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Post by Calenture on Feb 16, 2008 11:47:10 GMT
First published by Mayflower-Dell, 1966 Sexton Blake library No. 26 From inside: No better than she be, this pretty French girl with the flaxen hair and the dusky skin. But in her money-grubbing, kindly, contradictory little person she was to hold all the answers to the questions that Sexton Blake wanted to ask... And from the back cover: Sunshine on the Mediterranean is all too often broken by the cold grey mistral, the wind of misery. So it was with this strange case of ghastly but brilliant paintings from the brush of a supposedly dead artist. For into the chiaroscuro of a case that Blake had engaged in mainly to withdraw from the rigours of a bad long-range weather forecast came stabbing the harsh black and white of a Charles Addams horror-piece. And the horror was strictly not for the laughs. I think "Desmond Reid" was a pseudonym for Wilfred McNeilly, but things probably aren't that simple, so I'll leave it for someone else to correct or confirm. I think this is the first printing. Steve posted a different cover a week or two back. Howard Baker is credited as editor. As mentioned before, Andy Boot has a Howard Baker article in the forthcoming Paperback Fanatic. I recently recovered this one from eBay for no great sum (less than two quid). This time I'll keep it. The copy I was sent is in very good condition, might be unread, with what's probably the original CIS insurance flyer slipped inside. |
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Post by pulphack on Feb 25, 2008 15:45:10 GMT
According to Steve Holland's guide to 'Desmond Reid' pseudonyms, this one was Mr MacNeilly. Which is quite unusual, as nearly all the time regular Baker cronies appeared under their own name. However, I note it comes in the middle of a clutch of titles which are WM heavy, so perhaps this is why the Reid name was used. Peter Saxon and WA Ballinger were originally invented simply because Baker was writing most of the entries for a short period after he took over editorship. Again according to Steve Holland, this one was untouched (most Reid's being revised in some way, at least in theory). Wonder if Baker still insisted on splitting the money?
As a book, though, it's one of the Blakes I'd recommend most Vault regulars to start with as a toe dipper. Make up your own minds about what I'm saying here...
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Post by franklinmarsh on Feb 27, 2008 20:20:18 GMT
Shite! An unexpected trip to Alton today saw me heading in the direction of the improbably named Alton Second Hand Bookshop. Apart from renewing my acquaintance with Pan #9 (the rather wonderful school-prize-giving edition Ade sent me in the early days having gone awol), GNS' masterpiece Death Bell, and the Gordon McGill stonker Omen V - The Abomination (if it's half as good as Omen IV I'll be well happy), I had quite a marvellous chat with Joan Andrews who runs the place. She made an old boy's day when he came in in search of 'Romany' books from the 1940s and she produced a bucketload. She was bemoaning the fact she'd picked up a job lot of romance magazines tht weren't selling. I mentioned Sexton Blake and she produced a pile of about 16 of the paperback novels, that also weren't selling, that she was about to place on a charity book sale website. I lashed out on one double 'Laird Of Evil' by Martin Thomas (endorsed on the back cover by none other than Rupert Davies BBC-TVs Maigret). Anyway, Rog - Andy (or anyone else), if you'd be interested, PM me and I'll forward an e-mail address and/or a phone number. Unfortunately, one of them was Frenzy In The Flesh.
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Post by killercrab on Feb 28, 2008 14:15:20 GMT
Apart from renewing my acquaintance with Pan #9 (the rather wonderful school-prize-giving edition Ade sent me in the early days having gone awol), >>
LOL! Those Pan nines - you just can't put them down. Should come on a leash I say ...
ade
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Post by pulphack on Feb 29, 2008 20:50:30 GMT
didn't notice this the other day. thanks, franklin, but i'm lucky enough to have the full set of the mayflower sbl's, and also the fleetway fourth series.
however, if the romance mags are still there, i have a (cough) art project they may be useful for... so PM me the address/number.
can we change the subjct now?
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