Natalie Anderson Scott’s 1955 novel Hotel Room was originally published in 1953 as The Little Stockade, and it’s a tale set in New York City’s infamous Hell’s Kitchen, involving a woman named Marie who is made into a prostitute by a man she loves but shouldn’t. This was Scott’s follow up to her hit novel The Story of Mrs. Murphy, which instead of examining a woman stuck in the trap of vice examined a woman stuck in the trap of alcoholism. Unfortunately, this gritty follow-up wasn’t as well received. But she still had a decent career, publishing several more books over the years.
Popular Library had the knack of getting artists who painted in the same general style—perhaps the company even required it. Sometimes that makes it hard to know who a cover artist is, but in this case it’s Rafael DeSoto. Here he’s painted a nimbus around the head of his female figure. We realized we’d seen the same effect before from him, for example here and here—and even here, if you look closely—so we had a scan around the internet to see how often that occurred. While DeSoto did it on some covers, we wouldn’t go so far as to call it a trademark. Still, it’s a cool effect on a very nice piece of art.
