Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Killer's Choice"

Killer’s Choice was (I believe) a paperback original published by Berkley Medallion in 1965. The copyright date is listed as 1964, and it is possible there was an earlier edition. The edition that caught my eye is the 1972 mass market reprint—also published by Berkley Medallion. It features a wounded man—his back to the audience—drawing his revolver. The art is vivid in a muted and almost melancholy manner. The background is empty except for a lightening—as it climbs the cover—blush of sandy brown. It has the appearance of a dust storm, and effectively isolates the man from his surroundings. The artist: It is signed “Watson,” but an Internet search came up empty on additional details.

The opening paragraph:

“There was no moon. A warm wind moved steadily over the vast, tinder-dry prairie. The noise of the wind and lack of moonlight made it a perfect night for the killer’s work. The killer was anxious to get the job done since he had already been paid for it.”

“Jeff Clinton” was a pseudonym Jack M. Bickham used, primarily, for his Wildcat O’Shea Western novels. He also published a solitary science fiction novel titled Kane’s Odyssey as by Jeff Clinton for Laser Books in 1976.

This is the twelfth in a series of posts featuring the cover art ad miscellany of books I find at thrift stores and used bookshops. It is reserved for books I purchase as much for the cover art as the story or author.

Jack M. Bickham

TOR Hardcover

I've been in a sentimental mood recently; the past year or so. I've been reading, and rereading in some cases, a good deal of fiction from my youth. Most of it is from the late-Eighties and early-Nineties. A few of the writers I've revisited had an impact on what I thought--particularly in my youth--about politics, life, and the world. And it's fun to revisit my younger, more naïve, and somewhat different self. It's also terrific that most of what I read then still holds up pretty well now.

I've shared a few of the writers on this blog--guys like J.C. Pollock and Harry Arnston--but there have been others I haven't. And the one at the top of my list is Jack M. Bickham. Mr. Bickham wrote with a stripped-down simplicity that didn't erode the essentials, but added to them--his Brad Smith novels had as much meaning as any novel I've ever read, but they also told a terrific and exhilarating story.

Jack Bickham published something like 75 novels and I've enjoyed all that I've read, but the work he produced in the last ten years of his life was special. In 1989 he published the first novel to feature aging tennis pro and sometime spy Brad Smith. It's title: Tie Breaker. He wrote five more before the series came to an end with The Davis Cup Conspiracy, and there isn't a month that goes by that I don't at least think about one of these novels; a situation, a phrase, a philosophical ideal, or maybe just the permeating sadness of an aging athlete. Damn I love those novels.

And it doesn't end there. Jack Bickham wrote a handful of stand alone novels that still sit on my bookshelf. Day Seven is part science fiction, and all thriller. It's a Space Shuttle story that involves Mars, hijackers, and adventure that could keep an action junkie satisfied for days. Ariel is another one. It's about artificial intelligence, human error, and responsibility. The Regensburg Legacy is an action story that has enough twists and turns to keep the most jaded reader wondering what's happening, and why.

If there was one writer I could magically bring back into print it would be Mr. Bickham. I would start with his amazing Brad Smith novels and move on down the list until I hit a little ACE Double Mystery he wrote in the 1950s called Dally with a Deadly Doll. And the cool thing, or maybe sad, depending on ones viewpoint, is I would read them all again. And you should to. If you haven't read Jack Bickham find a copy of something he wrote and read it.

A Note. Jack Bickham published under various pseudonyms including John Miles, Jeff Clinton, and Arthur Williams. And I'm sure many others. He published in several genres; western, mystery, thriller, and others. At least two of his novels were made into feature films including The Apple Dumpling Gang, and Baker's Hawk. And while I enjoy his later work the most, I haven't ran into a Bickham novel I didn't like.

Other Posts about Jack Bickham:

1.  Visual Pulp: The Ace Double Titles of Jack Bickham
2.  THE USELESS GUN by Jack M. Bickham
3.  Jack M. Bickham's Black Bat Mystery Titles

4.  OPERATION NIGHTFALL by John Miles (Jack M. Bickham) & Tom Morris

5.  DAY SEVEN by Jack M. Bickham

6.  The TOR Novels of Jack M. Bickham
7.   GOIN' by Jack M. Bickham
8.   THE INVISIBLE PLAGUE by Jack M. Bickham
9.   TIEBREAKER by Jack M. Bickham
10. DROPSHOT by Jack M. Bickham
11. OVERHEAD by Jack M. Bickham
12. BREAKFAST AT WIMBLEDON by Jack M. Bickham