TRASHY TUESDAY: AUSTRALIAN PRE-PAPERBACK CRIME – INVINCIBLE PRESS MYSTERY BOOKS
Before the domination of the Australian paperback market by Horwitz, there were a range of smaller publishers that produced a regular supply of mysteries. One of these were Invincible Press which produced around 100 stapled digests with hard cardboard covers in their Invincible Mystery series between about 1944 to 1952 (precise dates are not clear).
The books would seem to have been produced at the rate of one a month and mainly drew on British and American authors, most notably Freeman Wills Croft, Amelia Reynolds Long, Frank Kane and even Graham Greene. The occasional Australian writer was also used, including Jon Cleary, Arthur Upfield, Max Murray and Sidney Hobson Courtier.
The cover art work seems to have been done by unacknowledged local artists and was generally quite plain, although later books in series utilised a wider colour palette and were more adventurous. Skeletons frequently appeared on the covers, but there was none of the salacious artwork that was to accompany the Horwitz books from the late 1950s.
Despite their relative plainness and limited colour use, the covers do have some appeal.
I have included some from my collection below.
Sidney Hobson Courtier was an Australian author who wrote 26 crime novels between 1950 and 1972. The Glass Spear was one of his first books and was the first in his series about Australian police detective Ambrose Mahon. It was the only one he did for Invincible Press.
It is quite an attractive cover, with a greater use of different colours than the earlier books in the series. Courtier drew on Arthur Upfield’s Bony books as an inspiration for his mysteries.
Australian journalist turned author Max Murray wrote twelve crime novels between 1940 and 1957, eleven of which had the word “Corpse” in the title. The Voice Of The Corpse was the first.
The cover is quite bland, but the inside illustration is quietly gruesome!
American crime writer Amelia Reynolds Long provided four books for the Invincible Mystery series. The Corpse Came Back was probably published by Invincible in 1950, or thereafter, but is not dated.
The House With Green Shudders was probably published after The Corpse Came Back and most likely in 1951 or later.
Prolific American crime writer Frank Kane contributed six books to the Invincible Mystery series and it seems that for awhile his and Amelia Reynolds Long’s books were being alternated on a monthly basis. Green Light For Death was probably published around 1950.
The cover is simple, but the use of the blocks of green and red is very effective. It is the Invincible Mystery book that seems to be around the most and often pops up at bookshops and on eBay.
Louis Trimble was another relatively prolific and popular American author used by Invincible Press, although The Case Of The Blank Cartridge was the only one of his books they published.
The cover is quite good for the time.
Crime On My Hands was the first of two mysteries published as by suave movie star George Sanders, then best known for playing the Saint and the Falcon on screen. It was in fact written by American author Craig Rice, and is an early example of the celebrity mystery.
The price on the cover would suggest that Crime On My Hands was one of the earlier books produced by Invincible in their Mystery series. They also published the second Sanders mystery – Stranger At Home. The cover is a bit of a mess and not greatly appealing.
Although difficult to find these days, the Invincible Mystery Series is not without appeal and the books are worth hunting out.
Thanks to my friend Gayle Lovett who gave me most of the above books. I would also like to acknowledge Graeme Flanagan’s Australian Vintage Paperback Guide (1994) which provides an alphabetical listing of the Invincible Mystery books.