Christmas is a holiday for most of you, and for us too, so in the spirit of giving, we're putting up several posts today. But don't worry about us being hunched over our desks—like you, we're with friends and loved ones, probably tipping back a tall glass of cava at this very moment. We pre-wrote everything last week. We'll cover the gamut of what we do here—fiction, movies, femmes fatales, crime, and whatnot. This hardback sleeve for Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me, Deadly was produced by British publisher Arthur Baker, Ltd. in 1952. We don't often feature hardback art but this one struck us, not only because of its semi-abstract style, but because the unknown artist chose to illustrate the first instant of the book. This is the first sentence: All I saw was the dame standing there in the glare of the headlights, waving her arms like a huge puppet and the curse I spit out filled the car and my own ears. After the narrator Mike Hammer avoids running her over, she ends up in his car—naked under that trench coat—and that's where the problems start. It's a top notch crime novel, as we discussed in detail almost a decade ago. Give yourself a gift and read it.