Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Paperback 1041: Draw the Curtain Close / Thomas B. Dewey (Pocket Books 64003)

Paperback 1041: Pocket Books 64003 (1st ptg, 1968)

Title: Draw the Curtain Close
Author: Thomas B. Dewey
Cover artist: Uncredited (looks like Harry Bennett signature)

Condition: 4/10
Estimated value: $100000000 (jk prob like $5 but I can't find this copy online)

[Contribution from Cassie and Jordan Bell-Masterson]

PB64003
Best things about this cover:

  • Well, not his face
  • Well, not the font
  • This is such an odd moment to document on a book cover. Is she taking off her shirt? Not such a big reveal if she was clearly already sitting there pantsless. Is that even a shirt? It looks like she's trying to wear a pair of red shorts as a shirt. Maybe she's not well. Shapely, though, I'll give her that. And armed.
  • She needs to repaint that room; it's making me nauseated.
  • I love the "modesty sheet" that is conveniently obscuring her butt crack from view.
  • It doesn't matter what she does or doesn't wear because nothing is going to outshine that chalked-up denim suit that Flatface McSkinnyTie has on.
  • This is apparently a hard-boiled writer of some repute, the first book in his "Mac" series. Since this is a "reading copy," I should clearly, uh, read it.

PB64003bc
Best things about this back cover:

  • He Took His Hat Off, WHY!? I need to know. You can't just shove him into a tiny strip of red, remove his hat, and expect me NOT to have questions!
  • I love that this is a book about expensive books. And showbiz dolls.
  • None of my books are worth 30 Gs. Alas.
  • Wait, is the fact that he's not "a literary type" supposed to endear him to me. Because if so, mission decidedly unaccomplished.

Page 123~
I had to wait a couple of minutes for the elevator. I shared it going down with a cockeyed lady in a red satin dress who hiccoughed regularly at intervals of three or four seconds. Halfway down she said without warning, "Hi, Mac."
Just now realizing that a. "hiccoughed" is a freaky-looking word and b. this dude must get a lot of false alarms where someone calling his name is concerned, what with all the "Hey, Mac"s floating around in the world. It's like his name is "Buddy" or "Pal" or "Chief" or "Bruh."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

3 comments:

Steve said...

Looks like the signature is Harry Bennett.

Not Ryan said...

Thomas B Dewey is indeed a damn good writer, sadly forgotten. Mac is a PI in the vein of Marlowe and Lew Archer. He'a a bit melancholic at times.

He wrote another series featuring a PI named Pete Schofield, which were generally more breezy and "light-hearted" (with just as many murder victims).

Rex Parker said...

@steve yeah you're right. How did I not see that??

RP