Fawcett Gold Medal No. 644 (1957)

Title : Ride the Gold Mare
Author : Ovid Demaris 
Cover art : Barye Phillips

  [Greenwich, Conn. : Fawcett Gold Medal, 1957. No. 644. First printing, February 1957].

style ***
substance **
collectibility *

Ride the Gold Mare is a thriller about drug running in Southern California. Characters include a loose cannon cop, a drunken reporter “without a conscience,” and assorted bad guys. Barye Phillips contributes one of his most unforgettable covers with this elegant take on the sexy dead girl formula. A partially clothed dead woman is positioned in the center of the cover, with gloomy cityscape and gigantic hand superimposed menacingly behind her. Very effective use of the multi-layered collage type of cover art graphics popular in the late 1950s.