Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Paperback 1081: The Case of the Fenced-In Woman / Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket Books 77884)

Paperback 1081: Pocket Books 77884 (1st ptg, 1973)

TitleTCOT Fenced-In Woman
Author: Erle Stanley Gardner
Cover artist: [photo cover]

Condition: 7/10 (slight spine lean, some dings and dirtiness, kinda what you expect a book like this to look like)
Value: $6-8

[Binghamton Public Library Book Sale, May 2024]


PB77884.TCOTFencedInWoman

Best things about this cover: 
  • My wife got me this as a present from the local library book sale. Did not expect to reboot this blog with Ancient Chest-Shaving Rituals but you get what you get.
  • "Now sweetheart, you know that's not a safe way to eat frosting, we've talked about this..." "DON'T FENCE ME IN, HAL!"
  • Perry Mason Solves ... The Case of the Shirtless Dermatologist! "I don't like the look of this mole on your cheek, Sally. And your upper thigh feels suspicious, too. I'm gonna have to operate. Be a good girl and give me back my scalpel."
  • Perry Mason Solves ... The Case of the Man with the Blurry Feet! (spoiler alert: his feet were hideous so the publishers blurred them)

PB77884bc.TCOTFencedInWoman

Best things about this back cover: 
  • My brain reading this back cover: "blah blah blah SUBURBAN SPANKING!? Awesome!"
  • "Morley Eden said," is literature. It is art. It is a poem, the damnedest poem you ever heard.
  • "Snaky gowns that cling like the skin on a sausage" is the kind of thing they send you back to Simile School for. "You're trying to convey 'sexy,' right? "Sexy, yeah, sexy." "And 'snaky,' that's OK, that kinda gets you there." "Yeah, gets me there, gets me there..." "But 'skin on a sausage'..." "Yeah?" "Well it's..." "Hot!?" "No, I don't think—" "Wait, wait. Let me explain. See, the chicks are the sausage, which is delicious, right, and..."
Page 123~
"You came over here in a hurry, didn't you, Mason?" Tragg asked.
"I do many things in a hurry."
"Did you just wink at me, Mason?" Tragg asked, his uniform clinging like the skin on a sausage...

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and BlueSky]

2 comments:

DemetriosX said...

I'm not a fan of photo covers, and this one is a pretty poor example. It did grab my eye before I saw what it actually was, but I thought it was going to be "frank" or "shocking," not a run-of-the-mill Perry Mason.

Repeating the photo on the back is just lazy. And all that white space, front and back, is dull.

Farceur said...

She uses that a toothpick, she's going to damage her gums.