Title: Bianca in Black
Author: Elizabeth Sax Rohmer
Cover artist: uncredited
Yours for: not for sale (gift of Doug Peterson)
Best things about this cover:
- First of all, if the cover is to be believed, then the bride wore navy. Second, it appears the bride also wore a wig the color of pink lemonade.
- If Elisabeth Sanxay Holding and Sax Rohmer and Cornell Woolrich wrote a book together, it would be this book. In fact, I'm not convinced "Elizabeth Sax Rohmer" is a real person. Who gives his first name to his daughter as a middle name? Elisabeth Sanxay Holding was very big at the time this pb was published, and many of her book covers have this rain-streaked, pseudo-gothic look to them. Cornell Woolrich wrote "The Bride Wore Black," a great revenge story (though his greatest was probably Rendezvous in Black, one of my favoritest works of crime fiction of all time).
- "Bianca" means "white" in Italian. Cute.
- God, her neck is a hot mess. Looks like a colorful, irregular UPC (i.e. barcode).
- Doug Peterson gave me a bunch of campy old paperbacks when I saw him at a recent crossword tournament I attended. I'll be showcasing them all week. This is the first of four.
Best things about this back cover:
- Now they're just patently, blatantly, shamelessly ripping off Cornell Woolrich (who wrote "The Bride Wore Black")
- "Internationally famous mannequin"!? More famous than that chick from the movie "Mannequin?"
- I wish the front cover had more "daring black swimsuit" and less "startling red-gold hair."
Page 123~
"Normally, Natalie has a very good brain."
~RP
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