# Is "Not Comin' Home to You" by Lawrence Block a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Not Comin' Home to You by Lawrence Block (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1974) is identified by: Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, first edition, first printing, issued under the pen name Paul Kavanagh, with the Putnam imprint on the title page and no later-printing statement. US G.P.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, first edition, first printing, issued under the pen name Paul Kavanagh, with the Putnam imprint on the title page and no later-printing statement
- Bound in original brown cloth lettered in gilt, octavo, 220 pages, in a priced dust jacket (printed price present regardless of any clipping)
- Publisher imprint reads G.P. Putnam's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lawrence Block |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
| Year | 1974 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, first edition, first printing, issued under the pen name Paul Kavanagh, with the Putnam imprint on the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, first edition, first printing, issued under the pen name Paul Kavanagh, with the Putnam imprint on the title page and no later-printing statement. Bound in original brown cloth lettered in gilt, octavo, 220 pages, in a priced dust jacket (printed price present regardless of any clipping).

## Is this the true first?
US G.P. Putnam's Sons true first, issued under the byline Paul Kavanagh. Third and last of the Kavanagh novels; loosely based on the Starkweather-Fugate murders.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No significant book-club edition confirmed; identify the trade first by the priced jacket, the Putnam title-page imprint and the brown-cloth gilt binding.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Not Comin' Home to You* by Lawrence Block a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/not-comin-home-to-you
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.