Pulp of the Baskervilles

If you like classic pulp-style art, watch for the new Pulp Classics series from Oldcastle Books. Of greatest interest to crime fiction lovers will be the reprint of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles as seen above. Its cover, painted by illustrator David Mann, presents a hound that looks like a demonic chihuahua with Holmes and Watson rendered in a quick-painted style reminiscent of the pulp detective magazine covers of the 1940s and 50s.

Distressed-look corners, a grainy repro texture and orange page edges round off the retro effect. There’s a touch of humour too – beside the chihuahua we have the strapline ‘Murder… Mystery… Walkies…’ The Hound of the Baskervilles is released on 15 May.

Other titles in the series include classic novels Pride & Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Robinson Crusoe, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Wuthering Heights, A Christmas Carol and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Admittedly, none of these classics are from the pulp era which saw the rise of crime fiction greats like like Dashiell Hammett, Jim Thompson and Horace McCoy, but it’s fantastic to see the revival of this throwback style.

The books are £5.39 as paperbacks, or 85p on Kindle. UK readers, for a chance to win this copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles, head over to our Facebook page and enter our draw. You can enjoy the covers below the Amazon links…