Paperback 1145: Ten Plus One / Ed McBain (PermaBook M-4304)

Paperback 1145: PermaBook M-4304 (1st ptg., 1964)

Title: Ten Plus One

Author: Ed McBain

Cover artist: [photo cover]

Condition: 9.5/10

Value: $15-20

[Autumn Leaves, Ithaca, NY, Sep. 2025]

Best things about this cover: 

• [Original title: "Eleven"]
• Am I supposed to believe this guy has just been shot? It looks more like he just realized he forgot to pick up laundry detergent. "My wife's gonna kill me!" "Take it easy, Larry, take it easy!"
• This book is square and unread. Square unread—absolute collector bait. The only "wear" is edgewear. The spine is immaculate. I will pretty much buy *any* paperback published between 1940 and 1970 if it's in this kind of condition. Luckily, today, the cover happens to be supercool and unusual, and the author happens to be major.

Best things about this back cover: 

• "A tiny hole in the head"—or, if you're the guy on the cover, a big red blood splotch hovering about three feet above and to the right of your head.
• This is classic—some might even say "cliché"—thriller stuff. Buncha random shootings! What's behind it all? No one knows! Let's find out!
• Detective Steve Carella subsequently retired from the force, dropped the "a" from his last name, and had a fairly successful career as a comedic actor.

Page 123~

They had searched David Arthur Cohen's apartment from transom to trellis—the apartment boasted a small outdoor terrace overlooking a beautiful view of the River Harb—and found nothing at all incriminating. This did not mean that Cohen wasn't a very clever murderer who had hidden his rifle in an old garage somewhere. It simply meant that, for the time being, the detectives had found nothing in his apartment.

"From Trellis to Transom: The Searching of David Arthur Cohen's Apartment"—OK, it needs workshopping, but it's still a sight better than Ten Plus One. Also, do people really abbreviate "Harbor" like that? 

~RP

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