My parents were READERS....not during the day; they were too busy for that; but there was always a stack of books on the nightstand on either side of the bed. Only much later did I realize how liberal, if not positively "Red" some of them were, and how all children did not necessarily read Sinclair Lewis, or the OZ books in the original or The Decameron or Ray Bradbury. One thing they both read was hardboiled detective novels of the 1930s. The famous ones of course, but also the more obscure names of the period. In hardcover because they predate the pocketbook, and often in first edition. In the next few weeks, I'll be listing the collection, starting with the detectives and murder mysteries. My sister is listing the other half of the collection....look for her offerings under 'cobwebb'.