Frank Kane

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Frank Kane's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    53 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1945
  • Latest Book:
    August 2023
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Full Series List in Order

Johnny Liddell

1 - About Face (Jan-1947)
1 - The Fatal Foursome (Jan-1947)
2 - Green Light for Death (Jan-1949)
3 - Slay Ride (Jan-1950)
4 - Bullet Proof (Jan-1951)
5 - Dead Weight (Jan-1951)
6 - Bare Trap (Jan-1952)
7 - Poisons Unknown (Jan-1953)
8 - The Icepick Artists (Jan-1953)
9 - Red Hot Ice (Jan-1955)
11 - A Real Gone Guy (Jan-1956)
12 - The Living End (Jan-1957)
13 - Trigger Mortis (Jan-1958)
14 - Grave Danger (Jan-1960)
15 - A Short Bier (Jan-1960)
16 - Time to Prey (Jan-1960)
17 - Due or Die (Jan-1961)
18 - The Mourning After (Jan-1961)
19 - Stacked Deck (Jan-1961)
20 - Crime of Their Life (Jan-1962)
21 - Dead Rite = Deadly Ransom (Jan-1962)
22 - Hearse Class Male = Deadly Cure (Jan-1963)
23 - Johnny Come Lately (Jan-1963)
24 - Ring-a-ding-ding (Jan-1963)
25 - Barely Seen (Jan-1964)
26 - Fatal Undertaking (Jan-1964)
27 - Final Curtain (Jan-1964)
28 - The Guilt Edged Frame (Jan-1964)
29 - Esprit De Corpse (Jan-1965)
30 - Two To Tangle (Jan-1965)
31 - Maid In Paris (Jan-1966)
32 - Margin For Terror (Jan-1967)

Book List in Order: 53 titles

  • Suicide

    PERIL PRESS presents: Crack Detective, January 1945 SUICIDE by Frank Kane (Author of “Dead Blood Runs Purple,” “Murder at Face Value,” etc.) The case was closed until Johnny Liddell arrived to tear it open! 3100 Words This edition includes t...

  • Morgue-Star Final

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    JOHNNY LIDDELL leaned an elbow on the bar of the Club Torino and squinted into the opaqueness of cigar smoke. He swung around after a minute, concentrated his attention on a small jigger of dark-brown ......

  • About Face

    Johnny Liddell - 1

    The pretty-boy movie star. The fat producer. The buxom blackmailer. The grubby undertaker. These four people never would have associated with one another runder ordinary circumstances. But they were drawn together in a shady swindle that promised...

  • The Fatal Foursome

    Johnny Liddell - 1

    The pretty-boy movie star. The fat producer. The buxom blackmailer. The grubby undertaker. These four people never would have associated with one another runder ordinary circumstances. But they were drawn together in a shady swindle that promised...

  • A Game of Murder

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    JOHNNY LIDDELL checked his watch with the big four-faced clock over the information booth, found he was six minutes slow. Grand Central Terminal was jammed with commuters on their way from Westchester ......

  • Green Light for Death

    Johnny Liddell - 2

    She was a gorgeous - and mysterious - girl from New York, who had taken a low-paying job in a small-town night club.When they fished her out of the local river she had nothing on. It didn’t matter. She was past caring.Johnny Liddell cared, though. ...

  • Slay Ride

    Johnny Liddell - 3

    Johnny Liddell was looking forward to his 2:30 a.m. date with Eve Wylie. Eve had thick red hair that fell down over her shoulders like a molten copper cascade, and Eve had a sullen soft-looking mouth that held more than a casual promise for Johnny Li...

  • Bullet Proof

    Johnny Liddell - 4

    Every time Johnny Liddell tried to keep a date with his blond, beautiful, and famous client, the whole neighborhood got sprayed with machine-gun bullets. Sometimes, Johnny figured, it didn’t pay to get out of bed -- especially when it was filled wi...

  • Dead Weight

    Johnny Liddell - 5

    Everyone was threatening Johnny Liddell -- even his girl, and the cops -- until Johnny came up with a new twist to trap a killer. It was so good he fooled everyone -- even himself!...



  • Death About Face

    Harlequin Romance - 126

  • Bare Trap

    Johnny Liddell - 6

    Private investigator Johnny Liddell faces the kiss of death in a Hollywood bedroom....

  • The Icepick Artists

    Johnny Liddell - 8

    There was only one trouble with the case when Johnny Liddell took it. The guy he replaced had just been murdered....

  • Poisons Unknown

    Johnny Liddell - 7

    The woman’s body undulated. Her motions became frantic. Wildly, she tore off her clothes … The others followed. Nude, danced to the frenzied drum …This was New Orleans.Johnny Liddell was no tourist.He had come here to investigate a disappearanc...

