I work at a small branch of my local public library, and it's sometimes my job to periodically remove books from the collection. I usually look for damaged materials, duplicates (extra copies of last year's reality show star memoir), or otherwise outdated things. I came across this gem on a recent weeding effort and I'm not sure if I can bring myself to actually take it out of circulation (even though its record says it hasn't been checked out since 1999!). It's Virgin Heat, by Laurence Shames (Orion, 1997). The cover has to be one of the most disturbing ones I've come across, and that includes the particularly exploitative true crime types of books--the ones with over-exposed mugshot-laden covers that are intentionally in-your-face grotesque. There's just something about that innocent little kitty inside the sinister ring of fire (in conjunction with that lusty title) that makes me both anxious and grossed out. Is the kitten going to be okay? Is it heavy-handed 1997-era symbolism? What is this troubling image supposed to convey about the story?
It's apparently something about Key West, going by the blurb on the dust jacket, but it was oddly vague about events beyond that (looks like maybe an old lady type mystery who-dunnit sort of thing. Probably trying to cash in on Lilian Jackson Braun/Rita Mae Brown cat detective hype). I did some research on our Mr. Shames and apparently there was an entire series of Key West-inspired mystery novels to his name, although these days he writes Lost fanfiction (under the pseudonym Gary Troup). I guess the heady days of the 90's, with their sexy, Key West-based murder-mysteries, are truly over.
I guess I should also note that this is the large type version, and anyone familiar will know that LT covers tend to look pretty low-rent (for some reason)--they often use what appear to be public domain stock photos or middle school art projects whose subjects are loosely related to the content of the book (or are a literal translation of the title, as the LT cover designers probably don't trouble themselves to actually read the books they are creating covers for). Sometimes it's like someone copied and pasted some clip art from a Microsoft template or something. One wonders why they can't simply use the same cover design they used for the regular type version. But then, I guess we would be denied the pleasure of this version of Virgin Heat, the book about kittens being endangered in Key West.
I'll have to bring this to the attention of the Awful Library Books blog over at Wordpress (a very entertaining use of your time--if making fun of outdated and/or dumb library materials is entertaining for you).
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