Fredric Brown

" Fredric Brown is] my favorite writer of all time." -- Mickey Spillane " Ed & Am are] an engaging pair of detectives . . . Brown is] a real pro-- a natural storyteller." -- New York Times Ed Hunter and his Uncle Am have left Chicago and hit the road, traveling with the carnival through podunk Midwestern towns-- drinking, gambling, and fleecing the local rubes. Nineteen-year-old Ed is no closer to figuring out what he's running from when a body turns up murdered on the midway. Next thing, he's falling for the mercenary blonde showgirl who found the body. As more bodies pile up, Ed and Am are compelled to find the killer. But in the carney, there's an unwritten code that makes investigating a crime as bad as, if not worse than, committing one. In this sequel to Fredric Brown's Edgar Award- winning debut, The Fabulous Clipjoint, trouble has a way of finding Ed and Am, no matter where they go. " E]nough good people put Brown on their must-read lists and then become evangelists to keep his name alive on the same high shelf as Hammett, Thompson, Ross Macdonald, and other crime icons." -- Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune

Winner of the 1948 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, this gripping murder mystery is a much-loved classic. 'Ingenious . . . Plunges the reader into a desperate, working-class America' Washington Post In 1940s Chicago, a man is killed in the midst of a night-long bender, caught between barrooms in what appears to be a mugging gone awry. The police aren’t interested in finding Wallace’s murderer, but his teenage son, Ed, thinks there’s more to this than meets the eye. The witnesses aren’t telling the whole story, and in the process of finding the killer, Ed makes another discovery: Wallace was a very different man to the father he thought he knew. The Edgar Award-winning novel that announced a legendary voice in crime fiction, The Fabulous Clipjoint is the first in Fredric Brown’s long-running Ed & Am Hunter series. The book’s memorable mixture of a hardboiled mystery with an urban coming of age narrative remains fresh to this day. ‘Brown deserves the same acclaim as Raymond Chandler.’ Booklist ‘The first of seven cases for Ed and Am will leave readers hungry for more.’ Kirkus

"Ingenious . . . Plunges the reader into a desperate, working-class America now better known through William Lindsay Gresham's precisely contemporary novel Nightmare Alley and such film-noir classics as Out of the Past and The Postman Always Rings Twice." --Washington Post " Fredric Brown is] my favorite writer of all time." --Mickey Spillane When Wally Hunter is found bludgeoned to death in an alley in Chicago's near north side, his 18-year-old son, Ed, and carney brother, Ambrose, team up to find out who killed him. Winner of the 1948 Edgar Award, The Fabulous Clipjoint was Fredric Brown's first novel, launching the Ed & Am Hunter mystery series and establishing Brown as one of the 20th century's finest crime writers. " Ed & Am are] an engaging pair of detectives . . . Fredric Brown is] a real pro--a natural storyteller." --New York Times " E]nough good people put Brown on their must-read lists and then become evangelists to keep his name alive on the same high shelf as Hammett, Thompson, Ross Macdonald, and other crime icons." --Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune

The Star Mouse, a classical book, has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

In the 1960s the masters of crime fiction expanded the genre's literary and psychological possibilities with audacious new themes, forms, and subject matter--here are five of their finest works This is the first of two volumes gathering the best American crime fiction of the 1960s, nine novels of astonishing variety and inventiveness that pulse with the energies of that turbulent, transformative decade. In The Murderers (1961) by Fredric Brown, an out-of-work actor, hanging out with Beat drifters on the fringes of Hollywood, concocts a murder scheme that devolves into nightmare. This late work by a master in many genres is one of his darkest and most ingenious. Dan J. Marlowe's The Name of the Game Is Death (1962) channels the inner life of a violent criminal who freely acknowledges the truth of a prison psychiatrist's diagnosis: "Your values are not civilized values." Written with unnerving emotional authenticity, the story hurtles toward an annihilating climax. Charles Williams drew on his experience in the merchant marine for his thriller Dead Calm (1963). A newlywed couple alone on a small yacht find themselves at the mercy of the mysterious survivor they have rescued from a sinking ship, in a suspenseful story that chillingly evokes the perils of the open ocean. In the beautifully told and sharply observant The Expendable Man (1963), Dorothy B. Hughes's final masterpiece of suspense, a young man in the American Southwest runs afoul of racial assumptions after he picks up a hitchhiker who soon turns up dead. In twenty-four brilliantly constructed novels, Richard Stark (a pen name of Donald Westlake) charted the career of Parker, a hard-nosed professional thief, with rigorous clarity. The Score (1964), a stand-out in the series, finds Parker and his criminal associates hatching a plot to rob simultaneously all the jewelry stores, payroll offices, and banks in a remote Western mining town, only to come up against the human limits of even the most intricate planning. Volume features include an introduction by editor Geoffrey O'Brien (Hardboiled America), newly researched biographies of the writers and helpful notes, and an essay on textual selection.

