You ever get the feeling publishers sometimes used whatever art they had sitting around? You certainly would in the case of David Dortort’s 1948 paperback Burial of the Fruit, which is a “gripping novel of youth in the slums.” A slum that had a nice expanse of wetlands and recreational boating, apparently. Yes, there’s nature around Brooklyn, where the novel takes place and the anti-hero takes his sweetheart out there, but you’d think this was a rural saga if not for the cover blurb. Later editions had more appropriate art. The book tells the story of Honey Halpern—a male—who becomes the leader of a gang of killers for hire. Basically, it’s the story of Murder, Inc., turned into fiction. This was Dortort’s debut and it got rapturous reviews and earned him comparisons to some of the greatest contemporary authors alive. But he wrote only one other novel and never did become an immortal in the literary world. Instead he’s remembered for creating the television show Bonanza. Maybe that isn’t as respectable as being a master novelist, but we bet he made way more money. The cover artist here is Ann Cantor.
