Favourite mystery cover #4

Deadly Night Call (Somebody on the Phone) by William Irish

First published 1950; this issue by Graphic Books (1952)

William Irish was a pseudonym of Cornell Woolrich (1903 - 1968), who coined the phrase "First we dream, then we die" and was one of the creators of the noir genre. One of Woolrich's best known stories is "Rear Window", which was made into a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock.

Woolrich was a recluse for much of his life and lived with his mother after his marriage failed. He was a chronic alcoholic and died soon after one of his legs was amputated (he had let a foot infection fester until it was too late).