The Kentish Manor Murders; The Reluctant Ronin; Bernhardt's Edge

The Detective Book Club produced volumes of three crime novels from 1942 to 1999. Originally monthly, near the end they dwindled down to just a few per year. Many famous detective and crime novelists had their early works featured in DBC editions. Often, books were published in DBC editions before, or at the same time as they were published in mass market form. Here is some information about our authors:

Julian Symons: Known for crime novels, Melville also wrote about biography, criticism, and military and social history. The author of over 40 books, Melville created five series of crime novels, ranging from two to eight novels each. Symons died in 1994. The Kentish Manor Murders is the second of two books involving Sheridan Haynes as his crime solver.

James Melville: Melville, a member of the RAF during WWII, went on to become a diplomat, spending much of his career in Japan. There he began to write about the country and its people, creating a crime novel series involving an inspector called Otani. This series had 13 volumes. Melville wrote four other novels as well. The Reluctant Ronin is the tenth Otani novel.

Collin Wilcox: Also known as Carter Wick, Wilcox is best known as the creator of Sam McCloud, which became a television series starring Dennis Weaver. The series ran from 1970 to 1977. He also created three other detective series, with the most prolific being the Frank Hastings series, with 19 novels. Wilcox died in 1996. Bernhardt's Edge is the first of five novels featuring Alan Bernhardt.