'Great Lakes, Great Writers;' Authors and Creators: Day Keene (Gunnar Hjerstedt)

Web site of the Week: http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/keene.html

Gunnar Hjerstedt, 1904-1969 A.K.A. Day Keene author with Dwight Vincent of Chautauqua, which later was made into the film THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS, starring ELVIS PRESLEY

Day Keene wrote everyone. Radio, the pulps, paperback originals and even a few hardcovers. He churned out some crap, but what's amazing is how much of it was good stuff. His wry wit and sly humour characterized his best work, particularly in his short stories for Black Mask, Manhunt, and his PBOs for such publishers as Avon, Gold Medal, Graphic and even a few Ace doubles. He only created one recurring character, Hawaiian private eye Johnny Aloha, who appeared in two novels, although he had also had a hand in scripting the Kitty Keene, Inc. radio show, about a female private eye, which had a pretty decent run in the late thirties.

NOVELS

* Framed in Guilt (1949; AKA Evidence Most Blind)
* Farewell to Passion (1951; AKA The Passion Murders)
* My Flesh Is Sweet (1951)
* Love Me and Die (1951)
* To Kiss or Kill (1951)
* Hunt the Killer (1952)
* About Doctor Ferrel (1952)
* Home Is the Sailor (1952)
* If the Coffin Fits (1952)
* Naked Fury (1952)
* Wake Up to Murder 1952)
* Mrs. Homicide (1953)
* Strange Witness (1953)
* The Big Kiss-Off (1954)
* There Was A Crooked Man (1954)
* Death House Doll (1954)
* Homicidal Lady (1954)
* Joy House (1954)
* Notorious (1954)
* Sleep with the Devil (1954)
* Who Has Wilma Lathrop? (1955)
* The Dangling Carrot (1955)
* Murder on the Side (1956)
* Bring Him Back Dead (1956)
* It's a Sin to Kill 1958)
* Passage to Samoa 1958)
* Dead Dolls Don't Talk (1959)
* Dead in Bed (1959; Johnny Aloha)
* Moran's Woman (1959)
* Miami 59 (1959)
* So Dead My Lovely (1959)
* Take a Step to Murder 1959)
* Too Black for Heaven (1959)
* Too Hot to Hold (1959)
* The Brimstone Bed 1960)
* Payola (Pyramid, 1960; Johnny Aloha)
* Seed of Doubt
* Bye, Baby Bunting (1963)
* LA 46 (1964)
* Carnival of Death (1965)
* Chicago 11 (1966)
* Acapulco Gpo (1967)

SHORT STORIES

* "It Could Happen Here" (September 1940, Ace G-Man Stories)
* "Wake Up, America" (January 1941, Ace G-Man Stories)
* "Last of the Fighting Ainsleys" (September 1941, Ace G-Man Stories)
* "What So Proudly We Hail" (October 1942, Ace G-Man Stories)
* "Herr Yama From Yokohama" (February 1943, Ace G-Man Stories; 1988, The Super Feds)
* "Rhapsody in Blood" (January 1943, Dime Mystery Magazine)
* "Boy Kills Girl" (June 1944, Flynn's Detective Fiction)
* "The Bloody Tide" (1950, Black Mask; 1996, The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction)
* "A Better Mantrap," (Dangerous Dames)

COLLECTION

* This is Murder, Mr. Herbert, and Other Stories (1948)

NON-CRIME NOVELS

* Guns Along the Brazos (western)
* His Father's Wife (1954)
* Chautauqua, w/ Dwight Vincent (1960)
* World Without Women, w/ Leonard Pruyn (1960)
* Southern Daughter (1967)
* Live Again, Love Again (1970)
* Wild Girl (1970)

RADIO

* Kitty Keene, Inc.
(1937-41, CBS, Mutual)
Keene scripted many episodes of this radio soap, about a female private eye.

Thanks to Al Guthrie for his help on this one.

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The Trouble with Girls: (And How to Get Into It) starred Elvis Presley

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