Paperback 628: Dead Giveaway / Hugh Lawrence Nelson (Dell 520)

Paperback 628: Dell 520 (1st ptg, 1951)

Title: Dead Giveaway
Author: Hugh Lawrence Nelson
Cover artist: Robert Stanley

Yours for: $13


Best things about this cover:

• Legato-erotic asphyxiation.
• "There was no stool!"
• I love the thick, sweaty, unshaven humanity of Bob Stanley's painting.
• I also entertained "auto-melodic asphyxiation." But I stand by my first choice.

Best things about this back cover:

• When Cartography Goes Bad. A confused and ugly mapback. Too many keys and insets and overlays. San Francisco has never looked more dull.
• If that is the "zany troupe of entertainers" there in the inset, then we have very different ideas about what "zany" means.
• There's someone named "Deasy" in this book? And it's not called "Deasy Does It." The titling folks are slacking.

Page 123~

"And Mr. Gates passing out and going—"

"Thump!" They shouted it in unison.

Abbott jumped.

They beamed with pleasure.

I'm guessing "they" are the "zany troupe of entertainers." And I'm also guessing Abbott shoots them within the next couple pages.

~RP

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Paperback 408: Men of Albemarle / Inglis Fletcher (Perma Books P189)

Paperback 408: Perma Books P189 (1st ptg, 1952)

Title: Men of Albemarle
Author: Inglis Fletcher
Cover artist: Uncredited

Yours for: $5


Best things about this cover:

• Hard to riff on lynchings, but ... over an open flame? Really? What is it, a cannibal's barbecue?
• "No, sweetheart! I know you're hungry, but they're not Done yet!"
• His face is the most constipated face I've ever seen on a cover.
• That braid is Epic.

Best things about this back cover:

• "...she said huskily" — that rates a 7 on the Adverb Abuse scale
• "God's death!" There's an exclamation you don't hear much these days. "God's death, your breasts are rising and falling swiftly under your thin shirt!"
• I'm not really into "vigorous" novels. If it's not "frank," it's not for me.

Page 123~

He got up to pour himself another brandy and drank it quickly, not slowly as becomes a man settled in his ways. "God's death," he muttered, "does a man never cleanse himself of violence?

512-page book, and I hit "god's death" on the first swing! Prize please!

There's also this:

He thought of the encounter at the Red Lion and felt a little ashamed.

This will be funny to you only if you know that Red Lion is a chain of hotels.

~RP

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