NMLP P-018778 · True-first precedence · minted 2026-07-04

Mona (a.k.a. Grifter's Game)

Lawrence Block · Gold Medal · 1961

The true first is the 1961 US Gold Medal paperback original titled 'Mona.' It was later reprinted as 'Sweet Slow Death' (Jove, 1986), 'Mona' (Carroll & Graf, 1994), and 'Grifter's Game' (Hard Case Crime, 2004), and a Five Star hardcover appeared in 1999; none of these reissues is the true first.

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New Mexico Literacy Project — True-first precedence NMLP P-018778 for "Mona (a.k.a. Grifter's Game)" by Lawrence Block (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/id/point/p-018778, CC BY 4.0, dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21184548).