Paperback 647: Bats Fly at Dusk / A. A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner) (Dell 0476)

Paperback 647: Dell 0476 (1st New Dell ed., 1963)

Title: Bats Fly at Dusk
Author: A.A. Fair (aka Erle Stanley Gardner)
Cover artist: Ron Lesser

Yours for: $7


Best things about this cover:

• Just woke up, or the latest style? Who can say?
• Bats Fly at Dusk ... Ladies Strip at Dawn.
• This cover has neither enough skin nor enough context to be interesting. 
• I know this will sound heretical, but I think the dress would be sexier *on* her.
• This book is close to immaculate. I just found a box full of (primarily) Gardner/Fair stuff. A reader graciously shipped it to me a while back, and I looked at its treasure, then set it aside, and forgot about it. So it's vintage paperback Christmas all over again.

Best things about this back cover:

• Is she standing in front of the silhouette of  ... a badge? A vase? A strawberry?
• I like how he's not sure about the age, but he's got the pounds down to a very precise number.
• Every time I pick up a Cool/Lam book, I say to myself, "Man, I really gotta read some of these again." And then other books intervene.

Page 123~

"I told Miss Jackson that if she wanted to stay on in the place alone the raise in rent wouldn't be effective. Miss Jackson really seems like a nice sort, exactly the type I like for tenants."

I'm a little worried for Miss Jackson.

~RP