Thursday, July 29, 2010

Paperback 338: Dead Man's Tale / Ellery Queen [Stephen Marlowe] (Pocket Books 6117)

Paperback 337: Pocket Books 6117 (PBO 1961)

Title: Dead Man's Tale
Author: Ellery Queen (ghostwritten by Stephen Marlowe)
Cover artist: Harry Bennett

Yours for: $15


Best things about this cover:
  • "He ... he was out picking tulips and his sabots slipped and he hit her head on a windmill blade, which caused him to choke on some edam. I do not know how we ended up underwater. Dike broke, I suppose."
  • This title is superlame.
  • Never would have known this was ghostwritten by Stephen Marlowe if I hadn't gotten on Abe Books to check prices. There's a signed copy available there in which Marlowe writes "Just this once..."


Best things about this back cover:
  • "Hacha" sounds like some kind of drink you'd order at a hipster café in Brooklyn.
  • This plot sounds interesting. I really want to know what they're going to tell Hacha once they find him. It better have something to do with a dead man, or a windmill. Otherwise, total ripoff.

Page 123~

Then they heard Lou Goody tramping up the hill.

And I thought "Barney Street" was a good name.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

4 comments:

Julian G. said...

Steve Longacre stands out too. When Harry Bennet passed the silly-name-baton, the porn industry was there to clasp it.

"If Hacha was dead, she would get it. If not ... ?"

Hacha would get it? I'm sure that was meant to be a cliffhanger, but my recently acquired facility with logic spoiled it.

Rick said...

Hmm. I like the title, with its word play on "Dead men tell no tales..."

K. said...

Wait a tic

Unknown said...

I'm sooo getting an opening-credits-to-Scooby-Doo vibe from this cover. Where's the guy in the diver's helmet with the glowy eyes?