hiram hayden, my editor, didn't know what to do with [the novel]. he didn't know, like, or read mysteries. there was a great feeling that "boys and girls together" was going to establish me as a critical figure, which of course was the reverse of what happened, and hiram kept saying, "i think you'll damage yourself if you bring this out first. why don't you try and get it published under a pseudonym?" we went to one or two houses and we went to the paperback original place and they said, "sure". it came out, and got the best reviews of anything i've ever been connected with.