Another Look: “Dead Men’s Plans”

Warning: Artistic inspiration drawn from book titles may vary.



Left: Dead Men’s Plans, by Mignon G. Eberhart (Dell, 1954); cover illustration by Richard M. Powers. Right: Dead Men’s Plans, by Mignon G. Eberhart (Popular Library, 1963); with a truly disconcerting cover painting by William Teason.

Nebraska-born author Eberhart (1899-1996) is said to have had one of the longest—and most profitable—careers of any American crime-fictionist. Her debut novel, The Patient in Room 18 (1929), was selected last year as one of Time magazine’s “100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time.” It was also the first of seven medical mystery novels starring nurse Sarah Keate. Eberhart wrote many more standout standalones, among them The House on the Roof (1935), Danger in the Dark (1937), With This Ring (1941), and Five Passengers from Lisbon (1946). Dead Men’s Plans, about the inheritance of a shipping empire gone dangerously awry, saw print originally in 1952. Eberhart received the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award in 1971. Her final book, Three Days for Emeralds, appeared in 1988.

I am embarrassed to say I’ve never read Eberhart’s work, but intend to remedy that situation soon by picking up her fifth Keate tale, Murder of an Aristocrat, which was reissued in 2019 as part of Otto Penzler’s American Mystery Classics series. The write-up on Aristocrat calls it “a thrilling mystery set in the rarified world of a wealthy Midwestern family … [that] renders its pulse-pounding suspense and puzzling crimes with eloquent prose, exemplifying why Eberhart was widely known, in her day, as ‘the atmosphere queen.”

READ MORE: “Your Guide to Mignon Eberhart: America's Agatha Christie,” by Harry Pearson (Murder & Mayhem).

Another Look: “The Mad Hatter Mystery”

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Left: The Mad Hatter Mystery, by John Dickson Carr (Dell, 1953). This cover illustration is by Denver Gillen, perhaps best remembered for helping to create the image of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Right: The Mad Hatter Mystery, by John Dickson Carr (Berkley, 1958); cover art by Lu Kimmel. This was the second installment in Carr’s series starring Dr. Gideon Fell.

Another Look: “The D.A. Breaks an Egg”

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An egg-cellent pairing for Easter. Left: The D.A. Breaks an Egg, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Cardinal, 1958); photo front. Right: The D.A. Breaks an Egg (Great Pan, 1959), with a cover illustration by Sam “Peff” Peffer. This was the ninth and final entry in Gardner’s series starring Douglas Selby, the scrappy district attorney for fictional Madison County, California.

Another Look: “Naked Fury”

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Left: Naked Fury, by “Day Keene,” aka Gunnar Hjerstedt (Phantom, 1952), with a cover illustration by Jack Rickard. Right: Naked Fury (Berkley, 1959); cover art by Milo.

Another Look: “The Case of the Smoking Chimney”

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Left: The Case of the Smoking Chimney, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket, 1950), with a cover illustration by Wayne Blickenstaff. Right: The Case of the Smoking Chimney, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket, 1961), with cover art by Charles Binger. Originally published in 1943, this is the second of two novels featuring amateur sleuth “Gramps” Wiggins. It was preceded by The Case of the Turning Tide (1941).

Another Look: “And Then There Were None”

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Left: And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Pocket, 1944), with a cover illustration by Leo Manso. Right: And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Cardinal, 1959); cover art by Sanford “Sandy” Kossin.

Today would have been Agatha Christie’s 133rd birthday, had she not so inconveniently died in early 1976. By way of celebration, LitReactor’s Christopher Shultz declares her the inventor of ... modern slasher fiction. “Whether intentional or not,” he writes, “the horror subgenre owes a huge debt of gratitude to Christie and her 1939 novel And Then There Were None.” Read his entire piece here.

Another Look: “Savage Bride”

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Left: Savage Bride, by Cornell Woolrich (Gold Medal, 1950. Right: Savage Bride, by Cornell Woolrich (Gold Medal, 1957). The cover illustrations for both books were created by Barye Phillips.

READ MORE: “Do People Really Know What They Think They Know about Cornell Woolrich?” by Curtis Evans (CrimeReads).

Another Look: “Border Town Girl”

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Left: Border Town Girl, by John D. MacDonald (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1956), with a typically sexy cover illustration by Robert McGinnis. Right: Border Town Girl, by John D. MacDonald (Robert Hale, UK, 1970); cover art by Barbara Walton. It was a mention in Mike Ripley’s “Getting Away with Murder” column for Shots that reminded me of this “fast-moving tale.”

Another Look: “The Case of the Terrified Typist”

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Left: The Case of the Terrified Typist, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Cardinal, 1958), with a leggy cover illustration by Rudy Garcia. Right: The Case of the Terrified Typist, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pan UK, 1964); cover art by Harry Sheldon. Originally published in the United States by William Morrow and Company, in January 1956, this was Gardner’s 49th (!) Perry Mason novel.

Another Look: “The Future Mister Dolan”

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Left: The Future Mister Dolan, by Charles Gorham (Signet, 1949), with a cover illustration credited to James Avati. Right: The Future Mister Dolan, by Charles Gorham (Pyramid, 1959); cover art by Ernest Chiriacka, aka Darcy.

Charles Orson Gorham (1911-1975) saw his first novel, The Gilded Hearse, published in 1948 (and later reissued as Make Me an Offer). He quickly followed that up with The Future Mister Dolan, a tale that has been variously praised as brutal and uncompromising, and damned (by Kirkus Reviews) as “unprintable,” “unforgivable,” and “censor bait.” Gorham went on to pen the no-less-controversial McCaffery (1961), an early gay-themed novel.

