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 THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 

Trick quiz question: name a fictional English detective with rooms on Baker Street, whose first adventure appeared in the late Victorian era... the answer "Sherlock Holmes" will probably spring back. But the answer on the card is Sexton Blake.

Hal Meredith wrote that first Blake story in 1893, in the Halfpenny Marvel. (Holmes first saw print in 1887.) Through to the 1960s Blake, remarkably without the aid of a Zimmer frame, was still assisting the police with their enquiries on a regular basis. (For details on the franchise see Michael Moorcock's essay below.)

In the mid-1950s Amalgamated Press took on a new editor for the Sexton Blake Library, their pulp-format series of novellas - Bill Howard Baker. Baker brought Jack Trevor Story in to help him out with his first Blake story. (See Sexton Blake Saved My Turkey >> ) (See also >>  The Man Who Knew Too Much, SBL 350, December 1955.)

Two books were published every month, so a roster of authors was needed to keep them coming, including Baker, Peter Saxon and Arthur Maclean. Many, including Michael Moorcock, wrote under the house name Desmond Reid. 

Story, using his own name, produced 20 Blakes, by his own reckoning. The list below has been completed with help from pulp maven Steve Holland, for which many thanks.

Steve is the author of The Mushroom Jungle, a history of the post-war British paperback boom. See Zardoz Books link for details >> their web page

    << Mark Hodder's hugely impressive Sexton Blake site—not to be missed

 << The Odyssey of Sexton Blake - Michael Moorcock's history of the detective from Sexton Blake Library 477, 1961

<< Loki's International Superheroes pages - a Zenith page and much more

   << New July 2006 Timo Palonen has a site in Finland showing lots of repainted Sexton Blake covers from Finnish editions, and photo covers too, including many of JTS's. Click on "Kirjallisuus" on the left hand side then choose S for Sexton Blake from the picking list, and finally choose by year.
    <<  Cover gallery of all Story's Sexton Blake Libraries

 <<  some non-Story Sexton Blake stuff ; Eric Parker art, the lost Blake comic strip...
 

THE JACK TREVOR STORY SEXTON BLAKES

These are the books credited to Jack—see below for others containing some JTS work

<< link to more material on this book

     Title

 Issue number & date
   Murder - With Love! 372, December 1956
   The Season of the Skylark 374, January 1957
     Vacation With Fear 382, May 1957
  The Blonde and the Boodle    394, November 1957
     Collapse Of Stout Party 401, March 1958
  Nine O'Clock Shadow    407, June 1958
     Murder in the Sun  412,  August 1958
  She Ain't Got No Body  416, October 1958
  The Frightened People  418, November 1958
  Invitation to a Murder 429, May 1959
     Courier for Crime 432, June 1959
  The Penny Murder (short story) 435, September 1959
   Home Sweet Homicide 436, September 1959
     Violence in Quiet Places 461, October 1960
     The Big Steal 464, November 1960
     Danger on the Flip Side 465, December 1960
     Assault and Pepper  472, March 1961
  Suddenly It's Murder 473, March 1961
  Rogue's Harbour  477, June 1961
  Danger's Child  487, November 1961
  In The Red (short story) 499, May 1962
     Company Of Bandits No.17 in 5th series, 1965
Other SBL titles with Story material

Steve Holland previously reported that the Blake tale co-written by Baker & Story which got Bill Howard Baker the job of editor on the SBL (see Sexton Blake Saved My Turkey >> ) was probably Without Warning, no. 347,  Nov 1955, the first SBLcredited to Baker. However David Redd has almost certainly correctly identified it as no. 350 also credited to Baker.
      The Man Who Knew Too Much  350, December 1955

The following two SBLs contain Story material continued or rewritten by Baker  (no.408 credited to Baker, no.458 to "Richard Williams") says Steve:
     Crime Is My Business 408, June 1958
      Large Type Killer 458, August 1960

Now that I've found a copy of Large Type Killer I can confirm that it contains JTS material - click the link button above for details

If you have any details about Story's time on the SBL,  please let me know at Guy.Lawley@dsl.pipex.com  Thanks!
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