cover art by Ann Cantor
Art taken from paperback Murder Mystery Monthly #47 (1949), titled “The Blonde, The Gangster and the Private Eye” by Dale Clark.
pseudonym of Ronal Kayser
1946 Messner hardcover as The Red Rods
1949 Avon release with new title
Tempera on paper laid on board, 17 x 12.75 in. (sight)
Not signed
PROVENANCE: The artist, Connecticut.
Lay Down and Die! by Mark Reed, Falcon #26, 1952.
better image than previously posted
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).
February 1960, first US appearance of Chandler’s “Wrong Pigeon”, published posthumously. First publication of the full text. An abridged version had been serialized in the Perth Daily News during May, 1959 as “Marlowe Takes on the Syndicate”. In September of 1965, it was published in Argosy magazine with the title “The Pencil”. It would be published again with that title in the 1988 Doubleday hardcover Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: A Centennial Celebration
“The ‘Mob’ had a grudge against Marlowe…and thy were out to kill two pigeons with one stone.”
SMB Noir 