Classic pulp crime thrillers from the 1940s and 1950s.

In their time, the Hank Janson novels, with their sleazy covers and no-holds-barred tales, were a guilty pleasure for millions of readers, but incurred the wrath of the establishment!

Frails Can Be So Tough tells the story of Lee Shelton, a man with a tragic past and a deeply troubled present. Framed for a murder he didn't commit, forced to kidnap and chain up a beautiful passer-by – who turns out to be a millionairess – in order to avoid capture, and with a broken hypodermic needle buried in his festering arm, he finds events conspiring against him. Will he be able to get out from under all these problems, or is a lengthy prison sentence – or even death – what fate has in store for him?

This intriguing thriller is the latest in Telos Publishing's acclaimed Hank Janson reissue series, and reinstates Reginald Heade's striking, previously-unpublished original artwork cover, which was censored when the book first appeared in 1951 in an attempt to avoid prosecution for obscenity.