Another Look: “The Case of the Grinning Gorilla”

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Left: The Case of the Grinning Gorilla, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket, 1956), with a cover illustration from Milton Herder. Right: The Case of the Grinning Gorilla, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Great Pan, 1961); cover art by Pat Owen.

I like what author, blogger, and mystery-fiction scholar Curtis Evans wrote in his review of this mid-series Perry Mason outing:

Somehow I never imagined I would come across a Perry Mason mystery where the redoubtable defense attorney gets pursued through an eccentric millionaire's nearly deserted mansion by a killer gorilla. Yet, sure enough, this is just what I found in Erle Stanley Gardner's fortieth—if I counted right—Perry Mason detective novel, The Case of the Grinning Gorilla (1952).

In most American mysteries from the period, the titular “gorilla” would have been some nasty, hulking human bruiser with one ugly mug, who has it down for some reason on our series hero; but, nope, when ESG promises you a gorilla, you get an actual gorilla. And then some! Things get pretty hairy for our Perry, let me tell you.

Also nice is that in the Pocket edition on the left, the gorilla can be spotted only as a reflection in those dark glasses worn by the sunbathing lovely. Because I have not yet read the book, I cannot say for sure what the relationship is between her and a menacing ape, but clearly summertime frolics feature in Gardner’s yarn, as the original U.S. hardcover version features its own scantily clad figure.

A far less appealing photo front for this book can be seen here.

Another Look: “The African Queen”

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Left: The African Queen, by C.S. Forester (Bantam, 1949); cover illustration by Ken Riley. Right: The African Queen, by C.S. Forester (Bantam, 1960); cover art by James Avati.

Cairo, Egypt-born British author Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (1899-1966) is best remembered by his nom de plume, Cecil Scott “C.S.” Forester. He penned the 12-volume Horatio Hornblower series, set onboard naval ships during Europe’s Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), in addition to non-fiction books and more than 20 standalone novels. The African Queen, which takes place in German East Africa during World War I, was originally published in 1935. In 1951, it was adapted—with a variety of changes—into a big-screen film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. Subsequently, two different pilots were shot in hopes of bringing this story to television: one that showed in 1962 as an episode of NBC’s Dick Powell Theatre, starring James Coburn and Glynis Johns; and another, on CBS in 1977, featuring Warren Oates and Mariette Hartley. Neither spawned a weekly contribution to the boob-tube schedule.

Another Look: “The Longest Second”

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Left: The Longest Second, by Bill S. Ballinger (Signet, 1959); cover illustration by Robert Schulz. Right: The Longest Second, by Bill S. Balllinger (Corgi, 1960); cover art credited to John Richards.

Another Look: “The Benson Murder Case”

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Left: The Benson Murder Case, by “S.S. Van Dine,” aka Willard Huntington Wright (Pocket, 1946); cover illustration by Bill Gillies. Right: The Benson Murder Case, by “S.S. Van Dine,” aka Willard Huntington Wright (Scribner, 1983); cover art credited to Jerry W. McDaniel. I was reminded of this first novel starring amateur sleuth Philo Vance earlier this month, when Otto Penzler’s American Mystery Classics released a handsome new edition of the once best-selling mystery. Since I’ve never read it, I promptly snapped up a copy for myself.

READ MORE: “He Created Nancy Drew Cover Art. Now, His Family Tries to Solve the Mystery of Two Portraits,” by D.J. Simmons
(CT Insider).

Another Look: “Death-Watch”

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Left: Death-Watch, by John Dickson Carr (Dell, 1952); cover illustration by George Mayers, with a “mapback” rear cover shown here. Right: Death Watch, by John Dickson Carr (Berkley, 1958); cover art credited to Robert Maguire. First published in 1935, this is the fifth of Carr’s 23 novels starring corpulent amateur sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell.

Another Look: “This Woman”

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Left: This Woman, by Albert Idell (Gold Medal Red Seal, 1952); cover illustration by Barye Phillips. Right: This Woman, by Albert Idell (Gold Medal, 1960); cover art also by Phillips.

Another Look: “Hotel Talleyrand”

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Left: Hotel Talleyrand, by Paul Hyde Bonner (Bantam, 1955); cover illustration by Barye Phillips. Right: Hotel Talleyrand, by Paul Hyde Bonner (Panther, 1959); cover art credited to Charles Binger. Although it’s pretty much forgotten today, Hotel Talleyrand—penned by a former diplomat—enjoyed best-seller status following its hardcover debut in 1953.

A third paperback front for this book can be found here.

Another Look: “They Came to Baghdad”

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Left: They Came to Baghdad, by Agatha Christie (Pocket, 1952); cover art by Clyde Ross. Right: They Came to Baghdad, by Agatha Christie (Fontana, 1954); an illustrator credit in the lower left reads only “Johnston.”

Another Look: “Morgue for Venus”

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Left: Morgue for Venus, by “Jonathan Craig,” aka Frank E. Smith (Gold Medal, 1956); cover painting by Barye Phillips. Right: Morgue for Venus, by “Jonathan Craig,” aka Frank E. Smith (Belmont Tower, 1973); cover illustrator unidentified. This was the second installment in Craig’s well-regarded Pete Selby/Sixth Precinct series, following The Dead Darling (1955).

Another Look: “The Case of the Daring Decoy”

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Left: The Case of the Daring Decoy, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket, 1960); cover illustration by James Avati. Right: The Case of the Daring Decoy, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket, 1963); cover art by Robert McGinnis. This was the 54th novel starring Los Angeles defense attorney Perry Mason, first published in 1957.