Paperback 1156: Pocket Books 1085 (1st ptg, 1955)
Title: The Under Dog and Other Mysteries
Author: Agatha Christie
Cover artist: James Meese
Condition: 9/10
Value: $12
- Me after three drinks and five pelvic lifts.
- Whodunnit? My money's on the giant yellow rectangle.
- Just a great dead-man-spilling-toward-the-foreground image here from James Meese.
- On second thought, I don't think he's actually dead; I think he just got drunk and walked smack into the yellow rectangle.
- I cannot figure out what the standing man is doing (besides looking suspicious)? He seems to be smoking a cigarette with his left hand but also holding what looks like a pipe (but is not a pipe) in his right hand? What is he holding? It's driving me nuts. [reader opinion is that he’s holding a lighter; I can live with that]
- I like how the lady combines Fear Hand with a kind of sexy hands-on-hips pose. Fear Hand, but make it shimmy.
- This book is in spooky-good condition. It's got some surface wear but otherwise it's square, sharp-edged and shiny.
Best things about this back cover:
- That is possibly the most dramatic "For example..." in the history of the written word.
- I have questions about Submarines A through Y.
- "And in The King of Clubs Hercule Poirot's knowledge of bridge makes him even more insufferable than usual." No wonder the police are still looking for an answer—they probably couldn't bear to sit through his tedious explanation.
Page 123~
"Think of that solid middle-class English family, the Oglanders."
I will not. You can't make me. Furthermore, if you're going to invent a family name, try to come up with something more plausible than the Oglanders. Next you'll be talking about the Blabfasters and the Foozengibbets and then where will we be? In a Dr. Seuss book, that's where?
~RP
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3 comments:
It's a lighter, isn't it? and I love that Agatha Christie is a 'master mistress'!
"The master mistress of crime" ? Maybe they thought that plain 'mistress of crime' would sound too adulterous.
I think the guy on the left is holding a lighter. Could be wrong, but it's logical. Meanwhile, the woman is definitely doing the "slide your hands down your hips" sexy dance.
The yellow rectangle is really screwing up an otherwise pretty good cover. On the other hand, something more traditional would have scrunched the figures down to 2/3 their current size (at best) which would have been a shame. Maybe a different color scheme would help.
"The master mistress of crime" is clunky as hell. There's got to be a better way to put that. "Reigning" or "all-time" maybe. They're longer, but there's room on the line for a few more letter.
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