Gil Brewer Explained

Gilbert John "Gil" Brewer (November 20, 1922 – January 9, 1983) was an American writer of crime novels and short stories. Born on November 20, 1922, in Canandaigua, New York, he was the son of Gilbert Thomas Brewer and Ruth Wilhelmina Olschewske.^[1] Brewer's father was a writer who also published under the name Gil Brewer, specializing in air adventure stories.^[2] The older Brewer is most often remembered for having written "Gorilla of the Gas Bags," the cover story for the rare June 1929 issue of Zeppelin Stories.^[3]

After leaving the army at the end of World War II, Brewer joined his family, who had settled in St. Petersburg, Florida. There he met Verlaine in 1947 and married her soon after. Brewer started by writing serious novels, but soon turned to pulp paperbacks after a sale to Gold Medal Books in 1950, and afterwards specialized in fast-paced crime novels with a dose of soft-core sexuality. At one point, he had five books on the stands simultaneously. His best-selling book was 13 French Street (1951), which sold over a million copies.^[4]

Unwilling to promote himself, his career took a turn for the worse after a mental breakdown, and a long decline into alcoholism.^[4] Brewer died on January 9, 1983.^[4]

Works

This list does not include most of the many stories where Brewer was published under pseudonyms such as Elaine Evans, Connie Everett, Eric Fitzgerald, Morgana Hill, Jack Holland, Dee Laye, Marc Mixer, Bailey Morgan, Luke Morgann, Frank Sebastian, Alex Sexton, Anita Sultry, Viola Vixen, and more.^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

Novels

—published as by Gil Brewer—

• Gun the Dame Down (1951 – posthumously published by Stark House – 2015)
• Satan Is a Woman (Gold Medal – 1951)
• So Rich, So Dead (Gold Medal – 1951)
• 13 French Street (Gold Medal – 1951)
• Flight to Darkness (Gold Medal – 1952)
• Hell's Our Destination (Gold Medal – 1953)
• A Killer Is Loose (Gold Medal – 1954)
• Some Must Die (Gold Medal – 1954)
• 77 Rue Paradis (Gold Medal – 1954)
• The Squeeze (Ace Double – 1955)
• –And the Girl Screamed (Crest – 1956)
• The Angry Dream (Mystery House – 1957)
• The Brat (Gold Medal – 1957)
• Little Tramp (Crest – 1957)
• The Bitch (Avon – 1958)
• The Red Scarf (Mystery House – 1958)
• Wild (Crest – 1958)
• The Vengeful Virgin (Crest – 1958)
• The Girl from Hateville (Zenith – 1958)
• Wild to Possess (Monarch – 1959)
• Sugar (Avon – 1959)
• Nude on Thin Ice (Avon – 1960)
• Angel (Avon – 1960)
• Backwoods Teaser (Gold Medal – 1960)
• The Three-Way Split (Gold Medal – 1960)
• Play it Hard (Monarch – 1960)
• Appointment in Hell (Monarch – 1961)
• A Taste for Sin (Berkley – 1961)
• Memory of Passion (Lancer – 1963)
• The Hungry One (Gold Medal – 1966)
• The Tease (Banner – 1967)
• Sin for Me (Banner – 1967)
• It Takes a Thief #1: The Devil in Davos (TV tie-in – Ace – 1969)
• It Takes a Thief #2: Mediterranean Caper (TV tie-in – Ace – 1969)
• It Takes a Thief #3: Appointment in Cairo (TV tie-in – Ace – 1970)
• A Devil for O'Shaughnessy (1973 – posthumously published by Stark House – 2008)
• Angry Arnold (1976 – posthumously published by Stark House – 2015)
• The Erotics (posthumously published by Stark House – 2015)

Short story collections

• Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories (University Press of Florida – October 7, 2012)
• Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories: Expanded Edition (Stark House – March 2019)
• Death Is a Private Eye: Unpublished Stories of Gil Brewer (Stark House – August 2019)
• Die Once–Die Twice: More Unpublished Stories of Gil Brewer (Stark House – January 2020)
• Death Comes Last: The Rest of the 1950s (Stark House – November 2021)

External links

• • Web site: GIL BREWER, by Bill Pronzini and Lynn Munroe.. Mysteryfile.com. November 2, 2018.

Notes and References

1. Book: Rachels, David . Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories: Expanded Edition . Stark House Press . 2019 . 9781944520762 . Eureka, CA . 2 . English.
2. Book: Rachels, David . Death Comes Last: The Rest of the 1950s . Stark House Press . 2021 . 9781951473617 . Eureka, CA . 7.
3. Web site: February 12, 2012 . Lot #91661 . March 27, 2024 . Heritage Auctions.
4. David Rachels (2018). Gil Brewer's Sexual Obsession, PunkNoirMagazine.com, accessed October 20, 2021
5. Web site: Gil Brewer .
6. Web site: GIL BREWER, by Bill Pronzini and Lynn Munroe .
7. Web site: RARA-AVIS Archives: RARA-AVIS: Gil Brewer – new pseudonyms .
8. Web site: Gil Brewer papers, – Archives West .