Sexton Blake

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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