Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (novel)

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is a 1940 crime thriller novel by English writer Gerald Butler. It was his first novel, originally published by Nicholson and Watson in April 1940. It quickly became a best-seller and the author was signed to a multi-book deal with Jarrolds Publishing. By 1945, the novel had sold over 232,000 copies in England alone (all during war-time). It received numerous American editions by such publishers as Farrar & Rinehart, Dell Publishing, and Carroll & Graf Publishers. The book was also translated into several languages, including French and Swedish. By 1960, it had sold in excess of 750,000 copies across seven countries.

The narrative established Butler's distinctive hardboiled style, which led to comparisons with American writer James M. Cain. Butler's characters were also described by book critics as amoral and tougher than those introduced by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler a decade earlier.

The popularity of the novel led to its screen options getting purchased by numerous film production companies, including Eagle-Lion Films, Charles K. Feldman Group Productions, Norma Productions, Harold Hecht Productions, and Universal-International Pictures. A film was successfully made starring Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, and Robert Newton, and directed by Norman Foster in 1948. A radio adaptation was broadcast in 1949 on the CBS series Lux Radio Theatre.