One hundred and thirty-two writers are profiled, typically in two or three pages, many with photographs, all with checklists of selected reading and cross references to writers of similar appeal. Most wrote paperback originals in the 1950s or 1960s; others, a less comprehensive selection, were reprinted during that period. Many fans and collectors will forgive a few problems and cherish this book. The inevitable big names are here—Hammett, Chandler, Gardner, John D. MacDonald, Ross Macdonald, Thompson, Westlake—but they are joined by writers less extensively covered in other sources, e.g., Jada M. Davis, H. Vernor Dixon, A.S. Fleischman, Arnold Hano, James McKimmey, Milton K. Ozaki, Mike Roscoe, Charles Runyon, Douglas Sanderson, John Trinian, and Ennis Willie. Though extent and emphasis of coverage varies, the flavor and appeal of each writer is well captured. For examples of fresh information or innovative approaches, see the pieces on David Goodis, Evan Hunter, Peter Rabe, and Mickey Spillane (the latter amusingly written in the voice of Mike Hammer). The author is especially good at choosing exemplary quotations, as from the work of Chandler, Ozaki, Michael Avallone, and Rex Stout.

Be advised the book will not provide full bibliographic information, and though plenty of pseudonyms are identified, you’d need other sources to sort them all out. (For example, ghosts of Ellery Queen paperbacks are cited, but information on which books they ghosted is provided only occasionally, and the entry on the EQ team themselves ignores the matter entirely.) The writing is sometimes infelicitous: the quality of Jay Flynn’s novels is said to have become “progressively unwieldy,” and Ritt often uses throughout when through would be better. The inconsistent spelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s middle name and David J. Garrity’s last name should have been caught in editing. But as with so many mystery references, one should probably be too grateful it exists at all to dwell on minor annoyances.