Put yourself in Scott Henderson’s place. You know you’re not a murderer. You know you were with another woman when your, wife was strangled. But the District Attorney and the police don’t know it. And YOU CAN’T PROVE IT!
You met this other woman in a bar. You took her to dimer and to a play. But you didn’t know her name or where she lived. Your mind had been in such a turmoil that you didn’t notice anything about her — except that she was wearing a flaming orange hat.
Then you got home and found three detectives waiting — and your wife dead in the boudoir!
Where’s your alibi? “Woman — orange hat ” is all you can remember. You get an all-night grilling till you’re too tired to remember, or think, or even care. The cops take you out to retrace your steps. Somebody must remember seeing you — with the lady in the orange hat.
The bartender. Sure, he saw you … but nobody was with you. The cab driver. He remembered picking you up, raking you to the restaurant … but you were alone The headwaiter saw you, too. But he had only served one person, he said. There it was, on your table reservation and on your check. Dinner for ONE!
NOBODY, not the doorman or the ticket-taker, or the usher in the theatre, had seen her! They remembered you, because you had come in after the curtain was up. They certainly would have seen a woman in an orange hat. But they swore you were alone! And now you’re starting down that “last mile” — with the electric chair staring you in the facet The impact of this suspense-packed new mystery, PHANTOM LADY, will hit you Squarely between the eyes! WHAT A BOOK! PHANTOM LADY is brand new. The author’s name is brand new. The book is selling everywhere for $2.00. But we don’t want to sell it to you. We want to GIVE it to you — to show detective book fans the kind of stories they will receive from the Detective Book Club. (Text from Detective Book Club Advertisement in the Evening Star, Washington DC, January 03, 1943
