Thursday, January 21, 2010

Here's a Quiz for You Vintage Paperback Fans

I came across this at Half Price Books the other day and thought it was funny. It's the back cover from the Dell edition (D-483) of Alan Green's mystery novel WHAT A BODY! You may have to click on the image in order to read the text. Dell was still doing mapbacks at the time, so this is something of a departure for them.



The front cover isn't bad, either, although I wouldn't consider it a great cover. I don't know whether the novel itself is any good, so if any of you have read it, you might comment on what you thought about it.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's hilarious, James -- thanks for posting that.

Why oh why can't my local Half Price Book stores have those kind of vintage pbos? Seems like all I ever see is an ocean of Sue Graftons, Stephen Kings and other '80s and '90s favorites. My only high-point in that regard is I once stumbled upon a copy of Lionel White's TOO YOUNG TO DIE (Gold Medal). I might spy the occasional Carter Brown (not a fan), but otherwise it's extraordinarily slim pickings in my local HPBs when it comes to the vintage stuff.

~ Ron C.

Evan Lewis said...

Great stuff. Haven't read it, but Lance Casebeer had this back cover prominently displayed in his lair/den.

Jerry House said...

I read the book when I was a teenager, James, and I laughed my ass off. Either the book was good or I was a really dorky teenager. Maybe both.

Didn't this one win a Edgar back in the Stone Age? Green wrote one other mystery that also tickled my young funny-bone, You Could Die Laughing.

Carl V. Anderson said...

I don't know, I think I'd be willing to spend the $45! ;)

Rittster said...

I could make an incredibly dirty joke about one of those categories (not that it would necessarily be funny). But I'd better not.

Rittster said...

By the way, there's a review at this site:

http://mikegrost.com/laterimp.htm#Green