Vintage Pulp | Nov 24 2008 |
We have it on good authority that Keep it Secret! is now required reading for all new employees of the National Security Agency and the cover hangs as a poster in the cafeteria. The book was written by Philip Chambers for Sexton Blake Library, which was a line of mysteries printed by London’s Amalgamated Press between 1915 and 1968, and which starred the titular Blake—a fictional British detective almost as famous as Sherlock Holmes. Over the years about two-hundred authors wrote Blake stories. Philip Chambers wrote or co-wrote seven entries in the series between 1960 and 1963, with this one appearing in 1961. The cover art is by Stefan Barany, who worked for Amalgamated on the Sexton Blake line for a couple of years but seems to have had virtually no other output. He was a very capable artist, though, based on this effort.