Saturday 14 February 2015

With love and bullets! (?)

I did not upload a cover from Detective Tales since November. I was not sure to continue this tradition, but for some reason today I decided to give it a go. It is Valentine's Day, and people might want to read something appropriate for the day. Instead of some soppy romantic stories, how about some crime fiction? Something old with a healthy cocktail of Eros and Thanatos. With love and bullets. So I found this cover, from February 1953 and it has this great title, fitting the day (and hence I used it for my own post title): "With Love and Bullets!" The title is worth the cover. I have no idea if this image is related to the story itself. But it is a neat one: an exotic beauty cornered by two men, one police officer in uniform and another one in civilian clothes. Is she a femme fatale, a damsel in distress? Is she both? Are the policemen corrupted, or doing their duty by cornering her and I guess threatening her (the one in civilian is holding a menacing finger, in a warning gesture). It is deliciously ambiguous.

1 comment:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Since she's being picked out of a line-up (J'accuse!), I'd say she's a femme fatale. Or at least a pickpocket.