They Also Served: Robert E. McGinnis

Illustrator (1926--) "I wish I looked half as good as his painting of me!” — Raquel Welch One of the all-time greats and one of the most influential illustrators of the last century, and a relatively late starter (he was born in 1926), Ohio born-and-bred ROBERT E.MCGINNIS has painted well over 1,500 paperback covers since the … Continue reading They Also Served: Robert E. McGinnis

They Also Served: Harry Bennett

Illustrator (1919-2012)    It's a bit of a mystery, at least to me, why HARRY BENNETT isn't better known among fans of vintage crime and detective paperbacks. His distinctive cover work has appeared on works by Dashiell Hammett, Frank Kane, Dolores Hitchens, Talmage Powell, Don Tracy, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Roy Huggins, Thomas B. … Continue reading They Also Served: Harry Bennett

They Also Served: Norman Saunders

Artist & Illustrator(1907-89)   One of the most successful pulp artists of the century (and BOY! Could he do babes!), NORMAN SAUNDERS moved effortlessly from the pulps to paperback illustration. He was born in Minnesota, and took a mail-order art course, which eventually landed him a job at Fawcett Publications from 1928 to 1934. But he … Continue reading They Also Served: Norman Saunders

They Also Served: Richard Lillis

Artist & Illustrator (1899-94)   One of the earlier pulp artists (he was young enough to serve in the first World War), RICHARD LILLIS was born in 1899 in Oxford, New York, the son of dairy farmers who ran a small grocery store on their property. He managed to attend an upstate New York college for … Continue reading They Also Served: Richard Lillis

They Also Served: H.J. Ward

Artist & Illustrator (1909-45)    Despite his short life (he died of lung cancer at the age of 35), HUGH JOSEPH WARD cut a wide swath, responsible for some off the most sensational and iconic pulp mag covers of all time, working for Munsey, Dell and Popular, but mostly for Culture Publication's notorious Spicy line--which … Continue reading They Also Served: H.J. Ward

Dare to Judge This Book

Some Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists "... the covers were sometimes printed in advance, before there was a story. So what the editor did was show me the cover or a drawing - it was usually a picture of a half-naked woman and someone stripping the rest of her clothes off her. And on … Continue reading Dare to Judge This Book

They Also Served: Mitchell Hooks

Illustrator (1923-2013)      One of my favorite artists, MITCHELL HOOKS' covers for Bantam's late-seventies reissues of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels acted as the visual counterpoint to my descent into this literary obsession of mine. Imagine my glee to discover that, years later, Hooks illustrated (in a completely different style) another of my favorite … Continue reading They Also Served: Mitchell Hooks

They Also Served: William Gargan

ACTOR, and TELEVISION'S FIRST PRIVATE EYE If WILLIAM GARGAN (1905-79) brought a certain air of authenticity--if not grit--to his numerous roles as a detective, there was a good reason--he'd actually worked as a one at one point in his life. In fact, much of his pre-acting life may have been a contributing factor to whatever verisimilitude … Continue reading They Also Served: William Gargan

Urich for Hire

The Private Eye Shows of Robert Urich First of all, let me set the record straight: I don't hate Robert Urich. I am not "spitting on his grave," "disrespecting the man" or being a "jerk wad." But over the years, my general disappointment with the Spenser for Hire TV series--and the casting of actor Robert Urich … Continue reading Urich for Hire

They Also Served

The greatest contributions to the private eye genre are, of course, the authors and creators who dared to dream of the men and women who would to go down those mean streets, and put it out there for all the world to see. But the genre wouldn't be what it is without those who toiled … Continue reading They Also Served