[1] Carter Brown (1)

These cover are from the popular Signet Carter Brown detective paperback novel series from the 1960s.

* Top row, left to right:

• DIE ANYTIME, AFTER TUESDAY (kneeling blonde in neglige)
• THE HELLCAT (kneeling brunette in heels with leopard)
• THE LOVING & THE DEAD (raven wrapped with bedspread or curtain)
• THE FLAGELLATOR (tough blonde with a chain)
• THE MILLION-DOLLAR BABE (raven in wicker chair pulling off blouse)
• THE GIRL WHO WAS POSSESSED (raven in white bikini sprawled out on furs)

* Second row:

• ONLY THE VERY RICH (raven in bikini brief pulling off blouse, back view)
• A MURDERER AMONG US by Carter Brown (redhead on film set)
• THE BUMP & GRIND MURDERS (sitting blonde in burlesque outfit)
• TOMORROW IS MURDER (bouffant blonde biting on nightgown)
• THE DEEP COLD GREEN (redhead in white bikini & sandals)
• THE DEADLY KITTEN (raven in bikini bottom and beach towel)

Carter Brown was actually the pen name of a British-born Australian writer named Alan Geoffrey Yates, who died in 1985. His mysteries were set in the US, usually LA, apparently because he thought he could get a bigger market than if they were set in Melbourne or Sydney. If so, he thought right, since he was popular in both the US and Europe, and probably made a bundle. The Carter Brown paperbacks featured tough-guy detectives, plenty of sex and violence, and were written with fun in mind.

Some of the Carter Brown paperbacks may have been written by other authors: author Robert Silverberg, mostly known for his science fiction novels but willing to write anything that would bring in some change, claims he wrote two on contract but that they were never published.