An Axe to Grind by Erle Stanley Gardner (Four Square, 1958)

In this hard-hitting, swift-moving murder mystery the author introduces that notable private eye, Donald Lam, confidential agent of Cool & Lam.  He has said goodbye to the Navy, and is looking for peace and quiet. 

But before he has time to say "Hello" to Bertha Cool, trouble walks into the office.

Within thirty minutes, Donald is off to the Rimley rendezvous, a place for lonely women with little to do and money to spend.  From then on it's a matter of corpses and cops, with a beautiful girl called Billy Prue who gets herself into trouble. 

A. A. Fair (now known to be Erle Stanley Gardner, world's record-seller in detective fiction) has written an original murder story, salty with American dialogue and wisecracks.

Wow!  Another Cool and Lam mystery, which is great.  (This is easily the best series Erle Stanley Gardner ever wrote.  Really.)  Not so great is the cover.  It looks like the artist fell asleep during anatomy drawing class.  Either that, or he had serious problems with perspective.  I know the dame opening the door in the picture is meant to be leaning forwards, but her top half is dangerously out of proportion with the rest of her!

The Glass Slipper by M.G. Eberhart (Pan, 1952)

THE GLASS SLIPPER is a mystery novel by a well-known writer who excels in creating an atmosphere of tension and mystery.  A year ago Rue had been sent by the hospital to nurse Crystal Hatterick, wife of one of Chicago's most distinguished surgeons.  Crystal was a patient of Brule Hatterick's protégé and friend, Dr. Andrew Crittenden, and under his care she had been well on the road to recovery when suddenly, to everyone's amazement, she died.  And within a few months Rue became the second Mrs Hatterick, with the world at her feet--wealth, position, beauty.  Yet when someone called her Cinderella, and said, "I wonder--does the glass slipper ever pinch your little foot?" the arrow found its mark.  Complete happiness had eluded her.  Andy Crittenden is the first to tell her that she is suspected of murdering Crystal.  Events then move fast. Another death occurs.  The suspense grows!

I must admit the question that preoccupied me while I was reading this was, "What kind of author names her heroine 'Rue'?  And what prompts her to name another character 'Brule'?"  

Mignon Eberhart was once called the "American Agatha Christie", but judging by this there's a reason why her books have fallen into obscurity, while Christie's have never fallen out of print.  Agatha Christie's characters are often collections of stereotypes, but they live on the page.  The characters in The Glass Slipper—Rue and Brule, et al—are puppets that exist only to further the plot.  Christie's characters have motives for doing what they do—Eberhart's characters' actions make no sense!

This is one of the older Pan paperbacks in my collection--but not THE oldest.  That will be coming up shortly...

The Skylark of Space and Skylark Three by E.E. "Doc" Smith (Pyramid, 1970)

I went to a charity book fair the other weekend.  Someone had evidently been keen on traditional space opera, because I managed to find a number of vintage paperbacks containing early science fiction reprints:

IT STARTED ON EARTH...

Scientist Richard Seaton had discovered the secret of complete release of ultimate energy--the key to exploration of the Universe.  The powerful, unscrupulous DuQuesne, backed by a great industrial combine, tried every means to gain the secret.

... it ended in space, when Seaton, DuQuesne, and three others--two of them women--were marooned, countless light-years from Earth, with only one chance in a million of ever returning!

OSNOME

The first of the mighty Skylark spacecraft took Dick Seaton and Mart Crane on a fantastic tour of the galaxy and to the strange planet of Osnome.  Skylark Two returned them to Earth.  Now in this next adventure, they voyage again to Osnome to meet the deadly threat of war.

On the way, in the deeps of space, Seaton and Crane meet an alien spaceship.  From it they discover a danger more deadly and immediate than any planetary battle.  In a desperate race to mobilize the scientific talent of a score of planets, Seaton makes himself into a "superman" of knowledge and drives toward his goal of building the greatest spaceship of all time--Skylark Three!

