The Knife by Hal Ellson (Lancer Books, 1961)

I'm going to do another 'new pulp scan every day' special this week. All of this week's selections were scored recently from the crime section at Bob's Book Exchange near Liverpool St station - well worth a visit for any London-based paperback fiend.

First up...

I absolutely love the use of the Norman Mailer quote, in which he doesn't seem to be making any reference to the book at all.



"She rolls her head, sticks her tongue in my mouth like mad." Man, you can forget yr "the smell of roasted almonds always reminded me of unrequited love" bullshit - THAT'S some fucking writing!

Actually, from what I've read so far, 'The Knife' is genuinely pretty great - a masterclass in clipped, hardboiled prose with a Sam Fuller-esque b-movie approach to social realism. Here's the opening: