Fredric Brown

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  • Bibliography:
    67 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1942
  • Latest Book:
    December 2021
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Full Series List in Order

An Ed and Am Mystery

The Fabulous Clipjoint (1948)

Book List in Order: 67 titles

  • Little Apple Hard to Peel

    in Murderous Schemes

    When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking), the mystery writer has at hand any number of M.O.'s including such tried and true conventions as the locked room, the unbreakable alibi, the double bluff, the mistaken identity, and many others. Indeed,...

  • The Fabulous Clipjoint

    An Ed and Am Mystery

    "Ingenious . . . Plunges the reader into a desperate, working-class America now better known through William Lindsay Gresham’s precisely contemporary novel Nightmare Alley and such film-noir classics as Out of the Past and The Postman Always Rings ...

  • Cry Silence

    in Master's Choice: Volume II

    An outstanding array of crime fiction by some of today's leading authors is accompanied by short stories from the acclaimed writers who inspired them and features works by Ian Rankin, Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Higgins Clark, Evan Hunter, Edgar Allan Po...

  • The Weapon

    in There Will Be War, Vol. II: Men of War
    • / Science Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    HIGH TECH WAR -- AND HOW TO AVOID IT The answer is simple: you would have peace? Then prepare for war. This wisdom is as old as armies. Yet after a few generations, the peace that was paid for with soldiers' blood comes to seem the normal thing, t...

  • We All Killed Grandma

    Mystery icon and original Dutton Guilt Edged Mysteries author Fredric Brown’s inventive and shocking novel We All Killed Grandma, first published in 1952, is available as an eBook for the first time! In We All Killed Grandma, Rod Britten’s f...

  • The Wench is Dead

    Howard Perry has become a drunk -- a skid row bum. It wasn't always so and he has hopes of returning to be a respected university student. But now he spends his days washing dishes to buy enough booze to hopefully blackout at night. His only friend i...

  • Blood

    in Bloodsuckers: The Vampire Archives Volume 1

    The Vampire Archives is the scariest, hungriest, undeadliest collection of vampire stories ever assembled. Dark, stormy, and delicious, once you're in its clutches there's no escape. From the first to last bite, it's a bloody good read. Featuring:...

  • Rogue in Space

    Call him Crag: misfit, loner, thief. Killer. He'd man once and had a metal hand to show for it. He knew good from evil but cared not a grain of Martian sand for either. Until rogue met rogue......

  • Nightmares and Geezenstacks

    "One of the great pulp writers, Fredric Brown (1906-1972) combined a flair for the horrific, a quirky sense of humor, and a wild imagination, and published many classic novels in the mystery and science fiction genres. But he was also a master of the...



  • Space on My Hands

  • The Deep End

    The story starts with the death of a child at an amusement park. Immediately, the situation sparks the classic 'could it be an accident? Of course not...' and it isn't long before newspaperman Sam Evans begins to sense that something is wrong. But wh...

  • Night of the Jabberwock

  • The Spherical Ghoul

  • Before She Kills

  • The Freak Show Murders

  • Homicide Sanitarium

    1985, trade paperback edition, Dennis McMillan Publications, Volume No. 1 of the author's appearances in the Detective Pulps series. 194 pages. Presents 7 short stories that originally appeared in the 1930's and 1940's....

  • Thirty Corpses Every Thursday

  • Pickled Punks

  • Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter



  • The Lenient Beast

  • The Screaming Mimi

    A hard-drinking reporter, a schizophrenic stripper, a disgraced psychoanalyst, and a mysterious serial killer who razors his female victims to death, collide with deadly and shocking reverberations in Fredric Brown's masterful crime classic THE SCREA...

  • Murder Can Be Fun

    A novel about an ex-reporter who, disenchanted with his career writing a radio soap opera, looks to create a new show, dubbed "Murder Can Be Fun," and change genres. Things get dicey when killings happen, using our hero's unpublished scripts as a tem...

  • Red Is the Hue of Hell

  • The Far Cry

    Once upon a time, a girl named Jenny Ames was murdered in a lonely house. No one knew where she had come from, or why she had died, or who killed her. Years later a man moved into the same house and discovered that nothing is more seductive than an u...

  • His Name Was Death

    “A masterfully delivered tale of an inconspicuous citizen who [finds] murder simple . . . The climax packs a brilliant wallop.” -- Chicago Tribune   Relentlessly twisting and blackly funny, this noir novel by Edgar Award winner Fr...

  • Martians, Go Home

    THEY WERE GREEN, THEY WERE LITTLE, THEY WERE BALD AS BILLIARD BALLS AND THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!Luke Devereaux was a science fiction writer, holed up in a desert shack waiting for inspiration. He was the first to see a Martian - but he certainly wasn't ...

