Paperback 1108: Dell 12144 (1st New Dell, 1980)
Title: Double Sin
Author: Agatha Christie
Cover artist: Uncredited
Condition: 6
Value: $6
- Hey kid, you got a little ... just ... on your mouth there ... no ... I'm a mirror ... my right, your left ...
- For some reason, Random Heap of Objects is a common Christie cover motif
- Who would arrange this stuff like this? What are the jewels even doing? How is that gun standing on end? Who would sculpt such a creepy wide-eyed kid? As you can see, all the blood is the least of my concerns
- Why is Hercule Poirot not also "incomparable" (or something like it)? Where's his hyperbolic adjective? I think he's earned it.
Best things about this back cover:
- This cover copy makes it sound like Marple and Poirot team up, or at least interact in some way, but I'm pretty sure this is a collection of short stories, none of which feature both detectives at the same time. Calling them an "unstoppable combination" is at least a little misleading.
- What year do UPC codes start appearing on paperback books? A truly evil year, that.
- This back cover is boring, the design uninspired. The corners of the text frame are vaguely deco-ish, which I guess is supposed to evoke the era in which the stories are set, but ... meh. I do kinda like the mirrored "A"s at the front and back of "AGATHA," but that may be the only design element here that I like.
Page 123~
An idle young man, she thought, but good-looking.
Finally—horny Miss Marple! It's what we've all been waiting for.
~RP
I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to find an answer to your UPC question. The first product ever scanned was a pack of gum in 1974. So, late 70s I guess. I think I have memories of those scanning guns at B. Dalton by 78 or 79, but I'm honestly not sure if they're legit or a created artifact from trying to remember.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, statue of weird kid with a bloody nose makes me think of Eleven from Stranger Things.