PaperBack: “South of the Bordello”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



South of the Bordello, by “Rod Gray,” aka Gardner F. Fox
(Belmont Tower, 1973). Originally published in 1969, this novel was one of 18 featuring “sexpionage” agent Eve Drum, known as the “Lady from L.U.S.T.” (League of Undercover Spies and Terrorists). Paul Rader painted a number of covers for the first series of these paperbacks, but the artist behind the front displayed above is Ron Lesser. “The model,” he tells me, “was Lisa Karan. She was the least self-conscious of any model I ever used. Loved to pose naked. I photographed her in a clutch with [male model] Steve Holland; I thought she was going to swallow him. Bob [McGinnis] used her a lot also. Very sexy and a very nice lady.”

A later, Australian edition of South of the Bordello is here.