1.04.2009

Sultry Sunday #16 - The weekly "Pop Sensation" crossover

With apologies for failing to produce a write-up last week, I offer you this week's "Pop Sensation" crossover:
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Paperback 183: Avon T-291
(PBO, 1959)


Title: Death is the Last Lover
Author: Henry Kane
Cover artist: uncredited


Best things about this cover:

  • The color scheme. It's gutsy - pink, baby blue, and then ... some kind of maroon
  • The title - sensationalist writing at its best / worst. Does she literally sleep with Death, or does her John kill her, or what?
  • Thank god Death was her last lover - that makes a much better title than "Herb the Copier Salesman from Wichita is the Last Lover"
  • Her face is unfortunate. The painting makes her look vapid, which is inherently unsexy. I do dig that oversized hat box she's sitting on, though. Her legs and cleavage aren't awful either.

Best things about this back cover:

  • Personally, I like "bosoms and brandies" with pretty much anything.
  • That negligee has too many adjectives. It stopped being sexy right around adjective #3
  • Oh look, it's that insipid face again. Nope, it's no sexier in blue tone.

Page 123~

I sat near her, enjoying the warmth of her thigh. "Honey," I said, "you're a nice, sweet, attractive gal, and I'm crazy about you."

"Yeah, I remember," she said.


Wow, she talks a lot cooler than she looks.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I wonder if it's not maroon, but puce?

A Heyerite should always be on the lookout for puce.

Unknown said...

I also meant to say, thank you for your regular Sunday feature. Too few blogs are updated at the weekend (when I have internet access), so a little pulp-cover pick-me-up on a Sunday night is appreciated.

capewood said...

She doesn't appear to have red hair on the front cover. Maybe some plot point I'm going to have to read the book to figure out.

Miss Maggie said...

Finally got to "meet her", huh? That's a euphemism for schtupping if I've ever heard one!!

the.effing.librarian said...

you could republish this today, just insert lots of brand names:
"She was a Julianne Moore redhead with a Scarlett Johansson body. She was wearing high-heeled Dolce & Gabbana slippers and a La Perla camisole.... her Smith & Wesson found the sweet spot on my Hugo Boss jacket." just spend the day at copy/paste to substitute all the adjectives and you have a brand new novel!

Ebony McKenna. said...

Capewood, I thought that too - the back cover copy says redhead, yet the floozy on the front is blonde. Maybe death was her last lover, and she died doing a dye job?

Anonymous said...

The woman's pose on the cover is . . . un-credible, if I want to be generous. She looks like she's about 3 milliseconds from taking a tumble off her hatbox.