Miss Hard-Boiled, by Jane Dixon (1930) (opens in new tab)

In my research into the source texts (novels, plays, magazine stories) of Hollywood’s earliest sound films — the Pre-Code era, as it’s usually referred to — I have amassed stacks of cheaper hardback novels published by Grosset & Dunlap. One of the fundamental forces that drives the publishing business is “another one like.” People who enjoy reading an Agatha Christie mystery will usually pick up another one (and another one and another one) because they can count on its being reliably similar...