Paperback 944: The Shadowy Third / Marco Page (Pocket Books 537)

Paperback 944: Pocket Books 537 (1st ptg, 1949)

Title: The Shadowy Third
Author: Marco Page
Cover artist: Harvey Kidder

Estimated value: a pittance
Condition: 2/10 (read to death, i.e. beautiful to me)

Best things about this cover:

• "Now *where* did I put my little dead man? I know he's around here somewhere..."
• This dude has QWD face (i.e. Quintessential White Dick). He's ... perfect / generic.
• The man above our hero's left ear is either playing "got-your-nose!" or putting that guy's eye out with a lit cigarette. Choose a scenario to fit your mood!
• P.S. a violin

Best things about this back cover:

• "Oh, no! Not Igor *Krassin*!" I exclaimed, reflexively.
• "What kind of knife was it, Doc?" "Thin. It was thin. It's a technical term. I don't expect you to understand."
• It took more than a game of eeny-meeny-miney-mo to finger the killer. You also had to buy him a drink first.

Page 123~

"All right, if that's how you want it. I trusted you, Calder, I gave you every break so you could grab a fee on that violin. You're turning out to be a heel."

I love hardboiled man-feelings drama. "After all I've done for you, couldn't you just once hold me and tell me I'm pretty, Calder, you heel!"

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Paperback 598: Mingo Dabney / James Street (Pocket Books 819)

Paperback 598: Pocket Books 819 (1st ptg, 1951)

Title: Mingo Dabney
Author: James Street
Cover artist: Harvey Kidder

Yours for: $7


Best things about this cover:

• And Mingo was his name. O.
• I believe this is the pose for which the expression "Huzzah!" was invented.
• "Who the hell took my castanets?!? I can't do this dance without my castanets!!!"
• Who's the cat who makes all the hijab-wearin' ladies freak out and the grizzled Hemingway impersonators nod in silent admiration ...? — hint: it's not Shaft.

Best things about this back cover:

• Actor Dabney Coleman was famous for getting drunk at wrap parties and insisting that everyone call him "El Dabney."
• "MINGO DABNEY so fly he turn a saint All Woman."—lost '90s rap lyric
• I would like to thank Pocket Books for (fairly) consistently crediting cover artists.

Page 123~

"Listen, Mr. Carson." Mingo ran his fingers through his hair and his fingers were sticky with sweat. "I'm damn near crazy."

Furthermore, in case you missed it: fingers.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

P.S. Bonus illustration ... author beefcake!

[Street's ahead]

Paperback 569: The Blank Wall / Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (Pocket Books 662)

Paperback 569: Pocket Books 662 (1st ptg, 1950)

Title: The Blank Wall
Author: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Cover artist: Harvey Kidder

Yours for: $12


Best things about this cover:

• Lucia was horrified to find her husband was cheating on her with ... a boat.
• "Hey, Lucia, this glass-bottomed boat is awesome. I can see, like, fishes and stuff." "Screw the fishes, Harold! My necklace! Do you see my necklace!?"
• The "jail bait" is off-screen. This here is the MILFy heroine, Lucia. I love this book. You can probably tell by now that I went through a bit of a Holding phase at one point. She's deeply underrated, and this book in particular is a fascinating, domestic twist on the hard-boiled novel. One of my ten favorite crime novels, easy.

Best things about this back cover:

• "BUT THE TYPEWRITER IS STUCK ON ALL CAPS"

Page 123~

She stood silent, her lashes lowered. She knew that he was looking at her; she knew that she was dark, slender and lovely; she knew that he was waiting for her to look up, and presently she raised her eyes.

Seriously, this is one of the hottest scenes in the book, when you can see (though the novel never has anyone say it outright) that she (respectable wartime housewife) and this hoodlum-turned-savior are kind of in love, in this super-romantic and criminal and impossible way. Things can't, and don't, end well, but their relationship is amazing—unique, compelling, believable. Also, this is a great WWII-era book. Lots of details about ordinary, domestic life during war. Oh, and it deals with race in ways that most crime novels of the period totally avoid. The black housekeeper, Sibyl, is a crucial, well-developed character. Did I mention I love this book? I wish Holding's stuff were more widely available.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Paperback 520: Tales of the South Pacific / James A. Michener (Pocket Books 516)

Paperback 520: Pocket Books 516 (16th-18th ptg, 1950)

Title: Tales of the South Pacific
Author: James A. Michener
Cover artist: Harvey Kidder

Yours for: $5


Best things about this cover:

• "I ... uh ... I forget why I came in here."
• "My eyes are up here" doesn't really work when you're topless.
• I liked the Kangaroo better when it had a joey in its pouch. This "book boner" incarnation is disturbing.

Best things about this back cover:

• Whoa, someone's got a military fetish. I'm looking at you, K.C. Clapp.
• "Balinese lasses" is not the kind of phrase you are likely to see ... ever. Unless there are Balinese in Ireland.
• "Bali laughs" is so terrible I literally laughed.

Page 123~

As in a trance, Cable sucked in his breath audibly. The girl smiled, and at that moment Cable heard a hissing noise. He turned around, frightened. But it was only bloody Mary. She had her peach-basket hat in her left hand. Stains of betel juice were drenching the ravines of her mouth, which was grinning, broadly. Her broken teeth showed through, black, black as night. She winked her right eye heavily and asked, "You like?" Then she turned and fled down the path.

Ah, natives. So droll. So quaint. So exotic. Just a moment of local color before our hero has sex with an underage prostitute ... who is a virgin ... who will cry immediately after. You know, the way men do. "The regrets and moral questionings would come later."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Paperback 16: Pocket Books 567

Paperback 16: Pocket Books 567 (1st ptg, 1949)

Title: Outlaws Three
Author: Peter Field
Cover artist: Harvey Kidder

Yours for: $7


Best things about this cover:

• PINK! - Either this represents Cowboys Against Breast Cancer, or ... "It's raining men," boys! And one of them is sporting a jaunty yellow ascot. Ooh la la.
• Floating heads - I love the floating head concept. I have a whole subset of my collection dedicated to floating heads. This cover does not hold the record for most floating heads on a single cover, but it makes a valiant effort.
• Cliché western mugs - each of these guys looks very familiar; there's One-Eyed McGee, the wise-cracking town drunk; Squarejaw Heroson, who always gets his man (and lady!); and lastly, of course, Hoss.

• Spooky Halloween tree - unless they are planning on hanging a small child, or possibly a gopher, there's no way that branch is going to hold.

RP