Day Keene

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  • Bibliography:
    41 Books
  • First Book:
    January 1952
  • Latest Book:
    October 2023
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Book List in Order: 41 titles

  • About Doctor Ferrel

    • / Contemporary Romance
    • Buy Buy

    DOCTOR FERREL Elaine, my dear -- Your sleep in the next room even as I write this letter, this futile letter. If only I could tell you without the hurt…Maggie is just down the hall -- Maggie, the waif, the beautiful waif whose nearness makes...

  • Love Me and Die

    Harlequin Romance - 167

  • Hunt the Killer

    Harlequin Romance - 168

    He was an ex-con walking the last steps toward freedom. He was an ex-con torn between the lust to get the man who “sent him up the river” and the vow to go straight; torn between returning to his faithful wife and his pulse-quickening Cuban mistr...

  • If the Coffin Fits

    Harlequin Romance - 180

  • Naked Fury

    Harlequin Romance - 185

  • Framed in Guilt

    Harlequin Romance - 229

    He had been a nobody till he married a rich and influential woman who opened the doors to success for him. Now his problem was to get rid of the first wife he had never bothered to divorce. The few people who knew about the first marriage would have ...

  • Wake Up to Murder

    Harlequin Romance - 253

    When Jim Charters drank, he talked too much. He claimed he could get Pearl Mantinover out of the death house because he could prove she was innocent. Shooting off his mouth this time led Jim into the tightest spot of his life . . . The next morning h...

  • Mrs. Homicide

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    “HOLD ME TIGHTER,” SHE WHIMPERED. “I’M SCARED.” What could I tell her -- we all have to go sometime? Her eyes searched mine. “You hate me, don’t you?” I shook my head. “Prove it,” she whispered. “Kiss me goodbye.” I lea...

  • Homicidal Lady

    Following the death of Beth's husband, Talbot and Beth set up house together--but only for a short time because Beth too suddenly dies and while the real murderer watches from the sidelines, the police decide that Talbot is the killer...



  • Carnival of Death

    On the day they gave the money away . . . the shopping center was a scene of confusion. A carnival had been set up nearby, and now a clown was throwing coins and bills to the eager crowd.Suddenly the gay scene changed to nightmare. A man clutched his...

  • To Kiss or Kill

    To Kiss, or Kill, first published in 1951, is a classic noir murder mystery by Day Keene (1904-1969). Just out of the mental asylum, no one could blame heavyweight boxer, Barney Mandell, a little overindulgence at a tavern. And when a hot little numb...

  • Murder on the Side

    The beautiful woman with the stockings tied around her neck was still warm when her husband found her. But Hanson dyed his hair, packed his bags and headed for Mexico on a false passport. Hanson was innocent, but knew no-one would ever believe him. ...

  • Guns along the Brazos

  • Strange Witness

    REVENGE: a seven letter word that stood for every year that Hart Jackson had spent in jail. The moment of his release, Jackson went straight for Flip Evans who had framed him. In a heart-stopping trial across Chicago, Jackson became entangled witha...

  • Bye, Baby Bunting

    This is no ordinary who-dun-it. The story tells of a diabolical conspiracy in which 'proof' of marital infidelity becomes a weapon of murder... The discovery, in the boot of her car, of the corpse of an amorous multi-millionaire catapults a young wif...

  • My Flesh Is Sweet

    Ad Connors, pulp writer, has been in Mexico grinding out his masterpiece. Fresh off a rejection by the Saturday Evening Post, he witnesses an auto accident. One of the drivers is a beautiful American woman who can't speak Spanish. Connors, fluent, st...

  • The Passion Murders

    Keene's tale about a big city attorney hungering for the simple life. His assignment to be a special prosecutor and tackle a big-time crime figure, along with what he saw his wife and law partner doing together, hastens the exit. But the simple life ...

  • Home Is the Sailor

    Hard Case Crime - 7

    After years at sea, Swede Nelson just wanted to find a nice girl and settle down. What he found was Corliss Mason: sensual, irresistible--and deadly. Soon Swede's helping Corliss cover up a killing, but how long can they get away with murder? And why...

  • Sleep With The Devil

    Sleep with the Devil, first published in 1954, is a hard-boiled noir crime novel by prolific author Day Keene (pseudonym of Gunnar Hjerstedt, 1904-1969). The novel follows Les Ferron, a borderline sociopath who commits a series of crimes, has two gir...



  • League of the Grateful Dead and Other Stories

    Day Keene wrote these eight hardboiled tales for the pulps, particularly Detective Stories, in the 40s. John Pelan has selected these for Volume #1 of the Day Keene in the Detective Pulps series. The titles are: League of the Grateful Dead As Deep As...

  • We Are the Dead and Other Stories

    This is the second collection in the Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Series, edited by John Pelan and Fender Tucker and introduced by Ed Gorman. Its six novellas were published in the 40s and include: We Are The Dead Corpses Come In Pairs Kitten On ...

  • Death March Of The Dancing Dolls

    DEATH MARCH OF THE DANCING DOLLS and Other Stories Volume #3 in the Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Series by Day Keene With an Introduction by Bill Crider Day Keene wrote these eight hardboiled tales for the pulps, particularly Dime Mystery Magazin...