  • Gory Hallelujah!

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    SHE COULDN'T HAVE BEEN over eighteen. Her hair was the color of burnished copper, cut close to her head, curled softly. Her eyes, showing under half-closed lids, were deep blue, complemented by the faint ......

  • Lead Ache

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    A gorgeous gal with an insatiable appetite for love . . .A gossip columnist who scooped the world with his own obituary . . .An innocent young girl forced into a degrading racket . . .Plus other assorted chacters involved in mayhem and murder, in a c...

  • Frame

    Private Eye Johyyn Liddell had it all figured out. But the way it added up, there was only one possible killer: himself!...

  • A Package for Mr. Big

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    A gorgeous gal with an insatiable appetite for love . . .A gossip columnist who scooped the world with his own obituary . . .An innocent young girl forced into a degrading racket . . .Plus other assorted chacters involved in mayhem and murder, in a c...

  • Red Hot Ice

    Johnny Liddell - 9

    She was an alcoholic blonde with a load of hot diamonds -- a set-up for murder on the rocks. And only private eye Johnny Liddell can crack the case....

  • Liz

    in Liz + Syndicate Girl

    Frank Kane is most famous as the creator of detective Johnny Liddell, whose escapades thrilled paperback readers throughout the 1950s and 60s. These two novels offer a different side of Mr. Kane, the first novel being the story of a woman whose road ...



  • Return Engagement

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    A gorgeous gal with an insatiable appetite for love . . .A gossip columnist who scooped the world with his own obituary . . .An innocent young girl forced into a degrading racket . . .Plus other assorted chacters involved in mayhem and murder, in a c...

  • The Dead Grin

    in Johnny Liddell's Morgue

    A gorgeous gal with an insatiable appetite for love . . .A gossip columnist who scooped the world with his own obituary . . .An innocent young girl forced into a degrading racket . . .Plus other assorted chacters involved in mayhem and murder, in a c...

  • A Real Gone Guy

    Johnny Liddell - 11

    She called herself Denny Lyons ... and she was everything men dreamed of on long, lonely nights ...She had it all, from the white-gold hair that framed her expensive face to the graceful, slender ankles -- and all those pleasant extras in-between ......

  • The Living End

    Johnny Liddell - 12

    THE LIVING ENDEddie Marlon is just a kid with a song he wants published, another city kid with dreams of being in the music business. His song is nothing special, but Eddie gets a tip that a local radio station needs help on the early morning shift. ...

  • Trigger Mortis

    Johnny Liddell - 13

    Johnny Liddell, private investigator, is not accustomed to a quiet life. But life was never less quiet for him than after he was called in by Celeste Pierce, a redhead who is giving several famous bosomy blondes a run for their money. Everything was ...

  • Syndicate Girl

    in Liz + Syndicate Girl

    LIZLiz Allen isn’t going to take it anymore. Men have been trying to victimize her all her young life. But that ends when the fat local sheriff strips her and whips her alone in a cell. It ends with a dead sheriff and Liz on the run. She soon f...

  • Grave Danger

    Johnny Liddell - 14

    "P.I. Johnny Liddell tangles with mobsters, molls -- and murder! ""...the [Johnny Liddell] books are classic examples of the hard-boiled private eye formula...[The] books are often distinguished by a gritty, authentic portrayal of New York cops and t...

  • A Short Bier

    Johnny Liddell - 15

    "Kiely of the Dispatch, Liddell. A reporter of mine, Larry Jansen, had been murdered. I want you to find the killer.""Okay," Liddell sighed into the phone, replacing the receiver. He stared into the slanted green eyes of the girl, patter her on the k...

  • Time to Prey

    Johnny Liddell - 16

    It wasn’t his case…his girl…or his problem…but Johnny Liddell had a personal interest in this little caper. He didn’t ask to be the Feds’ “receiver” on a pass of inside info on the smuggling racket, but he was. He didn’t ask to hav...

  • Dead Set

    A Hollywood pool party. A beautiful woman. And Johnny Liddell. It all adds up to a mystery!...



  • Dead Wrong

    Hardboiled detective Johnny Liddell comes up against another tough case -- this once an insurance racket. If the death was an accident, Bob Horton inherits big. But if it was murder......

  • Due or Die

    Johnny Liddell - 17

    The Boys who couldn’t go home ruled the air-conditioned oasis called Las Palmas. They'd built a beautiful new city there on the Nevada desert. It had the latest model of a roulette wheel, double-duty strippers and a modern police force that couldn...

