Plaything (Vintage Paperback, Barbara Nichols cover model)
Neubauer, William Arthur writing as Gordon Semple
Plaything (Vintage Paperback, Barbara Nichols cover model)
New York: Initimate Novels 4 / Designs Publishing Corporation, Circa 1951. Vintage paperback. First printing of this edition. First published by Phoenix Press, 1950. Cover reused for Beacon Books 167. Somewhat unsettling photo cover, featuring actress and pinup, Barbara Nichols (presumed): long-tressed blonde half-clad in yellow, with black bra and white undies. She looks a bit frightened, as if undressing and interrupted. Small title list with photos at the rear: Nichols covers on 2 titles. Nichols' career launched in 1945 when she won a beauty pageant at 16; she would go on to model for numerous detective magazines and star in several films, including "Miracle in the Rain" (1956). With a tough, femme-fatale appeal, 37-24-35 dimensions, Nichols was a prominent fixture of the late hard-boiled era. Hard romance about a woman caught between her maniupulative lover and a kinder, softer lover with marriage in mind. Well rubbed, splits to spine ends, short but moderate creases, date stamp top page edges. Strong Good. Steve Sullivan, "Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia," #549, 1999. [Book ID 125007] [Vintage Paperbacks (VP)]