Shell Scott was the best-known creation of fiction writer Richard S. Prather. A Southern California private eye, 6-foot-2 ex-marine, he was featured in 41 titles published over a span of nearly 40 years. The character remained 30 years old throughout.
The titles are:
• Case of the Vanishing Beauty (1950)
• Bodies in Bedlam (1951)
• Everybody Had a Gun (1951)
• Find This Woman (1951)
• Dagger of Flesh (1952)
• Darling, It's Death (1952)
• Pattern for Murder a.k.a. The Scrambled Yeggs (as David Knight) (1952)
• Way of a Wanton (1952)
• Always Leave 'em Dying (1954)
• Pattern for Panic (published in 1954 with lead character named Cliff Morgan, re-written in 1961 with character's name changed to Shell Scott)
• Ride a High Horse a.k.a. Too Many Crooks (1956)
• Strip for Murder (1956)
• The Wailing Frail (1956)
• The Deadly Darling (1957)
• Have Gat—Will Travel (short stories) (1957)
• Three's a Shroud (novelettes) (1957)
• Slab Happy (1958)
• Take a Murder, Darling (1958)
• Over Her Dear Body (1959)
• Double in Trouble (co-written with Stephen Marlowe and featuring his character Chester Drum working with Shell Scott) (1959)
• Dance with the Dead (1960)
• Dig That Crazy Grave (1961)
• Shell Scott's Seven Slaughters (short stories) (1961)
• Kill the Clown (1962)
• Dead Heat (1963)
• The Cockeyed Corpse (1964)
• Joker in the Deck (1964)
• The Trojan Hearse (1964)
• Dead Man's Walk (1965)
• Kill Him Twice (1965)
• The Meandering Corpse (1965)
• The Kubla Khan Caper (1966)
• Gat Heat (1967)
• The Cheim Manuscript (1969)
• Kill Me Tomorrow (1969)
• The Shell Scott Sampler (short stories) (1969)
• Dead-Bang (1971)
• The Sweet Ride (1972)
• The Sure Thing (1975)
• The Amber Effect (1986)
• Shellshock (1987)
