Day Keene

Gunard Hjerstedt

24 featured booksGunard Hjerstedt

Born Gunard Hjerstedt in Chicago in 1903, Keene became an actor in repertory theater in the early 1920s. When his actor friends decided to try film, he instead turned to writing, and during the 1930s was a principal writer for the “Little Orphan Annie” radio show, as well as contributing to the pulps. After he moved to the west coast of Florida, he began writing paperback originals in the late 1940s, mostly fast-paced crime stories. An editor suggested that he change his name to something more American-sounding, which he did by adapting his mother’s maiden name, Daisy Keeney, to Day Keene. He was part of a lively community of writers (including Mickey Spillane, Harry Whittington, Gil Brewer, Talmage Powell, and John D. MacDonald), the competitive nature of which inspired some of the best hardboiled crime paperback original novels of the early 1950s, published by Gold Medal, Ace, Avon, Graphic, among others. Macfadden reprinted much of his work in the late 1960s. Unlike many mystery writers, he had only one recurring character -- the Hawaiian private detective, Johnny Aloha. By the 1960s, he had abandoned mysteries for mainstream novels. He died in North Hollywood in 1969.

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OL889008A

Overview

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24 representative editions

Author pages in Bookitis are intended to show only works actually attributed to the author and a representative edition for each of those works.

Catalog identity

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Display name
Day Keene
Personal name
Gunard Hjerstedt
Source identifier
OL889008A

Featured books

Representative editions for works actually authored by this person.

Works in catalog

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Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!
Representative edition published 2011
Open Work
Framed in Guilt / My Flesh is Sweet
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
Home Is The Sailor (Hard Case Crime)
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
My Flesh Is Sweet
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
The Passion Murders
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
Framed in guilt
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
Bye, baby bunting
Representative edition published 1995
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Wake Up to Murder
Representative edition published 1993
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World Without Women
Representative edition published 1993
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Passage to Samoa
Representative edition published 1992
Open Work
Murder on the Side
Representative edition published 1991
Open Work
Strange Witness
Representative edition published 1991
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Guns along the Brazos
Representative edition published 1991
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Homicidal lady
Representative edition published 1987
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Carnival of Doubt
Representative edition published 1965
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Carnival of death
Representative edition published 1965
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Seed of doubt
Representative edition published 1962
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Exciting Short Stories
Representative edition published 1960
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The Brimstone Bed
Representative edition published 1960
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Naked Fury
Representative edition published 1952
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The Bold West
Representative edition published 2000
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Bye, Baby Bunting
Representative edition published 1995
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Framed in Guilt
Representative edition published 1994
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The Big Kiss-Off
Representative edition published 1990
Open Work