Home - Where you will find out more about mystery novels, find new authors, and learn about some really great older ones.

Mystery Author Index

Dell Mapbacks and Other Mystery Novel Covers

Dell Map Backs

• Dell Map Back Mysteries - A series of paperbacks, published in the 1940's and 1950's with a map of the scene of the crime on the back cover. This article is by Gary Lovisi in Mystery Scene magazine. If you are interested in seeing a very extensive collection of Dell Map Back covers, take a look at this site.

  

• Dell Mapbacks:A History - by J. Kingston Pierce at the CrimeReads web site.
• The Dell Mapback Index - A list of map backs in number order with a date of publication.
• List of Mapbacks in order - This has pictures of covers but lacks publication information. This is from BookScans
• Mapping Out a Plan - an essay on Dell Map Backs from the blog Beneath the Stains of Time.
• Gerald Gregg - Artist who worked for Dell and is said to have done over 170 Mapback Covers. This article is from Wikipedia.
• Gerald Gregg Covers - on Flickr
• Robert Stanley - Did covers for Dell from 1950 to 1959. This article is from Wikipedia.
• Robert Stanley Covers - on Flickr
• Ruth Belew - An artist for Dell who did the maps. Other artists did the covers.
• Collecting Dell mapbacks - an article by Rich Rennicks in the New Antiquarian blog, July 9, 2020.
• Putting Dell on the Map - a history of Dell paperbacks by William H. Lyles. Published in 1983 by Greenwood Press. This information is from GoodReads.

  

• Who is Philip Ketchum? The very first paperback issued in what would become the Dell Map Back series was titled The Body in the Library. It had no map on the back, and it was written by Philip Ketchum. Who? It seems that Philip Ketchum was a writer of Western novels, and that this is his only mystery novel. The only information that I found about him is at Goodreads.

Other Mystery Novel Covers

• Mystery Novel Covers by Edward Gorey - Wonderful cover art.
• Dutch Mystery Covers - Remarkable cover art on mystery novels of the 1930's and 40's.
• Twelve Cover Artists Every Vintage Crime Lover Should Know - An article by Kingston Pierce at Crime Reads, May 21, 2018.
• Agatha Christie Book Cover Images - From Wikipedia.
• The Cover Art of Agatha Christie's Mystery of the Blue Train - So many covers for one book. This is from the blog The Paperback Palette. If you interested in paperback covers in general, you will find this blog interesting.
• Book Cover Images by Writer - If you are interested in book covers of your favorite writer, you may find them at Wikipedia.
• Can You Identify These Classic Crime Novels by Their Cover - Go ahead, give it a try. From the Guardian.
• Nancy Drew Cover Art (1962 - 1986) - If you are a Nancy Drew fan, you will find these covers interesting.

This site is maintained by Linda Bertland, school librarian, Philadelphia, PA. Please address any comments, additions, or corrections to info@sldirectory.com