Deadlier Than the Male by Gunn, James - 1942

NY: Scribners, 1962. First Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 1st, brick cloth, vg (slt. cocked, discolored top edge) in vg dj w/ $3.95 price. Dj has minor wear and one short tear at top of spine, and a wrinkle aat the bottom of the rear panel. 254 pp. SIGNED on the title page.

London: Macmillan, 1977. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/fine. A very nice copy of the first Brother Cadfael novel. In this book Edith Pargeter combined her excellent historical novel abilities with her nom-de-plume Ellis Peters' well-constructed mysteries and started the boom in historical mysteries that continues to this day. There are many earlier examples of the form, but this is where it takes off and becomes a major publishing category. Historically important, well written, and a scarce book to find in nice condition. This copy has a previous owner's minuscule inscription on the front free endpaper (signature and date of 10 Dec 77, and the cryptic notation "F.E." indicating it was purchased through British bookseller Francis Edwards Ltd.), and very slight bumping to the spine, both head and tail, creasing the jacket slightly. The jacket is unclipped, and the book was not read more than once or twice. A nice copy of a cornerstone volume. Any photo attached to my listings are of the actual… Read More

Ultramarine Press, 1988. First. Hardbound. minor discoloration of the fore edge at the top else fine as issued. Additionally is nicely inscribed by Estleman to the subscriber in 1990. a handsome item. of en edition of 50 copies, this is one of 10 lettered copies signed by Estleman, finely bound in full leather by Denis Gouey. 210 pp.

320 pages. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's maroon with silver lettering to spine in original pictorial jacket. Jacket design by Fritz Wegner. (Bruccoli A10.1.a.) First edition, first printing. The English edition preceded the American by a few months.Critics and writers, ranging from W. H. Auden to Evelyn Waugh to Ian Fleming, greatly admired the finely wrought prose of Raymond Chandler. Although his swift-moving, hardboiled style was inspired mostly by Dashiell Hammett, his sharp and lyrical similes are original: "The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel"; "The minutes went by on tiptoe, with their fingers to their lips", defining private eye fiction genre, and leading to the coining of the adjective 'Chandleresque', which is subject and object of parody and pastiche. Yet, Philip Marlowe is not a stereotypical tough guy, but a complex, sometimes sentimental man of few friends, who attended university, speaks some Spanish and, at times,… Read More

Very Good book has the common age toning along the board edges, tiny dings to corners, slight soiling to page edges, with lower inch and and half of spine slightly concave inward; in Very Good to Near Fine dust jacket that has very slight yellowing front and back panels with mild rubbing, and slight edge and corner wear. This was a very fragile production. Willeford's fictionalized story of the Son of Sam killer and the Sheriff Deputy who caught him. This copy has been signed by Willeford on the front end page and inscribed: To Lou Maradie – I think you'll like this. Dr. Schwartz thinks Berko faked his psychosis. Dr. Abrahamsen does not. So it goes. You may have a different opinion. All the best. Dr. Louis J. Maradie practiced Clinical Psychology in Miami for 35 years. This book appeared four years prior to Miami Blues, the first Hoke Mosley mystery.

London: Smith, Elder & Co.,1908. First edition. 6000 copies printed. 8vo. half-title, pp. 372 + 4 of adverts. Frontis. illustration by A. Castaigne, original pictorial red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, bottom edge untrimmed. Front panel illus. 'Examining the leather funnel'. Spine head has two short splits. Splash marks to rear. Generally dust soiled. Fep shows ink number 17 and small red stain. Binding intact but loose. Collection of seventeen stories, mostly crime or fantastic, the latter including "The Leather Funnel," an antiquarian ghost story worthy of M. R. James, "Playing With Fire," and "The Brown Hand." Also present "The Man With the Watches", "The Japanese Box" etc..

Dodd,, 1941. Second printing in dust jacket. Former rental library copy. The book has tape marks and stamps on the endpapers; endpapers also have foxing. The dust jacket is trimmed from an old-style just jacket protector and has marks on the verso of the flyleaves from being fastened to the endpapers. A detective suspects a screenwriter is guilty of murder; the screenwriter flees to give himself time to find the real murderer. Brooker. Filmmed in 1941 with Betty Grabble.

x+533 pages. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 3/4") bound in original publisher's beige cloth with brown lettering to spine and cover in original pictorial jacket.The Simple Art of Murder is hard-boiled detective fiction author Raymond Chandler's critical essay, a magazine article, and his collection of short stories. The essay was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in December 1944. The magazine article appeared in the Saturday Review of Literature, April 15, 1950. The article, somewhat rewritten, served to introduce the collection The Simple Art of Murder, 1950 (Houghton Mifflin Co.), which contained eight of Chandler's early stories pre-dating his first novel, The Big Sleep. The essay is considered a seminal piece of literary criticism. Although Chandler's primary topic is the art (and failings) of detective fiction, he touches on general literature and modern society as well. Chandler reserves his praise for Dashiell Hammett. Although Chandler and Hammett were contemporaries and grouped as the founders of… Read More

Blakeney, Glos: England: Scorpion Press 1995, 1995. 1st ed. Fine in unprinted acetate dust jacket as issued. Red goatskin with various colors mixed into charcoal patterned marbled paper sides, red top edge and charcoal end papers. LIMITED EDITION, one of 15 LETTERED DE LUXE COPIES, This being LETTER "K". SIGNED BY ALL 28 CONTRIBUTORS which include H.R.F. Keating, Michael Lewin,. Susan Moody, Candace Robb, Reginald Hill, Margaret Yorke, Liza Cody, Lindsey Davis, Charlotte & Aaron Elkins, John Harvey, H.R.F. Keating, Peter Lovesey, Susan Moody, Peter Robinson... Ian Rankin signed some of the books in the manner of "Knots and Crosses" a reference to his first novel and that each one is different. The signature pages are continued at the rear of the book. An unusual and desirable item. From the beginning Scorpion Press decided to include four elements: all books were autographed by the author (or authors); additional material was commissioned about the author; print runs… Read More

Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company / The Crime Club, 1930. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. Publisher's black cloth, front board and spine stamped in red. Top edge stained red. In the original price-clipped dust jacket. Binding is firm and bright, spine with light crease and spine ends slightly pushed. Dust jacket has vibrant colors with slightest wear to front corner tip. 289 pp. Dust jacket now in protective mylar cover. .