Cool Cover of the Week #1

Nope, not cover songs - book covers! We're fairly obsessive bibliophiles, my wife and I, me way more than she, and - gosh! - we do love a good cover illustration. So, I'm going to start going through our collection, in no particular order, and throw you all a little eye candy, hopefully once a week. (Click on the pic for a bigger version).

The April Robin Murders
by Craig Rice and Ed McBain
Dell Books, August 1959

Great cover, eh? You want to read this now, right? My guess is that while you may know Ed McBain (hugely bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series of police procedurals for, oh, DECADES!), you're probably scratching your fuzzy chin about this Rice fella, eh?

Scratch no more! Craig Rice was once upon a time the much better-known name of these two authors. Hence McBain taking second billing here. Rice wrote at least two dozen novels, all of them worth reading - nay, worth savoring! One of them has the greatest book title ever. Don't you just drool at the idea of reading a mystery called The Big Midget Murders? Huh, huh - don'cha just! Go read the Wikipedia entry and find out the truth behind the name, too. Craig weren't no Craig at all.

Anyway, I don't think there are any Rice books back in print these days, but they are worth scouring the used bookstores and library sales for. We didn't even know we had this title on our shelves until two weeks ago! It had gotten stuck in with the McBain books years ago, before we discovered Rice, and forgotten about. It's little surprises like this that make life so sweet.