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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Site of the month

Books by Donald Hamilton: A Cover Gallery, a self- described work in progress, is a collection of classic Hamilton covers. My fave is the cover for the Gold Medal paperback original of Death of a Citizen. What a cover!

Collección F.B.I. No. 153 (1953)

Title : El Profesor
Author : Frank McFair
Cover art : uncredited
   [Madrid : Editorial Rollan, 1953. Collección F.B.I. No. 153.]

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The Collección F.B.I. was a series of crime novels in the Fifties and Sixties released by the Spanish publisher Editorial Rollan. No. 153 was written by an author with the very Anglo sounding name of Frank McFair, about whom I can’t find much online, though he gets a nice representation of covers via a search in Google Images. Searching ABEBooks also reveals that he wrote quite a few mysteries in the 1950s. Apparently he contributed several of the FBI series. These novels are presumably about the exploits of the famous bureau with the same name. Given the era, could it mean anything else? Nonetheless, it's curious subject matter coming from a Spanish publisher.

Originally I thought the title of the book was just FBI; the conspicuous placement of the lettering on the cover implies as much. But no, FBI is the series. The book’s title is El Profesor. The man on the  front cover might be a good guy but the sunglasses and [pasted on?] mustache give him a sinister aura. A nice Hitchcockesque touch, the reflections of the figures in the sunglasses.

Colección Orquídea (1950?)

Title : La Equivocación de Colette
Author : Eveline Le Maire
Cover art : uncredited
   [México, D.F.: Editorial Albatros, 195?. “Colección Orquídea.” Originally published as La Méprise de Colette, Paris, Plon-Nourrit, 1914.]

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   Contrary to my original assumption, Equivocación de Colette has nothing to do with the famous writer of the same name. It seems that Eveline Le Maire was a between-the-wars author of women’s novels, and this one happens to have a fictional heroine named Colette. Regrettably, the front cover art is not particularly memorable; it’s dominated by a flat, mannequin-like rendering of the title character. By the way, what is that hobby horse/chess piece figure over her left shoulder? There’s no credit for the cover art, though the soft gray blob just beneath her right elbow may be a barely discernible outline of a signature. Pluses include the Deco lettering and quasi-Deco chair.
   The Colección Orquídea was a series of romance novels that Mexican publisher Albatros issued around mid-Twentieth Century, thus I place the date of La Equivocación at circa 1950. The cover's heavy doses of pink tips us off that the primary audience is female.