THE SCARLET LETTERS

Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1953. Hardcover. Very Good/Good Plus. The 27th novel in Ellery Queen's classic series of mystery whodunnits featuring writer and amateur sleuth, Ellery Queen, is set in Queen's beloved New York City. Queen has several problems -- who is the lover of Mrs. Lawrence, the pretty, young, rich Broadway producer? How can she be saved from the folly of her affair and the fury of her husband, an unsuccessful writer with uncontrollable rages? Queen begins his search for the unknown lover by trying to decipher a series of "scarlet letters" that have him running all over NYC. Then there's murder. An added attraction: Nikki Porter, long Queen's assistant in short stories and radio scripts, makes her first appearance in one of the novels. Book club edition. About 5 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches, 224 pages in green paper-covered boards with red lettering on front cover and spine. Boards and text are complete and unmarked, showing only light surface wear and soiling. Yellow-stained top edge shows light foxing. No bumped corners or spine ends, no chipping, creasing or tearing. Pictorial dustjacket featuring modern art design behind head and shoulders of young woman, shows considerable wear with chipping at spine ends and corners and small tears in edges. That said, dj remains 95% whole with nothing missing from front or rear panels. Overall, a very decent reading copy of one of the classics in a classic mystery series.