Now We Are 12: “Dead Men’s Plans”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



Dead Men’s Plans, by Mignon G. Eberhart (Dell, 1954).
Cover art by Richard M. Powers.

The Beginning of the End

In the coming hours, I’ll post the final entry in this blog’s 12th anniversary series of vintage book covers. It has been a great joy during these two weeks to introduce readers to some “classic book fronts that have attracted my attention over this last pandemic-seared year.” I am especially happy to have included within these dozen installments the work of several artists not previously showcased on this page.

If you haven't been assiduously following my daily presentations, simply click here to catch up with the whole series.

And rest assured that, although this particular celebration will soon conclude, the variety of classic covers in my collection is nowhere near tapped out. The future holds many more treats!

Now We Are 12: “My Late Wives”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



My Late Wives, by “Carter Dickson,” aka John Dickson Carr (Pocket, 1949). Cover art by Louis S. Glanzman.

Now We Are 12: “The Pleasure in Women”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



The Pleasure in Women, by “Ted Lee,” aka Herbert Leavy (Monarch, 1962). Cover art by Harry Schaare. If you’d like to read the back-cover copy, you can do so here.

Now We Are 12: “The Mote in God’s Eye”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



The Mote in God’s Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (Pocket, 1975). Cover art by Edward Soyka, who—if I’m not mistaken—is currently on the faculty at the State University of New York’s School of Art and Design. More of Soyka’s science-fiction book covers can be found here.

Now We Are 12: “Spy Hunt”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



Spy Hunt, by Norman Daniels (Pyramid, 1960).
Cover art by Victor Kalin.

Now We Are 12: “Come Pretty Puss”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



Come Pretty Puss, by Artèlle Freed (Corgi, 1960). The cover illustration here is credited to John Richards, who is better known for his science-fiction fronts. More of Richards’ paperback art can be enjoyed here and here.

Now We Are 12: “Lodge Sinister”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



Lodge Sinister, by “Dana Ross,” aka William Edward Daniel “W.E.D.” Ross (Pocket, 1975). The cover was painted by Buenos Aires-born artist Hector Garrido, who died on April 19, 2020, at 92 years of age. Learn more about Garrido here and here.

Now We Are 12: “Naked Sin”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



Naked Sin, by Gordon Clark (Avon, 1958).
Cover art by Clark Hulings.

Now We Are 12: “Don’t Ever Love Me”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



Don’t Ever Love Me, by Octavus Roy Cohen (Popular Library, 1951). Cover art by Rudolph Belarski.

Now We Are 12: “The Mephisto Waltz”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



The Mephisto Waltz, by Fred Mustard Stewart (Signet, 1970).
Cover art by Robert Heindel.

Now We Are 12: “A Real Killing”

Part of a series celebrating Killer Covers’ first dozen years.



A Real Killing, by James Pattinson (Robert Hale, 1976). This was the second installment in Pattinson’s seven-book series starring “Sam Grant, of the Peking Inquiry Agency and later the Grant Inquiry Agency.” The cover painting is by Eileen Walton.

Now We Are 12: “No Nice Girl”

Today, as more than one Web site reminds us (see here, here, and here), would have been the 100th birthday of Patricia Highsmith, the author most famously of The Talented Mr. Ripley, who died back in 1995. Significantly less well remembered is that January 19 also happens to be the anniversary of Killer Covers’ founding in 2009.

I had modest hopes for Killer Covers when I launched it. I wanted only to create a designated spot where I could post vintage (and some newer) book covers I admired, and maybe write a bit about them and their authors on occasion. This blog has since gone through alternating periods of tremendous activity and meager attention, but I have to say that it has significantly exceeded my expectations. I just put up its 1,000th post last week, and have plans for several special projects to roll out here in the coming months.

To celebrate the passage of a dozen years, I’m planning to keep things simple. Beginning this morning, I shall post—one per day—12 classic book fronts that have attracted my attention over this last pandemic-seared year, and that I would like to share with readers. Some of the artists whose work is included will be familiar to regular readers of this page, but I want also to welcome new illustrators into the mix, artists who deserve to have been introduced here long before now.