  • The Mourning After

    Johnny Liddell - 18

  • Stacked Deck

    Johnny Liddell - 19

    Trouble is a redheadLydia had a problem, and she dumped it right in Johnny Liddell's lap, along with her own million dollar body. She was very luscious - but somebody had something on her that was very ugly, and even more expensive.Johnny told her no...

  • The Conspirators

    A tense, searing novel of treachery, love and intrigue on a private yacht—destination unknown! Three desperate men and two fiery woman who gambles everything they had in a deadly game of winner-take-all. From the swift, sharp pen of Frank Kane...

  • Crime of Their Life

    Johnny Liddell - 20

    Murder and smuggling keep Johnny Liddell busy aboard a cruise ship in the Carribean. The list of suspects and potential victims is longer than Johnny's arm....

  • Dead Rite = Deadly Ransom

    Johnny Liddell - 21

    DEADLY RANSOM - A JOHNNY LIDDELL MYSTERY CRIME NOVELSet in mid-century U.S., Private Investigator Johnny Liddell is tasked with sorting out the nefarious connections between the show business industry and organized crime that ultimately lead to money...

  • A Grave Matter

    The moment Johnny Liddell laid eyes on the redhead, he knew the voice belonged. She was sprawled out, her hair a coppery tangle on the beige rug, her arm crooked over her head. The eyes that stared up at him were slightly slanted, half closed; her li...

  • Hearse Class Male = Deadly Cure

    Johnny Liddell - 22

    DEADLY CURE - ANOTHER JOHNNY LIDDELL MYSTERY CRIME NOVELWalk alongside Johnny Liddell as he investigates another major murder mystery involving a high-stakes conspiracy, and enjoys some hot romance along the way. Excerpt: Lopez was an expert in his f...

  • Johnny Come Lately

    Johnny Liddell - 23



  • The Killing

    Three stories for the price of one from a master of the mystery short story. “The Killing” -- The Blue Queen was a sure thing, a thoroughbred horse that could make its owner a killing at the race track. Connie Witt as the owner of The Blue Quee...

  • Ring-a-ding-ding

    Johnny Liddell - 24

    She was blond, stacked, and meant business. Johnny Liddell realized she was a player, but couldn't resist, even though he knew better. Blackmail, a sultry nightclub singer, and all the dead bodies piling up around him make for one of Johnny's toughes...

  • Stairway To Hell

    Stairway to Hell - Another Johnny Liddell Mystery Crime NovelIt wasn't just the set-up that bothered Liddell - two murders, a blackmail and a messy scandal. It was the girl - a girl he could really go for - and she was mixed up with both murders, th...

  • Barely Seen

    Johnny Liddell - 25

  • Fatal Undertaking

    Johnny Liddell - 26

    The tall blonde marched into the office, straight toward the man sitting behind the desk. "Are you Johnny Liddell?" The man nodded. That was his first mistake " and his last. The blonde opened her purse and without batting her big blue eyes...

  • Final Curtain

    Johnny Liddell - 27

  • The Guilt Edged Frame

    Johnny Liddell - 28

    Never Mix Pleasure With Murder She had jet black hair, almond eyes and a very business-like derringer jabbed against Liddell's ribs. "Why the joy ride?" Liddel asked. "You could have blasted me in my room." The girl smile...

  • Esprit De Corpse

    Johnny Liddell - 29

  • Two To Tangle

    Johnny Liddell - 30

  • Maid In Paris

    Johnny Liddell - 31



  • Margin For Terror

    Johnny Liddell - 32

    Rocky Nelson was a dumb boxer, but his written expose of the fight racket was powerful enough to blast the syndicate wide open, and the bosses knew it. So for life insurance, Rocky got Johnny Liddell to lock the document in his office safe. But they ...

  • Shakedown

    Shakedown - Another Johnny Liddell Mystery Crime ThrillerFollow private investigator, Johnny Liddell, as he picks up the pieces of deceit, extortion and murder in mid-20th century New York City. See how...

  • Thirty Pieces of Lead

    Musico was willing to aid the Gestapo colonel -- for a price. A classic historical crime story by the author of the Johnny Liddell series....

  • Dead Blood Runs Purple

    There was a higher-up behind the jewel-snatching racket at the Tropical Club, which culminated in a slashed throat for lovely Marie Marlin. And Johnny Liddell’s throat was ripe for the murderer’s knife, unless he could sift through the mass of co...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Frank Kane has published 53 books.

Frank Kane does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Dead Blood Runs Purple, was published in August 2023.

The first book by Frank Kane, Suicide, was published in January 1945.

Yes. Frank Kane has 1 series.
Author Series
Publisher Series
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