Monday, July 9, 2018

Paperback 1029: Widow's Web / Ursula Curtiss (Ace G-561)

Paperback 1029: Ace G-561 (1st ptg, 1965)

Title: Widow's Web
Author: Ursula Curtiss
Cover artist: M. Engel (signature) (who is this?)

Condition: 7/10
Estimated value: $10-12

AceG561
Best things about this cover:
  • Well this is the weirdest damn spider I ever did see
  • Head of a woman, body of a haunted house, one leg a pill bottle, the other leg a tiny couple. I pity the fly!
  • This cover fits right into the Ace woman-authored suspense novel mold, reminiscent of virtually every Ace novel by, say, Charlotte Armstrong or Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (who, coincidentally, published a novel with Ace called "Widow's Mite")
  • What's up with that couple? She's leaning in like "Oh, Larry, kiss me," and he's like "Wait, wait ... where did I leave my pill bottle? It was just here, I swear."

AceG561bc
Best things about this back cover:
  • Ugh, text, boo.
  • "Catch-throat" is not a compound adjective I'm familiar with. I'm guessing it's a one-off invented by this reviewer to try to sound super reviewy. 
  • Why is "hand" in that second blurb? That line works just fine hand(s)-free.
Page 123~
Torrant said that he would have coffee after all.
Despite his having one of fictiondom's more ridiculous names, I relate to Torrant.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

1 comment:

J. Kingston Pierce said...

Could that cover be the work of artist Mort Engel (sometimes spelled "Engle")? The signature looks relatively the same.

https://unobtainium13.com/2016/05/09/artist-profile-mort-engle/

Cheers,
Jeff