Look up in the sky!  It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... a cosmic beach ball!  Seventies cover art meets very old-fashioned space opera, of the sort where men wield "rays" and women need rescuing.   

Georgie Winthrop by Sloan Wilson (Pan, 1965)

On the last afternoon of the Lifeline Bookfair they start selling off their stock by the bag.  Naturally I always take full advantage... and I gravitate towards the "vintage" table where I can fill my bag full of wonderful old paperbacks.  And the beauty of it is, at these bargain prices I can experiment with books I normally wouldn't be interested in - just because I like the looks of their covers.

'I'd love to be the Firebird in the Firebird Suite,' she said.  'She's sort of doomed, because she's feeding on herself, but she's also beautiful to see.  And anyone who touches her is doomed too, set afire, just the way she is.'

CHARLOTTE - at seventeen already a woman, grabbing at life, her passion for Georgie Winthrop all-consuming...

GEORGIE - forty-five, married with two children, a college vice-president - a man whose secure, complacent world trembles under the impact of Charlotte's uninhibited youth and beauty...

And this is a perfect example.

I'm becoming more and more enamored of Pan's output from the early fifties through to the mid-sixties.  They made a habit of commissioning good commercial artists to do their covers, and the best of them were very good indeed.   Later in the sixties Pan decided to cut costs by substituting photographs for the cover art, bringing their Golden Age to an end.  A shame, but it was fun while it lasted!

Meanwhile, I think I've started a collection...

Holiday for Inspector West by John Creasey (Hodder, 1959)

"Handsome" West of the Yard is enjoying a well-earned holiday at the seaside with his wife and young family when news breaks of the murder of an M.P.  In spite of Janet's protests, Roger hurries back to London "to take a look around", and contrives to be given official charge of the case.

Even a preliminary inquiry into Riddel's death opens up a vast number of complications to West.  The pursuit of a small package, for example, leads him into many dangers and strange places.  Slowly a pattern begins to emerge . . .

John Creasey gave his detective hero the nickname "Handsome", but in book after book also has him brawling and/or getting beaten up.  Maybe by this stage in the series he should be called "Cauliflower Ear" or "Broken Nose" West instead!

The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge (Pyramid, 1973)

The clouds of civil war hovered ominously over England in 1642, as Puritan and Royalist forces gathered for bitter battle.  Caught in the midst of tumultuous events, the characters in Miss Goudge's gripping novel act out a compelling drama of intrigue and timeless romance.

Awww, look at the groovy people on the cover of this book.  She is wearing Biba and blue eyeshadow.  He has carefully styled and blow-dried hair and looks like he bought his outfit in King's Road.  They're clearly a happening couple from the 1970s.

--Wait a minute.  You're telling me that the story takes place in 1642?

Now this is an example of egregiously generic cover art: it could have been slapped on any paperback romance (and probably was).  I can hazard a guess who the people on the cover are meant to be, but they don't really resemble any of the characters in the book.  It's a pity: the author is better than average, and certainly didn't write the standard kind of hack work usually published in paperbacks of this kind.

The Green Ribbon by Edgar Wallace (Arrow, 1957)

 

She inherited a fortune--& sinister misfortune...

Young, wealthy and beautiful Edna Gray suddenly found herself, like a fly, caught in a web of sinister intrigue.  New to the racing game, she found that one of her tenants, Elijah Goodie--the famous racing owner and trainer--was indulging in strange, nocturnal activities...

And alone in the dark Perrywig Caves--she awaited a horrible death.

Well might Our Heroine be afraid--she's being pursued by a floating man emerging out of what appears to be a pink radioactive cloud!

As Edgar Wallace thrillers go, this one isn't bad mainly because the plot is halfway believable.  Criminals have set up syndicates to cheat at the races.  However Edgar Wallace can't resist adding a few over-the-top flourishes to this basic story--his chief villain is slain by panthers!