  • From These Ashes

    A collection of all 118 short science fiction and fantasy stories of one of the masters of the vignette, all his short works except two which were rewritten into parts of a novel. Introduction by Barry N. Malzberg. Dustjacket art by Bob Eggleton....

  • Martians and Madness

    Martians and Madness contains the complete science fiction and fantasy novels of Fredric Brown as well as, Gateway to Darkness, and Gateway to Glory which were rewritten to be parts of Rogue in Space. It is a companion volume to From These Ashes, the...

  • Bloody Moonlight

    Ed and Am have gotten away from the Carney life. These days, they're working for the Starlock Detective Agency. Ed's first case is a wealthy client trying to sound out whether an investment's worth it. But then he finds a body with its throat cut, an...



  • Dead Ringer

    “An engaging pair of detectives” at a traveling carnival look to capture a heartless killer in this entry in the Edgar Award"winning series (The New York Times).   As a band of carnies moves through the Midwest putting on shows for the rub...

  • Here Comes A Candle

    This noir classic by an Edgar Award winner delves into the mind of a criminal: “Close to the perfect psycho thriller . . . a relentless dance of death tempo.” -- The New York Times   With innovative style far ahead of its time, th...

  • Life and Fire

    Mr. Henry Smith, agent for the Phalanx Life and Fire Insurance, will stop at nothing to protect the interests of his company.... A classic mystery from the March 22, 1941 issue of Detective Fiction Weekly....

  • Daymare and Other Tales from the Pulps

    Mystery and science fiction writer Fredric Brown (1906-1972) remains best-known for his short fiction. His story "Arena" (in this volume) became the basis for a "Star Trek" episode of the same title. "Arena" was also voted by the membership of the Sc...

  • To Slay a Man about a Dog

    Peter Kidd should have suspected the shaggy dog of something, right away. He got into trouble the first time he saw the animal. It was the first hour of the first day of Peter Kidd's debut as a private investigator. Specifically, ten minutes after ni...

  • Gateway to Darkness

    Crag was a no good drunk and deviant, now facing life in prison. But the good judge Jon Olliver offers him his freedom -- plus a million credits! -- in exchange for a small favor: steal a harmless tool from a rich scientist in Mars. Crag suspects a c...

  • Knock Three-One-Two

    Written late in his career and while at the height of his powers, KNOCK-THREE-ONE-TWO is Fredric Brown's tour de force of suspense. Taking place over the span of a single evening, we find a city enflamed by fear. A serial killer is on the loose, and ...

  • Come And Go Mad and Other Stories

    An undercover reporter. An elaborate ruse to get committed in an asylum to discover the story of lifetime. It should be a simple enough assignment; pretend to be crazy, get inside, observe, have someone to certify you are cured, and then get out. The...

  • Happy Ending

    A world had collapsed around this man -- a world that would never shout his praises again. The burned-out cities were still and dead, the twisted bodies and twisted souls giving him their last salute in death. And now he was alone, alone surrounded b...

  • Two Timer



  • Angels' Tread

    This is an exciting tale of the approach to the climax to end the temporal secular world where there is both wisdom and folly. There is a touch of sadness and joy, seriousness and silliness, brilliance and stupidity, thoughtfulness and forgetfulness...

  • The Lights in the Sky are Stars

    StardusterYes, I'm Max Andrews. I'm one of the guys who fought and bled and worked to get to Mars. I figure what I gave up in those early years gave me the right to pilot the next big jump.I've lied and stolen for that right. I'd have killed, too, bu...

  • The Mind Thing

    "HE" was really an "IT"He was incapable of love or mercy, or hate. And he certainly never felt the lack. He was almost pure thought.He was just doing what he had to do - looking for the right body to play host to him. Once he found it and moved in, h...

  • What Mad Universe

    BUG-EYED MONSTERS ON BROADWAYPulp SF magazine editor Keith Winton was answering a letter from a teenage fan when the first moon rocket fell back to Earth and blew him away.But where to? Greenville, New York, looked the same, but Bems (Bug-Eyed Monste...

  • Patron Principles

  • An Anonymous Source

  • Miss Darkness

    MISS DARKNESS collects the finest short crime fiction of Fredric Brown. Included in this generous collection are some hard to find gems, such as The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches, The Jabberwocky Murders and The Pickled Punks. Brown’s reputation h...

  • The Freakshow Murders

    First published in 1943, THEâ,ˆFREAKSHOWâ,ˆMURDERS is a classic, but long-neglected, 9-chapter mystery novella by the king of twisted crime fiction, Fredric Brown.Set in the shadowy confines of a travelling carnival, complete with its own fre...

