The postman brings the third Ricochet Book in as many months. As Series Editor, I couldn't be more proud. One of the greatest Canadian noir novels, Blondes Are My Trouble followed Hot Freeze as the second Mike Garfin thriller. Like the first, it's set in the private detective's hometown of Montreal. And, like the first, the focus is on vice. This time it's prostitution, a racket not even Mike's girl Tessie can escape.
I was introduced to the novel as The Darker Traffic, published in 1954 by Dodd, Mead under Sanderson's "Martin Brett" nom de plume. Blondes Are My Trouble is the title given by Popular Library for the 1955 paperback release.
Better, don't you think?
We think Popular Library's cover is better, too, so have adapted it for the Ricochet reissue. Sure, that dame depicted isn't a blonde, but aren't you intrigued?
This time out I tapped John Norris of Pretty Sinister Books to pen the Introduction.
I think of Hot Freeze as the very best of post-war Canadian noir. John tells me that Blondes is even better.
Could I be wrong?
Acknowledgement: The publication of Blondes Are My Trouble sees the return of all four – or is it three? – Mike Garfin thrillers to print:
Acknowledgement: The publication of Blondes Are My Trouble sees the return of all four – or is it three? – Mike Garfin thrillers to print:
The last two are available from Greg Shepard's Stark House Press. It is thanks to Greg that we were able to contact Douglas Sanderson's son and secure the rights to Hot Freeze and Blondes Are My Trouble. Long a champion, in the past nine years Stark House has reissued six Sanderson novels, most recently Night of Horns and Cry Wolfsham.The Darker Traffic (a/k/a Blondes Are My Trouble; 1955)
Related posts:
Sure, that dame depicted isn't a blonde, but aren't you intrigued?
ReplyDeleteYou could claim her as a strawberry blonde, though. Either way, it's a great cover.
Strawberry blonde seems fair. She's certainly a more accurate depiction than the woman on the generic Dodd, Mead cover. I'll use this opportunity to again point out that the city skyline isn't Montreal's.
DeleteSmoldering she is. Sizzling, actually.
ReplyDelete