Wednesday, February 11, 2015

PaperBack



David Knight (Richard S. Prather), Dragnet: Case No. 561, Pocket Books, 1956

7 comments:

Max Allan Collins said...

This is by Richard S. Prather. Deming did two more and also the two versions of the Whitman YA short story collection. David Vowell did a tie-in for the '60s-'70s version. I have been looking for years for DRAGNET '67 by R. Trailins. I have a memory of seeing it at the time (with a black-and-white photo cover) but some insist it doesn't exist...though Trailins did reportedly produce a manuscript.

Unknown said...

I have a copy of the Vowell book somewhere. Would that be Robert "Big Bob" Tralins? I can't imagine what kind of Dragnet book he'd write. I've never seen a copy of there it exists, but that's one I'd like to have.

J. Juday said...

This looks delightful! I'll have to watch for a copy.

Unknown said...

It's okay, but it's not really Dragnet.

Stephen Mertz said...

When I interviewed Prather years ago, he expressed dislike for this novel. Said it was strictly a contract work for hire job. He found it inhibiting, having to switch from the Shell Scott voice to the Jack Webb voice. which is probably why he used a pseudonym.

Unknown said...

He was definitely a guy who wrote best in his own voice.

Max Allan Collins said...

Yes, "Big Bob" Trailins. Lynn Myers confirmed that Trailins had the DRAGNET manuscript in his files.