook hands.”
East Target by Pat Scott
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints ?
Opening line: “It was a filthy night, and a ditch…”
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