Confessions of a Racy Receptionist by Graham Masterton
Contributed by Thomas Walsh
on Mar 21st, 2026. Artwork published in
May 1976
.
Before Graham Masterton was known for writing The Manitou, he wrote stories about a woman and her confessions.
Confessions of a Racy Receptionist (Or, what happens when a 44–24–37 girl goes 9 to 5!) is one of the two stories in the Confessions series. Cover artwork is credited to Bill Wenzel. The book title features a very groovy-looking Caruso Roxy [edit: it’s Holiday, see comments], followed by Trade Gothic. If I had one confession to make: It’s definitely the most 70s type I’ve ever seen.
3 Comments on “Confessions of a Racy Receptionist by Graham Masterton”
Yeah. 🙄 That’s another example of Roxy used for cheesy pulp fiction with sexist tropes, as I’ve characterized it in the post about Tarantino’s Pussy Wagon.
As the line on the back cover (“Coffee, Tea…or Alice!”) demonstrates, choosing the same typeface (and illustrator) was not coincidental, but – like the books by Donald Bain and Bernard Glemser – very much intentional, in order to jump on the bandwagon of the Coffee Tea or Me? book series. Sex(ism) sells.
I think we’ve now documented enough of this specific 1970s trend.
Thomas, the Caruso Roxy lowercase i doesn’t have this dot, I think is Holiday by Lettergraphics, look!
Good call, John! I failed to check the details for this one, but you’re right; it’s Holiday. Apart from the i dot, the flopped M with the swash to the right and the perfectly horizontal tops of l and t are the tell-tale signs. Adjusted.