  • Loaded

  • A Plot for Murder



  • Anthology of Sci-Fi V27, the Pulp Writers

    The Anthology of Sci-Fi V27 is a collection of ten Sci-fi stories from some of the best writers of the past century. Included are: Zen By Jerome Bixby, Of Stegner's Folly By Richard S. Shaver, Hall of Mirrors By Fredric Brown, Two Timer By Fredric Br...

  • The Fredric Brown Megapack

    Fredric Brown (1906-1972), one of science fiction's greatest masters from the Golden Age, is famous for his many classic short stories -- quite a few of which are presented here, including "Arena," "Knock," "Earthmen Bearing Gifts," "The Star Mouse,"...

  • Mouse - The Last Train

    PERIL PRESS presents: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1949 MOUSE by Fredric Brown The spaceship from Somewhere carried strange cargo! 4000 Words Weird Tales, January 1950 THE LAST TRAIN by Fredric Brown Illustrated by John Giunta It wasn’t a quest...

  • Honeymoon in Hell

    A collection of stories from a master of the form. Imagine . . . Ghosts, gods, and devils--heavens and hells--cities in the sky and cities beneath the sea. Time machines, spaceships--certainly you can imagine Martians, but what about interplaneta...

  • Murder and Matilda

    Maybe a woman's place was in the home in 1949 -- but then again, maybe it wasn't for a woman sheriff! A classic mystery by Fredric Brown, ripped from the pages of the Summer, 1949 issue of Mystery Book Magazine....

  • Madball

    MADBALLIt starts with a bank robbery. That’s where the $42,000 comes from. Then the two carnies who pull it off get in a car accident, and one of them is killed. The other guy, Mack Irby, waits it out in his hospital room until he’s recovered eno...

  • And the Gods Laughed

    Hank was spinning quite a space lie -- something about earrings wearing their owners. The crew got a boot out of the yarn -- until they got to thinking....

  • The Star Mouse

    Robinson Crusoe ... Gulliver ... Paul Bunyan; the story of their adventures is nothing compared to the Saga of Mitkey the Mouse!...

  • The Five-Day Nightmare

    The clock is ticking as a husband frantically tries to save his abducted wife in this fast-paced crime novel by “a real pro” (The New York Times Book Review).   Twenty-five grand if he wants his wife back alive. That’s the demand on the ra...

  • Mostly Murder

    Dark, twisting tales from an Edgar Award"winning author whose storytelling skills will “dazzle you” (San Francisco Chronicle).   From a local sheriff’s casual narration of brutal crimes to a sideshow performer’s evil exploits to the te...

  • The Murderers

    Lust plus greed equals murder in this classic Hollywood noir novel by “a real pro” (The New York Times Book Review).   A struggling actor, Willy Griff keeps himself entertained with the wife of a business mogul, but he wants more: He also wa...

  • One for the Road

    A small-town reporter must investigate a murder in a motel -- before he becomes the story -- in this mystery from an Edgar Award winner and “real pro” (The New York Times Book Review).   Bob Spitzer is a young newspaperman in Arizona, and th...

  • Compliments of a Fiend

    A detective scours Chicago for his missing uncle in this classic mystery by “a real pro -- a natural storyteller” (The New York Times Book Review).   Young Ed Hunter and his uncle Ambrose, an ex-carnie, have been making their mark as private...

  • Death Has Many Doors

    A woman’s wild story about killers from space leads two Chicago detectives into a bizarre case in this mystery by the Edgar Award"winning author.   Ed and Ambrose Hunter, nephew and uncle, have partnered up to open their own detective agency...

  • The Late Lamented

    A dead man and a pile of missing money have two Chicago detectives investigating the deceased’s daughter in this entry in the Edgar Award"winning series.   Tens of thousands of dollars have disappeared from the city of Chicago’s coffers, a...

  • Earthmen Bearing Gifts

    • / Fantasy
    • Buy Buy

    But this is a Fredric Brown story -- and you know that a perfect setup doesn't follow through in a Fredric Brown story. Something really and truly terrible is about to happen. Like, maybe the end of the world. Or worse!

    ...

  • Hall Of Mirrors

    • / Science Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    For an instant you think it is temporary blindness, this sudden dark that comes in the middle of a bright afternoon. It must be blindness, you think; could the sun that was tanning you have gone out instantaneously, leaving you in utter blackness?...

  • Keep Out

    • / Science Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    For fifty years he had tried to colonize Mars and all his efforts had failed. Besides this dome which had been built for us there was only one other outpost, another glassite dome much smaller and less than a mile away. It had looked as though man...

Award-Winning Books by Fredric Brown

The Fabulous Clipjoint
1948 Edgar Allan Poe Award -- First Novel


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Fredric Brown has published 67 books.

Fredric Brown does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Mostly Murder, was published in December 2021.

The first book by Fredric Brown, Little Apple Hard to Peel, was published in January 1942.

Yes. Fredric Brown has 1 series.
Author Series
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