So Nude, So Dead

In 1952, a young author published his first crime novel, The Evil Sleep!, under the name of Evan Hunter (which he then legally adopted). In 1956, he published it again as So Nude, So Dead using the name Richard Marsten. Such was the world of the pulps in the '50s. In 1986, when the Mystery Writers of America honored him as a Grand Master, readers knew him as Ed McBain, author of the 87th Precinct series. In this first novel, McBain was searching for his voice. As his maiden flight into crime fiction, the book doesn't soar but it does rise with punchy dialogue and a fast pace.

Ray Stone, a young man addicted to heroin, awakes in a seedy New York City hotel bed next to a beautiful naked woman. He notices two small bullet holes in her navel and a "dried river of red across the flatness of her stomach" that runs onto the sheet. Frantic and desperate for a hit, he grabs his now-empty wallet, wondering where his 16 ounces of pure heroin went.

Ray was once a pianist with a future but now he's on the run for a murder he didn't commit. McBain tells the story as if he's looking down at Ray scurrying about furiously trying to find his stuff. The roadblocks are all in place: mobsters, drug pushers, the cops, beautiful women and his addiction. It's a treat for fans to watch a young writer learning the craft he will soon come to master. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher

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