While in Reno I went into the Easter Seals thrift shop. I wasn't looking for a book but when I spotted a shelf in the back I couldn't resist having a look through them. I found a brand new (brand new as in never been read not as in "hot off the press") paperback. A Vin Packer published in 1965. Copyright in 1956. Cost: 75 cents.
If it didn't have a cover I would have guessed that the author was Erskine Caldwell. It was a story set in Georgia with plenty of racy and racey material. In fact, it does appear that Vin added heaping helpings of racial and sexual tension as to ensure a best seller (cover blub announced that 5,500,000 Vin Packer books had been sold). However, despite the lurid storyline, there was some pretty solid writing on display. It kept my interest to the end despite finishing it while in an airport waiting room and on a plane (not the best places to retain concentration).
Now, it turns out that Vin Packer isn't really Vin Packer. He's Marijane Meaker who (besides being a she) is also a bestselling children's author under the name M.E. Kerr. Hard to imagine the author of "Dark Don't Catch Me" writing children's books but it's in the Wikipedia so it must be true.
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