| Vintage Pulp | Apr 3 2021 |
That second round of drinks is always murder.
This Pocket edition of Roy Huggins' detective mystery The Double Take is from 1959 and the art is by Harry Bennett. Huggins tells the story of a man who wants to dig into his wife's history and hires private dick Stu Bailey for the job. Bailey learns that the wife has been hiding for a long time. She's overweight now, but gained the pounds as a disguise. She'd also gotten married as a disguise, attended college and joined a sorority as a disguise, dyed her hair as disguise, changed her name as a disguise, and of course changed her city as a disguise. Somewhere way back before she was a plump wife with a suspicious husband she was a showgirl who called herself Gloria Gay. Bailey discovers all that, but the elusive question is why she's hiding in the first place.
Huggins probably should have done a bit better here. The concept is rich—a woman who essentially goes into hiding inside her own body by eating herself into a disguise. But he doesn't take advantage of the idea. Also, the second third of the book feels padded. That could have been shortened and the multi-twist final act would have been better for it. We did like those twists, though, and the L.A. setting was well rendered. It brought back memories from some wild years we spent running around Tinseltown. But in the end The Double Take was a middling time eater, and with time so precious, it isn't one we'd recommend dashing out to buy—or download, or whatever. Huggins has a Stu Bailey anthology called 77 Sunset Strip, and for the title alone we'll read that, and be hoping for something a bit better.
Huggins probably should have done a bit better here. The concept is rich—a woman who essentially goes into hiding inside her own body by eating herself into a disguise. But he doesn't take advantage of the idea. Also, the second third of the book feels padded. That could have been shortened and the multi-twist final act would have been better for it. We did like those twists, though, and the L.A. setting was well rendered. It brought back memories from some wild years we spent running around Tinseltown. But in the end The Double Take was a middling time eater, and with time so precious, it isn't one we'd recommend dashing out to buy—or download, or whatever. Huggins has a Stu Bailey anthology called 77 Sunset Strip, and for the title alone we'll read that, and be hoping for something a bit better.
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 11 2016 |
These are people who definitely pay attention to the poles.
When you look at lots of paperbacks sometimes a common thread suddenly jumps out at you that went unnoticed before. Such was the case a few weeks ago when we noticed the large number of characters on mid-century covers leaning against poles—light poles, telephone poles, sign poles, etc. We suggested someone should put together a collection, but of course we really meant us, so today you see above and below various characters deftly using these features of the urban streetscape as accessories. Art is from Benedetto Caroselli, Harry Schaare, George Gross, Rudolph Belarski, James Avati, et al. You can see a couple more examples here and here.
Robert O. SaberMichael CroftSloan BrittonEdward AndersonWilliam ArdFranz SilbermanLynton Wright BrentBart MichaelsLeslie CharterisOrrie HittMark ReedArthur MillerRobert BlochJay de BekkerJoan EllisJames T. FarrellJohn D. MacDonaldHarmon BellamyGeoffrey PardoeJohn LodwickFrancis CarcoBenedetto CaroselliHarry SchaareGeorge GrossRudolph BelarskiTom HoweStella WyngardeBernard MalamudHerbert SimmomsRoy Hugginscover collectioncover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Jan 5 2016 |
The shape of bad things to come.
Above and below are assorted covers featuring yet another fun mid-century paperback art motif—the looming or threatening shadow. The covers are by the usual suspects—Rader, Phillips, Gross, Caroselli, Nik, as well as by artists whose work you see less often, such as Tony Carter’s brilliant cover for And Turned to Clay. That's actually a dust jacket, rather than a paperback front, but we couldn't leave it out. You’ll also notice French publishers really liked this theme. We’ll doubtless come across more, and as we do we’ll add to the collection. This is true of all our cover collections. For instance, our post featuring the Eiffel Tower has grown from fifteen to twenty-two examples, and our group of fronts with syringes has swelled from thirteen to twenty-six images. We have twenty-four twenty-six—see what we mean?—more shadow covers below, and thanks to all original uploaders.
Jay BarbetteRichard DemingJames EastwoodGeoffrey HomesE. Howard HuntGordon DavisOvid DemarisAnne ChamberlainTony CarterPaul RaderBarye PhillipsLenore Glen OffordGeorge GrossCarl G. HogesBenedetto CaroselliLouis de la HattaisRoy HugginsErle Stanley GardnerLarry O’BrienFrancis BeedingJon ClearyJannet MillsLesley EganLeslie CharterisLionel WhiteJohn Eugene HastyVivian MarcySamuel RogersJoan EllisA.A. FairThomas B. DeweyClaude FernyRichard CraigRichard CraigSalvaJean SalvettiMikJacques ThibésartGerald BrownMilton K. OzakiDuke Lintoncover artcover collectionliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Jan 7 2014 |
Never trust a man in expensive clothes.
The Pulp Intl. girlfriends want more depictions of men on the site. Can we oblige them? Probably not. Vintage paperback art features women about ninety percent of the time, and they’re often scantily clothed. Men, on the occasions they appear, are not only typically dressed head to toe, but are often sartorially splendid. There are exceptions—beach-themed covers, bedroom depictions, gay fiction, and romances often feature stripped down dudes. We’ll assemble some collections of all those going forward, but today the best we can offer is an assortment of g’d up alpha males, with art by Victor Kalin, Robert McGinnis, and others. Enjoy.
John D. MacDonaldVictor KalinRoy HugginsGeorge SavaRobert McGinnisAgatha ChristieGeorges SimenonEdgar WallaceGraham GreeneEric LambertOrson WellesMaurice BessyWalt SheldonJohn ComleyDorothy B. Hughescover artcover collectionliterature