We’ll begin with the cover above, from the 1959 Pyramid edition of No Nice Girl, by Eugene, Oregon-born fictionist Gail Wilhelm. As I understand it, this was the third title for that novel, which was first published in 1936 as No Letters for the Dead. The artist responsible for Pyramid’s No Nice Girl cover was Jim Bentley (1922-2003), a New Yorker whose artistic career began in 1950, when he signed up for a correspondence course offered by Art Instruction Inc., the same Minneapolis, Minnesota-based enterprise that nurtured the talents of Norman Saunders, Allen Anderson, and others. Click on the image at left to enjoy Bentley’s original painting for this paperback.

It hardly seems possible that a full 12 years have passed since I launched Killer Covers. Much has changed in my life during that period. But one thing that remains the same is my interest in and curiosity about book-cover artists. I shall be glad of more opportunities in the future to acquaint readers with the wealth of skills that have been displayed in decades past. The next two weeks will only offer a taste of things to come.

Another Look: “The Dutch Shoe Mystery”

Warning: Artistic inspiration drawn from book titles may vary.



Left: The Dutch Shoe Mystery, by Ellery Queen (Pocket, 1952); cover illustration by George Mayers. Right: The Dutch Shoe Mystery, by Ellery Queen (Pocket, 1958); artwork by Jerry Allison. Published originally in 1931, this was the third whodunit starring author-sleuth Queen and his father, Inspector Richard Queen of the New York Police Department. It followed The Roman Hat Mystery (1929) and The French Powder Mystery (1930).

Although I often choose these cover pairings at random, that was not the case here. Today’s picks were inspired by news that “The American Mystery Classics Book Club”—linked to Otto Penzler’s publishing line of that same name, which last year released a fresh edition of The Dutch Shoe Mystery—“will be meeting on Zoom on February 1st at 6:30 p.m. EST to discuss [this] puzzling tale of murder in the hospital …” The event will be free to the public, and feature a special guest: Richard Dannay, the son of Ellery Queen co-creator Frederic Dannay. Simply drop an e-mail note to charles@penzlerpublishers.com to RSVP.

Just the Right Touch?

The Golden Touch, by Al Dewlen (Popular Library, 1959).
Cover art by Stanley Zuckerberg.

So this is how Killer Covers themed posts occasionally germinate: I was listening the other day to a National Public Radio broadcast, and this commentator came on to discuss the many downsides of our world’s present COVID-19 pandemic. One of the things she said she has missed most over the last year is touch—just the innocent, reflexive ability to reach out and touch somebody she knows, to make that common tactile contact. The coronavirus scourge, she observed, has stopped us from shaking hands, stopped us from patting each other on the back, taught us not to move too close to our fellow human beings, lest we contract or pass along the virus. In our efforts to save one another, she lamented, we have lost this valuable connection with each other.

She had a point, of course, and one that I’d heard expressed previously, if not as avidly. And it got me to thinking—but not about the gentle fingering of mortal flesh; rather, it reminded me that I had recently noticed more than one book cover, in my computer’s files, featuring the word “touch” in its title.

As it transpired, I found many more than one example. In addition to Stanley Zuckerberg’s cover—above—you will find fronts here illustrated by the likes of Saul Tepper (A Touch of Death, 1954, below and left), Rafael DeSoto (the gold cover from Don’t Touch Me, 1958), Paul Rader (1962’s Touch Me Gently and 1963’s The Cruel Touch), Robert Maguire (Touch Me Not, 1959), Rudy Nappi (A Touch of Depravity, 1960), Victor Kalin (Soft Touch, 1958), and Richard Cuffari (A Touch of Glory, 1964).

If you are aware of any other examples of vintage “touch” covers, I invite you to … well, get in touch.

FOLLOW-UP: Art Scott, the co-author of 2014’s The Art of Robert E. McGinnis, draws my attention to three additional “Touch” paperback covers, all of them carrying McGinnis artwork (and two of which have previously appeared on this page): A Touch of the Dragon, by Hamilton Basso (Popular Library, 1964); The Limbo Touch, by Jack Weeks (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1968); and an alternative front for MacDonald’s Soft Touch (Dell, 1962).

The Hite Stuff

Although I am late in doing so, I wish to direct your attention to this piece in The Stiletto Gumshoe, which recounts how famous American paperback artist Robert McGinnis employed, among his many models, one Shere Hite. That’s right, the very same Ms. Hite who composed such well-thumbed classics of sexology literature as Sexual Honesty, by Women, for Women (1974) and The Hite Report on Female Sexuality (1976). Hite died last September 9 at age 77.