  • Dead Dolls Don't Talk // Hunt the Killer // Too Hot to Hold

    Dead Dolls Don’t Talk (1959) allows a juror to find out what it’s like to be on the other side of the law. Hunt the Killer (1951) is the story of a man just out from prison who is newly framed for a killing he didn’t do. And Too Hot to Hold (19...

  • The Big Kiss-Off

    CADE had come home to the Gulf country to find murder waiting, and queer terror. For no reason he could fathom, brutal enemies were trying to destroy him. Even his wife, the lovely Janice, joined the campaign to kiss off Cade somehow -- hurt him, mai...

  • Bring Him Back Dead

    He was as rare as a three-dollar bill . . . an honest man in the town of French Bayou - that was crowding Phenix City out of corruption’s first place.He was young Deputy Sheriff Andy Latour, with enough stern morality for someone to have set an ass...

  • It's a Sin to Kill

    She lived fast...and she loved fast.Everyone who knew Helene Camden had a good reason for wanting her dead:• Hal Camden - her husband, who knew she was two-timing him all over Florida• Tom Ferris - who knew all the angles...and the curves• Char...

  • Too Black for Heaven

    She had a plan . . .She would find the man that had done this terrible thing to her.She would get into her cream-colored Cadillac and drive until she came to Blairville - his town.She would look for his house and go there with the little pearl-handle...

  • Who Has Wilma Lathrop?

    They showed me the bone fragments, and the charred diamond, and everything else - but I said to hell with their theory.Wilma was alive and I knew it.She had to be. The newspapers were yelling that I had murdered her!...

  • Death House Doll

    Alive, she was worth a fortune . . . dead, she was a racketeer’s life insurance!Mona Ambler sat in the death house with a secret that not even a decent guy like Mike Duval could extract. Just home from Korea, Mike had to go about saving the gal the...



  • The Case of the Bearded Bride and Other Stories

    The Case of the Bearded Bride and Other Stories is the fourth book in the Day Keene in the Mystery Pulps series by John Pelan from Ramble House. These ten were selected by Pelan and are the Keene stories he published under two different names: Gunard...

  • A Corpse Walks in Brooklyn and Other Stories

    The word may be getting out that Day Keene, author of those great noir novels of the 40s and 50s, also wrote a lot of stories for the pulps -- and that John Pelan and Ramble House are bringing all of them back for re-reading. Many of these stories we...

  • The Wages of Sin

    PERIL PRESS presents:Star Western, January 1941THE WAGES OF SINby Day Keene(Gunard Hjertstedt)Chapter 1: Guilty as HellChapter 2: Ways That Are DarkChapter 3: Tricks That Are VainChapter 4: The Heathen Chinee Is Pecuuar8600 WordsThe story of the outl...

  • Homicide House and Other Stories

    This is the sixth volume of criminous short stories by Day Keene published by Ramble House. Originally presented in various pulp magazines in the 30s, these stories represent the best in hard-boiled fiction pre-Spillane. Keene was known for his excel...

  • Framed in Guilt // My Flesh Is Sweet

    Two hardboiled mystery classics from the post-pulp era, the first one set in post-WWII Los Angeles and involving a murder the suspect doesn't remember committing; the second an intriguing mystery set in Mexico and a Midwest carny town....

  • Take a Step to Murder

    If he proved the girl was innocent, then Renner himself would be arrested as the killer! TAKE A STEP TO MURDER Only a short time ago Renner had told the harsh truth to Tamara. "Look," he had said, "I'm forty thousand dollars short on this deal and...

  • Old Homicide Week

    It would take plenty for Harry Breen to keep cool in the face of the heat the cops turned on after that double kill. But 250-grand worth of ice can do a lot of cooling!...

  • Dead Man's Tide // The Dangling Carrot // The Big Kiss-Off

    DEAD MAN'S TIDEYour name is Charlie Ames and you own a boat called the Sally and you're married to Mary Lou, the most wonderful woman in the world. But this morning you wake up in bed on someone else's cruiser, naked and hungover. An empty bottle rol...

  • Dead Man's Shoes

    What's the first thing you think of doing when you find you only have months to live? Hint: it involves money. A lot of it. And it isn't yours. And the second thing...?...

  • Acapulco G.P.O.

    ACAPULCO G.P.O.Acapulco is a paradise to some, but for most of the expatriates living here, the good life is a mixed blessing. Too much money and too much temptation is a bad breeding ground. Jim Harris knows that all too well. As a painter, his glor...



  • Passage to Samoa

    • / Suspense
    • Buy Buy

    Sylvia Ryan was rich and beautiful - and had an infamous past. When she hired Matt Kelly to join her all-male expedition to the South Seas, he was sure he could handle the job - and Sylvia - well... That was before he learned that murder was also a m...

  • World Without Women

    • / Suspense
    • Buy Buy

    Reed and Connie Renner sail to the Galapagos Islands to get away from everything in an attempt to save their marriage. After 16 months, they return home to find that most of the women in the world have died from a mystery illness. The remaining few...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Day Keene has published 41 books.

Day Keene does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Acapulco G.P.O., was published in October 2023.

The first book by Day Keene, Love Me and Die, was published in January 1952.

No. Day Keene does not write books in series.
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