Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Paperback 746: The Avon Book of Detective and Crime Stories / ed. John Rhode (Avon 21)

Paperback 746: Avon 21 (1st ptg, 1942)

TitleThe Avon Book of Detective and Crime Stories
Editor: John Rhode
Cover artist: NA

Yours for: $10

Avon21

Best things about this cover:
  • The font? Maybe? Also pink. Pink is nice.
  • This old Avon has held up *really* well. I love a good old paperback that's beat-as-f*ck but still perfectly solid and tight. You could read this a hundred times and it would just get more broken in.
  • This is a classic detection bonanza right here. Not really my cup, but a pretty sweet collection nonetheless.
Avon21bc

Best things about this back cover:
  • Shakespeare-Head!
  • Shakespeare likes mysteries and also the US Armed Forces. Heed Shakespeare's plea, y'all.
  • You can store paperbacks in such things as "clothing" or those new-fangled contraptions, "bags."

Page 123~ (from "A Shot in the Night" by The Baroness Orczy)

My experience is that in all emotions and all weaknesses, in all virtues and in all vices, women invariably outdo the men.

But this is beside the point.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

4 comments:

Deniz Bevan said...

Ooh, I'll take it!

DemetriosX said...

It's easy to forget the role WWII played in the development of the paperback. Not just that they used less paper in an era of rationing and shortages, but their lower price and extreme portability made them popular with soldiers. They were easy to stuff into a pack and could be swapped with others in the squad (which helped make SF more popular in the post-war years).

So what story/author is p. 123 quote from?

Keir said...

Baroness Orczy and Shakespeare; this collection seems too posh for me. But then it adds AA Milne for balance, and Agatha Christie for the plebs...
You don't much more eclectic

Breccia said...

The line-up amuses me, considering J. Dickson Carr and Carter Dickson are the same person. I wonder if the editor of this particular anthology didn't know that?