South of Heaven and Texas by the Tail by Jim Thompson

Originally published in 1967, South of Heaven is one of the later novels by Jim Thompson (1906–1977), about a young migrant laborer working on an oil pipeline in Texas. From the back cover:

In the 1920s the worst place you could be was in that part of Texas that some people call “South of Heaven,” and the worst thing you could be doing there was laying a gas pipeline, along with six-hundred other hoboes, juice-heads, and jailbirds. But that’s exactly what Tommy Burwell was doing, even though he wasn’t smart enough to know better. Even though “South of Heaven” is another term for hell. Combining a tale of escalating savagery with a dead-eyed group portrait of men at the edge, Jim Thompson has produced a masterpiece of the American dissolute.

Shown here is the cover of the 1994 paperback reissue by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, designed by Pamela Scheier with a photo by Hikaru “Carl” Iwasaki (1923–2016), courtesy of LIFE magazine.

The same basic design was used for Texas by the Tail. Also set in Texas, it’s about a young women who “could con the pants off every oil millionaire from Houston to Fort Worth – and steal Dallas in the bargain”. This novel was first published in 1965. The cover photo is by Joyce Ravid.

Mitch Corley has a girlfriend with expensive tastes and a ruthless wife who refuses to become an “ex” without major compensation. He needs big money and he needs it fast. Which makes Texas Mitch’s natural destination, since nowhere are rich men more inclined to stake huge sums on a roll of the dice. The only problem is that Texans are sore losers –and they have cruel and ingenious ways of getting back at anyone who cheats them.

The upright pen script is Compliment by Helmut Matheis (1917–2021). It’s here used with widened proportions and tracked letterforms.