Que Todo es Imposible

Title : Que Todo es Imposible
Author : Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Cover art : Victor Stabin; Alberto Díez (design)
   [Mexico City : ROCA, 1995. Diseño de Portada : Alberto Díez. Illustración : Victor Stabin (collage).]

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Ases del Oeste 381 (1999)

Title : Ésta es Mi Ley!

Author : Keith Luger

Cover art : uncredited

   [Barcelona : Ediciones B, 1999. Ases del Oeste No. 381. First published, Barcelona, Bruguera , 1956.]

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   I’d not heard of Keith Luger before stumbling across this book at a magazine stand outside the mercado in Mazatlán. And despite the Alglo-ish name, Luger was apparently an important figure in Spanish pulp circles in the 1950s and 1960s, with many westerns in particular to his credit. The front cover art for Ases del Oeste 381 presents a rather James Bondish tableau of sexy, partially undressed woman and cool guy in back tie holding a martini glass.

Seis Tumbas en Munich

Title : Seis tumbas en Múnich : [una historia criminal movida por la venganza]

Author : Mario Puzo

Cover art : uncredited

   [Barcelona : Ediciones B, 2009. Traducción : Luis Murillo Fort. Originally published in 1967 by the Hearst Corp. as Six Graves to Munich, under the pseudonym Mario Cleri]. 

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A happy memento from a recent visit to the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Puzo’s Sies Tumbas en Munich sports a tasty neo-pulp cover which depicts a pistol brandishing tough guy in the foreground, along with two femmes fatales, all presented in garish colors, heavy on the yellows, bright reds and greens. It’s early Puzo, and though I’ve not read the book myself, I’m told it’s actually a pretty good story, a revenge tale which begins in WWII and takes place mostly in the 1950s in Germany. 

Collección Pandora No. 74 (195?)

Title : Vengo a Saldar Cuentas

Author : Peter Randa

Cover art : uncredited

   [Buenos Aires : Malinca, 195?. Collección Pandora No. 74. Titulo deo original : Tous Frais Payés, Paris, Editions Fleuve Noir.]

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   Of the recent spate of Latino titles Pandora 74 is probably the closest in mood and technique to the American vintage style. In particular the present title has a vaguely unfinished look so typical of much of the work of Barye Phillips. Once again, the cover art here alas is uncredited. Before this book I’d never heard of author Peter Randa. Apparently he was a fairly major figure in French detective fiction in the mid-Twentieth Century.

Collección Déborah No. 13 (1957)

Title : Fiebre de Venganza
Author : Jon Balmer
Cover art : uncredited
   [Buenos Aires : Ediciones Malinca, 1957. Collección Déborah No. 13. Titulo del original : Fever Hot. Traducción de Luis Caballero.]

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   Fiebre de Venganza was originally released in the U.S. as a vintage sleaze title known as Fever Hot, written by Jon (Moment of Rapture) Balmer. The Argentine reissue has many appealing qualities. I especially like the wavy, intensely reddish quality of the girl's hair, which somehow matches her clothes perfectly and duplicates almost exactly the shading of the girl's hair from the first printing. Coincidence? Likewise, the guy smoking a cigarette is a nice touch as it recalls the cigarettes from the original. In sum, the alas anonymous cover for Fiebre de Venganza is a very pleasing, eye catching design. However . . . a glimpse at the Exotic Novel original reveals that quite a bit of sizzle has been lost in the aesthetic translation. 
  P.S. Can anyone tell me about the mysterious goings on outside the window just beyond the ladder in the Colleccion Deborah version? 

Exotic Novel 19 (1951)

Ni Más Ni Menos Que un Asesinato

Title : Ni Más Ni Menos Que un Asesinato
Author : Jim Thompson
Cover art : uncredited
   [México, D.F.: Editorial Novaro, 1958. “Colección Nova-Mex.” First published in the U.S. as Nothing More Than Murder, 1949. ‘A Max Jacobson, M.D.’ p. 7. Traducción de: Jorge Peón Bolio.]

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Collección Caiman #203 (1962)

Title : Tiren a Matar (Ride a High Horse)
Author : Richard Prather
Cover art : Barye Phillips
   [México, D.F.: Editorial Diana S.A., 1962. “Primera Edición.” Collección Caiman #203. Traductor : Frederico Wingartz. Originally issued in the U.S. as Ride a High Horse;  subsequently reissued as Too Many Crooks.]

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