Wednesday 17 April 2013

The Detective Tales cover for April

I did not want to blog about the Boston bombing (too depressing and I don't know what I could say worthy of interest) or the funerals of Margaret Thatcher (too sickening), I thought I would do my monthly upload of a Detective Tales cover. This one is April 1949. I blogged recently about realism in crime fiction, ironically enough I have chosen a cover that is utterly over the top. It bears similarities from the one I uploaded in January 2012 (from a January 1939 cover), because in both the hero is being attacked by a man in a knight's armor. It is maybe more interesting than the previous cover, because this one is a reversed situation: the private eye is suddenly in the role that would usually suit to the damsel in distress, with his iron clad adversary making him powerless, and the blonde heroine wearing red (a favorite color for heroines in crime fiction, it seems), usually the one in need to be saved, now trying to save her man. Rather inefficiently, I might add. Little detail of interest: the villain in the armor was behind a glass, they might be in a museum. Looking at it, I actually wonder if it is a crime story and not a horror one. Maybe the armor is haunted.

2 comments:

The Gill-Man said...

Love this!These old pulp covers are so great!

Guillaume said...

I have developed a fascination for them.