Accused

by Hank Janson

Telos Publishing is proud to bring back into print, after more than fifty years’ absence, what most fans agree is one of the very best of the classic era Hank Janson novels. Accused was the most heavily scrutinised book of all in the infamous Hank Janson obscenity trials at the Old Bailey in the mid-1950s, and as a result was effectively banned from British bookshops. Now readers can judge for themselves whether or not this absorbing tale of sadistic cruelty, illicit passion and violent murder really was obscene! As usual, this Telos Publishing reissue comes unedited, and complete with legendary illustrator Reginald Heade’s wonderful original artwork cover. With their erotic pin-up covers and hardboiled crime tales, the Hank Janson pulp paperback novels were a British publishing sensation in the 1940s and 1950s, selling millions of copies to readers craving escapism from post-war austerity. Includes an introduction by pulp historian and writer Steve Holland.

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

A pseudonym used by Stephen Frances and Victor Norwood.

Hank Janson was the most popular and successful of British pulp fiction authors of the 1940s and 1950s. It was estimated that over five million of the author's books had been sold by 1954.

'When Dames Ge Tough' was the first Hank Janson novel in 1946 and there were around 220 featuring the tough Chicago reporter through to 'The Young Wolves' in 1968.

Many of the later novels were reputed to be the work of other authors.

Reviews

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine The Postman Always Rings Twice but with barrels of extra sex and violence thrown into the story. This was one of the Jansen novels that brought the law down on him. It's told in breathless, barely literate first person prose. The emphasis on depravity and brutality is notable and some of the scenes are very effective because the reader simply cannot trust the author not to do something unspeakable. I like the detective Jansen novels better than the crime books, but this one gets marks for sheer excess.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. British pulp novel with James M. Cain singing in the background. The main character/narrator here seemed much more sympathetic than what I remember from Postman Always Rings Twice.

Set in America with infrequent dips into British English. Noticeable, but not a deal-breaker. The plot rushes forward with the inevitability of an opera.

Half-a-point deducted for the occasional dip into purple prose territory. Considering how fast the Janson novels were written, it's almost forgivable. Almost.

Highly recommended to noir fans.