100 beautiful British dust jackets

Nearly seven months ago now, I created a new permanent page over on Existential Ennui (my personal books blog, as if you didn’t know), dedicated to the finest examples of British dust jacket design—or rather, my idea of the finest examples, taken from my own collection of books, and including a fair […]

Thriller Writer Geoffrey Household on Existential Ennui

On the surface, Donald “Richard Stark” Westlake and British author Geoffrey Household would seem to have little in common. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find . . . they still have little in common—beyond the fact that they both wrote thrillers, Westlake/Stark wrote a novel called The Hunter, and Household […]

Dan J. Marlowe and Earl Drake, 5: collecting the Man with Nobody’s Face, inc. bibliography

(NB: An expanded version of this post, with additional images, can be found on Existential Ennui.)

For Part 1, go here; for Part 2, here; for Part 3, here; and for Part 4, go here.

Dan J. Marlowe‘s final Earl Drake espionage adventure, Operation Counterpunch, appeared in 1976, by which point the […]

Dan J. Marlowe and Earl Drake, 4: the Richard Stark and Parker of spy fiction

(NB: This post also appears on Existential Ennui.)

For Part 1, go here; for Part 2, go here; for Part 3, go here.

Much as Donald “Richard Stark” Westlake had done in his eighth Parker novel, The Handle (Pocket Books, 1966), with the third Earl Drake thriller, Operation Fireball (1969), Dan J. […]

Dan J. Marlowe and Earl Drake, 3: Operation Fireball; from crime thrillers to spy thrillers

(NB: This post also appears on Existential Ennui.)

For Part 1, go here; for Part 2, go here.

The same year as the sophomore Earl Drake adventure, One Endless Hour, appeared, the third Drake outing also hit. And it was here that the template for the remainder of the series began to be established […]

Breaking news: Queen of Spy Writers Helen MacInnes returns to print in 2012!

Ever-so-slightly off-topic with this one, but I know a fair few Violent World regulars appreciate a spot of spy fiction as well as crime fiction: I’ve just broken the news over on Existential Ennui that spy novelist Helen MacInnes—author of, among others, Above Suspicion, The Venetian Affair, and The Salzburg Connection (all […]

Off topic: brazen plug for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy competition

Just a quick one for those of you who like a spot of spy fiction: to mark the general release in the States today of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson’s film adaptation of John le Carré’s classic Cold War thriller, I’m running a competition over on Existential Ennui to win some […]

Off topic: Donald E. Westlake sci-fi delayed, John le Carré / George Smiley on Existential Ennui

Apologies for the radio silence on the Violent World of Parker blog, but I’ve been a bit distracted with some rather involved blogging over on my other, er, blog, Existential Ennui. Fear not: my series on the science fiction magazine stories of Donald E. Westlake will resume shortly, and after that’s finished […]