The Harlequin edition of The Lady Lost Her Head (New York: Phoenix Press, 1950) by Manning Lee Stokes (1911 - 1976) is the only paperback and the last English edition of the book.
Jerrard Tickell's (1905 - 1966) Appointment with Venus was first published in 1951 by London's Hodder & Stoughton.
Harlequin 370 - October 1956
Harlequin 370 back
Harlequin 432 - July 1958
Harlequin 432 back
The Lady Lost Her Head has such an odd cover, does it not? It's almost as if two illustrations were commissioned, neither of which satisfied. And that can't be victim and suspect in the corner, can it?
ReplyDeleteThat said, the back cover copy has me hooked. The story of a comic book company employee on the run through Manhattan, including the "dusky ateliers of Greenwich Village", sounds like good fun.
The cover is unusual for Harlequin - I think one of the best. Not sure what is represented.
ReplyDeleteThe comic angle also caught by attention - although the name sounds like a movue studio.
Likely to be one of the few Harlequins I'll read.
I agree that it does sound like name of a movie studio. It also remind me of Manning's American publisher Phoenix Press: mythical creatures, New York addresses... and, of course, Phoenix and Sphinx are close to being anagrams.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Can't be a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteThe other book is notable for the cover blurb -the oddest one I've seen in a while. Wonder what other "amusing" WWII escape stories the blurb writer was thinking about?