Something In The Shadows.

VIN PACKER

Publication: New York: Gold Medal, 1961,

First edition. PBO. GM s1146. Light wear to spine ends, former owner's stamped name on bottom edge of first page, and small corner crease to bottom edge of front panel, else very good in pictorial wrappers. The 15th Packer novel [there were 16, all Gold Medal PBOs] published by this talented & prolific writer in a period of less than 10 years--during which she also wrote and edited, as Ann Aldrich, a pioneering series of Lesbian nonfiction titles, all but one of them published by Gold Medal. At their best, Packer's crime novels--dark tales of psychological terror in suburban & small-town settings--compare quite favorably with those of David Goodis, for example, or her one-time housemate Patricia Highsmith, & deserve to be brought back into print. [A number of them, in fact, were slated for publication in Barry Gifford's distinguished Black Lizard series, before its sale to Vintage]. Anthony Boucher called Packer "consistently the most sensitive & illuminating writer of paperback originals." No faint praise from a man who was an early champion of Jim Thompson's PBOs. This is the only book with the name Meaker for a character, the author once said. Vin Packer is the pseudonym of Marijane Meaker. Cover art by Leo & Diane Dillon. When Maggie married him, she knew that he was different. It was as though a part of him was kept hidden, concealed, warped. Only when the newlyweds moved to an isolated farmhouse did Maggie begin to realize just how different her husband was!!!