DEAD AND DONE FOR

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1939. Hardcover. Fine/Near fine. An early reprint. The author's first book. In his article "The Short Career of Robert Reeves" (1985) for Black Mask, John L. Apostolou wrote, "The main character, Cellini Smith, keeps books for a gang that runs the pinball machines - an illegal activity - in New York’s Lower East Side. Cellini is a college graduate, his education paid for by the boss of the gang, Tony Moro. When Moro is arrested for the murder of a Broadway producer, Cellini investigates the crime in order to prove his boss innocent. Making a swift transition from bookkeeper to detective, he solves the case, but not before (truncated) the number of corpses multiplies...Cellini bears some similarity to a character in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather named Tom Hagen, the role played by Robert Duvall in the movie. Dead and Done For is a superior first novel, firmly in the hardboiled tradition." Though small in terms of quantity, Reeves' contribution to the mystery genre was impressive. He produced three Cellini Smith novels, nine short stories for Black Mask, and two short stories for Dime Detective during a career cut short by his death in combat during World War II. Octavo: [x], 288 pp. Original green cloth binding, with orange-stamped titles and decorations. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with some very light wear. (Inventory #: 78546)