Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1967.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
Taking its title from William Blake's Auguries of Innocence, this later title ranked amongst the author's favourites of her own works.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1964.
Later impression. 8vo. Original orange boards. Dust-jacket.
First published in 1934 (in America, less edifyingly as The Boomerang Clue), this is Christie in breezy standalone mode: Bobby Jones (the vicar's son, not the golfer, a distinction the opening chapter enjoys) finds a dying man on a cliffside whose last words supply the title, and investigates with the aristocratic Frankie Derwent in tow. The question proved durable enough to be re-asked twice on screen, including Hugh Laurie's well-received 2022 adaptation.
Incidentally, Christie's own account of the title is rather lovely: she said the idea came from visiting a friend for tea, whose brother tossed aside a book he was reading and said "Not bad, but why on earth didn't they ask Evans?", and she decided on the spot that a future book would bear that title, before knowing who Evans would even be.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1941.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.
Christie's wartime spy thriller and the third outing for Tommy & Tuppence Beresford (after The Secret Adversary, 1922, and Partners in Crime, 1929). A dying British agent's cryptic clue sends Tommy and Tuppence to the seaside guesthouse Sans Souci in pursuit of two German fifth-columnist masterminds, "N" and "M."
Detective Fiction
New York, Grosset & Dunlap, n.d..
Grosset & Dunlap edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket.
Attractive edition of this classic Hercule Poirot mystery, set at a secluded seaside resort where the murder of a glamorous former actress exposes jealousy, deception and carefully constructed alibis.
Detective Fiction
New York, Grosset & Dunlap, n.d..
Grosset & Dunlap edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
The third Tommy & Tuppence book, published in 1941 with the war very much on: the Beresfords, now middle-aged and irritated at being considered too old for intelligence work, go undercover at a seaside guesthouse to unmask two Fifth Columnist agents known only as N & M. Famously, the novel earned Christie the attention of MI5 - she had named a tediously talkative character Major Bletchley, and the security services wanted to know what, precisely, she knew about a certain Park. (Nothing; she'd been stuck on a train there once and took revenge in the traditional authorial manner.) A Grosset & Dunlap reprint from the year of the trade first: an attractive and sensible way to own a wartime Christie in jacket without wartime-first-edition money.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1953.
8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.
A Poirot mystery centred on the murder of an American heiress aboard the luxury Blue Train travelling through France. The plot involves stolen jewels, mistaken identities, and romantic entanglements.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1950s.
8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1950s.
8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 1/6.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1937.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A solid first edition of this classic Hercule Poirot title, a difficult book to find in good order.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1952.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A decent first UK edition of this famous village 'whodunit', playfully placing Poirot in the scene rather than Miss Marple.
Detective Fiction
and other stories
London, Collins Crime Club, 1936.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.
The first Christie short-story collection published by the Crime Club; important as it showcases her interest in psychological and speculative motifs outside the conventional puzzle-plot.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1973.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Pan Books, 1960.
First Pan paperback edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
Detective Fiction
London, Penguin, 1953.
First Penguin paperback edition. 8vo. Original wrappers.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1929.
First edition, early issue. 8vo. Original blue cloth.
A thrilling tale of deception and intrigue unfolds as a group of young adventurers stumble upon a deadly secret connected to the enigmatic Seven Dials Club.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1930.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Later black cloth, lettered in red to spine.
A sharply rebound copy of this early collection of short stories by Agatha Christie.
Detective Fiction
featuring Miss Marple
London, Collins Crime Club, 1964.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
Miss Marple travels abroad, but inevitably trouble still finds her.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1962.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An appealing first edition of this Miss Marple staple.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of this tale of international intrigue and deadly peril.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, n.d..
Collins 2/- issue. 12mo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
A neat early edition of this Agatha Christie classic.