• A couple of years back, Killer Covers showcased a trio of
paperback fronts emphasizing stairway dangers. More recently, Pulp International put together
a much larger gallery with the same theme. From its choices, I’m particularly fond of E.T. French’s
Never Smile at Children (1959), with cover art by
Lou
Marchetti.
• Speaking of Pulp International, dig
this façade from Robert O. Saber’s
Murder Honeymoon (1953), “a digest-style paperback from the Australian imprint Phantom Books.” The art,” we’re told, “originally fronted Saber’s 1952 Original Novels thriller
City of Sin, … and was painted by the always amazing
George Gross.”
• Boy, they sure don’t make magazine covers like this anymore.
• Another fine specimen of that breed.
• I hadn’t previously noticed this novel-cover theme of
women silhouetted in windows. But of course, now I’ll be watching for more examples every time I enter a bookshop.
• Advice
for do-it-yourself book-front designers.
• Ed McBain wrote so many novels, that assembling a complete collection of their fronts would be
quite daunting. However, Bear Alley’s Steve Holland
has made a running start at the task.
• And here’s something I wish was done more often: For the blog Criminal Intent, author
Charles Finch interviews David Rotstein, the art director with Minotaur Books who created the jacket for Finch’s new Charles Lenox historical mystery,
The Inheritance.
