Seven Slayers

This collection, holding some of Cain's finest work ever to appear in Black Mask, was first published in 1950. It opens, fittingly, with Black, an account of a mysterious stranger who winds up playing both sides following his macabre discovery in a nameless time. Also in the book is Parlor Trick, about beautiful Bella's fast-talking following the discovery of a corpse in her kitchen. Little is known about the life of writer George Carrol Sims, who used the pseudoynms Paul Cain for his pulp career, and Peter Ruric for his tasks as a screenwriter. Sims was that rarest of creatures-a succesful novelist and Hollywood scribe. He also dated the actress Gertrude Michael, and the character of Granquist in Fast One was based on her.