As n. A book (esp. a novel) or magazine published at sixpence.

(a) n. a cheaply published crime story written in a sensational or morbidly exciting style; a cheap publication containing such a story; (b) adj. of…

a cheap sensational novel: cf. penny dreadful n. adj., shilling shocker; hence dime-novelish adj., dime-novelist.

a short sensational novel, published at a shilling.

a penny dreadful.

Something sold for or worth sevenpence, esp. a pocket-sized clothbound book, typically a reprint of a popular novel still in copyright, one of a…