Three murders were too many for Ed Hunter. Not even a dazzling redhead from the carnival's girl show could keep Ed altogether happy--not with a murderer running loose. Then Ed found it was up to him and his Uncle Am to find the killer among the freaks and strippers of the carnival--a killer who chose his victims according to size Ed and his Uncle Am are back, working in a travelling carnival through the Midwest. Bodies, though smallish in stature, keep piling up, and Ed finds himself head over heels in love. Fascinating for the insights into carnival life that this book provides. Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons. "Fredric Brown is a reasonably new name in the literary limelight, but already he has made his weight felt in no uncertain terms. His recent non-formula first novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, is a remarkable tour de force sparkling with realism and suspense that many far more experienced writers of the genre have never been able to achieve. And his short stories, tightly packed with characterization and atmosphere, are far from the run-of-the-mill whodunit types which pervade detective-story magazines . . . One mystery editor has prophesied that one day soon Fredric Brown will be generally acknowledged as the best in the field, and from a hard-boiled, critical editor, that is indeed high praise."-David C. Cookein Best Detective Stories of the Year-1947

This book "" Happy Ending "", has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.

In the rough edges of 1940s Chicago, the discovery of a corpse in an alleyway isn't always enough to cause a big stir--especially when the victim is killed in the midst of a night-long bender, caught between barrooms in what appears to be a mugging gone awry. Which is why the police don't take a huge interest in finding the murderer of Wallace Hunter, a linotype operator who turns up dead after a solitary drinking adventure that led through many of the Loop's less reputable establishments. But for his teenage son, Ed, and his carny brother, Am, something about Wallace's death feels fishy, a fact that grows increasingly bothersome when it becomes clear that some of the witnesses aren't telling the whole story. In order to get to the heart of the matter, they'll need all the skills Am picked up in the circus life--skills that young Ed will have to pick up on fast. And in the process of discovering the killer, they make another discovery as well: Wallace was a much different man than the father Ed thought he knew.The Edgar Award-winning novel that announced a legendary voice in crime fiction, The Fabulous Clipjoint is the first in Fredric Brown's long-running Ed & Am Hunter series. The book's memorable mixture of a hardboiled mystery with an urban coming of age narrative remains fresh to this day.

The book "" And the Gods Laughed, has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.

The loosely autobiographical novel, The Office, Brown's only work of "straight" fiction, was first published in 1958. A pet project of over ten years, it's Brown's most personal, and certainly one of his most moving novels. He completely revised and polished a first draft, unheard of for the prolific author. Unfortunately, because Brown had already established himself as a top-notch mystery and science fiction writer, the novel quickly fell out of print. The past decade has seen a great resurgence in Brown's work; however, fans interested in this unique entry in his bibliography have been turned away by the price of the limited first printing. This special 60th Anniversary Edition of The Office includes an introduction, a newly illustrated cover, a list of Brown works currently in print, and an afterword by Brown biographer Jack Seabrook.

From legendary master Fredric Brown An ex-newspaperman finds crime going on, based on radio scripts he wrote.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the potential terror of weapons of mass destruction--from nuclear, biological, and chemical to dirty bombs--preoccupies national security experts. In Chemical Warfare, Frederic J. Brown, presents a cogent, innovative framework for understanding the historical forces that have restrained the use of WMD and how they continue to have relevance today. Analyzing both world wars, he argues that the restraints on use were complex and often unpredictable and ranged from the political to the technological. The author offers a detailed examination of American chemical warfare policy as it was shaped by industry and public sentiment, as well as national and military leaders. The organization of the book into three parts reflects the importance of battlefield experiences during the First World War and of international political restraints as they evolved during the interwar years and culminated in "no first use" policies by major powers in World War II. Part I examines the use of chemical weapons in World War I as it influenced subsequent national policy decisions. Part II focuses on the evolution of political, military, economic, and psychological restraints from 1919 to 1939. Part III discusses World War II during two critical periods: 1939 to early 1942, when the environment of the war was being established largely without American influence; and during 1945, when the United States faced no credible threat of retaliation to deter its strategic and battlefield use of chemical weapons. Written at the height of controversy about the U.S. use of chemicals in Vietnam, Chemical Warfare offers a valuable historical perspective, as relevant now in its analysis of chemical and also nuclear policy as it was when first published.