Category: Hardboiled

cover art by George Gross

George Gross (American, 1909-2003)
oil on canvas, 16-1/2 x 12-1/8 inches (41.9 x 30.8 cm) (image), not signed

George Gross originally created this work for use as the cover of the October, 1952 issue of the pulp digest Special Detective. After publication, as was a common practice, he reworked the background slightly, adding grey curtains to the upper edges of the scene.



In this final form, the work got a second life as paperback cover art for The Mistress by Colin Ross (Beacon Books, 1958).

December 1935 issue ~ cover art by John Drew

December 1935 issue

cover art by John Drew

better image than previously posted

~ W.T. Ballard, “After Breakfast”, 2nd of 7 with ‘Red Drake, undercover investigator for the State Racing Commission, 1st-person narrator’, 16th of 43 stories in BM

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Tough People”, 1st of 2 with Det. Sgt. Bob Land, border patrol, 13th of 14 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Above the Law”, 62th Ed Jenkins, ‘The Phantom Crook’, 87th of 99 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “The Man from Monaco”, 23rd of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 30th of 39 stories in BM

~ Eric Taylor, “Red Death”, ‘Gene Terry, detective, Metropolitan Agency’, 5th of 7 stories in BM

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