Pure, White, and Deadly doesn't even chart in Bookfinder's 2011 report, but in this year's, it skyrocketed to No. 5. The only books more sought-after than Yudkin's have been mainstays on the Bookfinder report for years. Madonna's Sex is No. 1 for obvious reasons, and King disowned No. 2 Rage and No. 4 My Pretty Pony while Roberts vowed to never reprint No. 3 Promise Me Tomorrow, which has made them legendary collectors' items. Bookfinder's Scott Laming says that Pure, White and Deadly's debut on the chart was less predictable. "All of a sudden something happens to spark interest in a book, and everyone wants it," he says. He saw the same thing happen with Edward Gorey's The Recently Deflowered Girl in 2009. Gorey's cheeky children's book got republished after a blog post took it viral. "I could see Pure, White, and Deadly getting reprinted in the U.S. fairly soon."

Which begs the question: why hasn't anyone republished Pure, White, and Deadly in the U.S. already? Pure, White and Deadly was most recently published by Penguin in 1988, and all of Yudkin's other books have remained out-of-print in the U.S. for over 15 years. The U.K. wing of Penguin is seizing upon the book's newfound popularity, and plans to republish it in November. Yet there's still no word on any U.S. publisher doing the same. John Yudkin died in 1995, so perhaps his books are tangled up in disputes over who holds the rights to Yudkin's work, although that would not explain why there's a deal in the U.K. but not in the U.S. Pirated versions have been circulating online, and the demand is clearly high. With so few sure-things in publishing, there must be some reason why no one is chomping at the bit to get this one back on shelves, or at least on Kindles. We'll be looking into this little publishing mystery and will report what we find.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.