My Scrapbook: “The Deadly Stripper” by Robert Maguire

Uncategorized

My Bookshelf
“The Deadly Stripper” by Robert Maguire
(January 1962, Man’s Magazine)

As if there weren’t Mike Shayne enough short stories, novelettes and novellas by “Brett Halliday” floating around in various pulps, digests and sundry other outlets — not to mention Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine, of course — there were also  “Book Bonus” versions of many of the novels that appeared in “Men’s Adventure” mags throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s.

And these weren’t quickie-dump excerpts, either — they were considered major features, frequently receiving top billing on the covers, and boasting interior illustrations by some of the top illustrators of the day, such as Robert McGinnis and Robert A. Maguire, both of whom were already linked to Shayne (McGinnis through  the covers of the countless Shayne paperbacks, and Maguire through equally numerous covers for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine).

Nor was it uncommon for magazine art directors to “borrow” previously used artwork as cover and spots illustrations for the Shayne stories and excerpts.

In fact, the juicy illustration above was originally from Maguire’s cover for Fire in My Blood, a 1959 sizzler about a “Stripper, sensualist, mistress — the fascinating story of a woman who would do anything for love.” It’s purportedly the autobiography of Denisa, Lady Newborough, a former circus high-wire walker, striptease artist, and pioneer aviator from Romania, who married Thomas John Wynn, the 5th Baron Newborough, in 1939.

The painting’s recycled here as the left hand page of a two-page spread in the January 1962 issue of Man’s Magazine to illustrate the “Book Bonus” version of the Mike Shayne novel Killers from the Keys, which was published the same year.

But there are no Romanian avitators in this one. Instead, Mike comes to the aid of Sloe Burn, a hard-boiled stripper from the Florida Keys, who wants the detective to track down a favourite customer who’s gone missing, amidst all sorts skullduggery and scandal.

Hmmm… maybe Sloe Burn’s not so far from Lady Newborough after all

MIKE SHAYNE IN MEN’S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES

  • The Naked Frame” (February 1953, Bluebook)
  • “Payoff Girl” (December 1956, Stag)
  • “Murder in Haste” (March 1961, Argosy)
  • “The Careless Corpse” (August 1961, Argosy)
  • “Payoff in Blood” (January 1962, Argosy)
  • “The Deadly Stripper” (January 1962, Man’s Magazine; condensed version of Killer in the Keys)
  • “Murder by Proxy” (June 1962, Argosy)
  • “Never Kill a Client” (November 1962, Argosy)
  • “Strip for Death” (1962 Man’s Magazine Fall Annual; reprint of “The Deadly Stripper”)
  • “The Corpse That Never Was” (May 1963, Argosy)
  • “A Redhead for Mike Shayne” (March 1964, Argosy)
  • “Shoot to Kill” (July 1964 , Argosy)
  • “Murder Spins the Wheel” (January 1966, Argosy)
  • “Armed, Dangerous” (July 1966, Argosy)
  • “Guilty as Hell” (April 1967 , Argosy)
  • “So Lush, So Deadly” (January 1968, Argosy)
  • “Count Downward to Zero” (April 1971, Argosy)

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS

Published

Leave a Reply