Dead Man's Shoes

By Day Keene

What's the first thing you think of doing when you find you only have months to live? Hint: it involves money. A lot of it. And it isn't yours. And the second thing...?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667600178

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION

DEAD MAN’S SHOES, by Day Keene

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 2022 by Wildside Press LLC.

Edited, revised, and with a new introduction by John Betancourt.

Originally version published in Weird Tales, March 1950.

Published by Wildside Press LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

INTRODUCTION

Day Keene was the pseudonym of Gunard Hjertstedt (1904-1969), an American novelist and short story author, as well as a radio and television scriptwriter. Keene published 50 novels, as well as hundreds of short stories and scripts for radio series. He is primarily known for his work in the mystery genre, but his fiction strayed into westerns, suspense, and even the weird tale on occasion. Dead Man’s Shoes—though it has no overt supernatual element—appeared in Weird Tales. And it belonged there.

Gunard Hjertstedt.

Half Swedish and half Irish, Hjertstedt was born in Chicago and worked as an actor in in the 1920s. He wanted to write, though, and reportedly flipped a coin to see which career he would pursue. (Guess which won!) His initial attempts to break into the pulp magazine market in the 1930s resulted in a handful of sales under his own name, but he quickly abandoned magazines for the more lucrative radio market, where he rapidly established himself as a quick and reliable script writer. He rose through the ranks to serve as head writer for several radio programs, including Little Orphan Annie and Kitty Keene, Inc., where he had a 10-year run.

He returned to fiction writing in the 1940s, now a more polished storyteller. He changed his byline to Day Keene (a variation on his mother’s maiden name, Daisy Keenan)—and met with immediate success. He sold regularly to the top mystery pulps of the day, including Black Mask, Detective Tales, Dime Mystery, and the new hardboiled digest, Manhunt, where his tough-guy protagonists found a ready audience.

With the rise of mass-market paperbacks, he transitioned smoothly from magazine short fiction