About the artist: Ernest Chiriaka (aka Darcy) (1913-2010) began his career as an illustrator in 1927, painting signs for local stores.  His first published story illustrations appeared in 1939 in Street & Smith's Love Story and he went on to illustrate covers for Ace-High Western, Adventure, Big Book Western, Black Book Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, Dime Western, Exciting Detective, Fifteen Western Tales, 44. Western, G-Men Detective, New Detective, Phantom Detective, Rodeo Romances, Star Western, Sweetheart Stories, Ten Detective Aces, 10-Story Western, Texas Rangers, Thrilling Mystery, West, and Western Aces.  His pulp covers, often unsigned,  used a variety of psuedonyms, including Acka, Darcy, and A.D.  In 1950 he began illustrating for such publications as American Magazine, Colliers, Coronet, Argosy, Saturday Evening Post, and Esquire, where his pin-up calendar art brought him his greatest renown. He would go on to paint numerous paperback book covers until 1965. At that point, he retired to concentrate on painting Old West landscapes.