Rare and collectable Detective Fiction titles, including first editions and other significant editions, often with striking dust-jackets. Authors ranging from the obscure, the pseudonymous and the classic, such as Agatha Christie, with titles from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and beyond.
Detective Fiction
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
The first UK edition of this work by prolific Austrian author Baum.
Detective Fiction
Bellairs (George, pseud. Harold Blundell) Close All Roads to Sospel
London, John Gifford, 1976.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced £2.50.
A British travel group is stranded in France when the tour conductor is shot, and the bus driver is accused of murder. Luckily, Inspector Littlejohn is holidaying nearby and is on hand, both to interpret the annoyed tourists and to solve a baffling double crime.
Detective Fiction
Bellairs (George, pseud. Harold Blundell) Death of a Busybody
London, Thrilling Book Club, 1942.
First book club edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
The second Littlejohn title, published the same year as the first edition by John Gifford. Scarce.
Detective Fiction
Bellairs (George, pseud. Harold Blundell) Death on the Last Train
London, John Gifford, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
Decent first edition of this early Inspector Thomas Littlejohn novel.
London, John Gifford, [1949].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An Inspector Littlejohn story.
Detective Fiction
A Dramatic Story
London, Greening, 1906.
Early edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers, priced 6d.
An excellent example of this early edition of a pulp classic.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1968.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 21s.
The first UK edition of the author's third "cat" murder-mysteries.
Detective Fiction
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1956.
First UK edition, first hardcover edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
Irish writer Moore's first pulp fiction foray under this pseudonym, one of seven such titles he subsequently disowned. Adapted into a 1958 film noir of the same name, directed by Jack Cardiff. Rare.
Detective Fiction
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
The author's first novel, introducing her series character John Coffin, albeit in a less primary role than that he took on from the fourth book.
Detective Fiction
New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1934.
First edition (stated on copyright page). 8vo. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
The first edition of this classic of US crime literature, widely recognised as an outstanding novel of the 20th century. The jacket is price-clipped, but the titles listed on the back panel conform to the first printing, and the inside front flap includes the disclaimer about no cheaper printings being issued before Spring 1935.
Detective Fiction
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1938.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth.
The first UK edition of what is considered one of the best locked room mysteries of all time.
London, Hutchinson, [1935].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Attractive first edition of this important anthology, featuring Anthony Berkeley, John Dickson Carr, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and many many more of the biggest names in crime fiction.
Detective Fiction
New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1937.
First US edition, no printing specified on copyright page. 8vo. Original dark beige cloth lettered in dark blue. Early/first reprint dust-jacket, no price.
The first US edition of one of Christie's most famous Poirot novels, here in probably the first reprint dust-jacket, issued the same year.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1954.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
An attractive first edition example of this 1950s Agatha Christie, set largely in Morocco.
Detective Fiction
New York, Grosset & Dunlap, March 1934.
First US edition, fourth printing. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced $.75
An attractive early printing of the first US edition of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, retitled in America to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel Stamboul Train, which had been published in the United States as Orient Express.
Detective Fiction
A New Poirot Mystery
New York, Dodd, Mead, 1936.
First US edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
First USA edition of this excellent Hercule Poirot novel, satisfyingly televised by the BBC in 2018 with John Malkovich as the moustachioed detective.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket.
A nice first edition of this Hercule Poirot title, featuring five cases set in an English country house at Christmas time.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1955.
8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.
Attractive jacketed edition of this murder-mystery with supernatural elements.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1922.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered and ruled in red.
Uncommon first edition of this pre Inspector French title.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, n.d. [c.1925].
Early printing. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Great jacket artwork on this early printing of one of six titles Goodchild published under the name 'Alan Dare', originally published in 1924. The title was reissued under Goodchild's name by Newnes in 1934.
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1977.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced £3.50.
The scarce third Inspector Morse title.
Detective Fiction
comprising: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle; The Adventure of the Speckled Band; The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor; The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
London, George Newnes, 1892.
Together in The Strand Magazine, vol.III January to June. 4to. Bound in contemporary half calf, spine gilt.
Including several of the most famous Sherlock Holmes adventures, in their original first appearance.
Detective Fiction
London, Newnes, 1902.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked in elaborate gilt to upper cover and spine, with inset black silhouette of the Hound to upper cover.
Without doubt one of the most thrilling and atmospheric adventures of everybody's favourite consulting detective, a glorious blend of goth pseudo supernatural and definitive Holmesian deductive scene stealing, The Hound of the Baskervilles exists very much in a realm of its own.
The novel, the third of four featuring Holmes, was the first tale to be published after Doyle threw his most notable creation off a waterfall, and its considerable commercial success was really the catalyst for Holmes' triumphal return to life. With more plots than Varney the Vampire (actually five in all, including red herrings...so we're exaggerating, because everyone knows Varney has about 750), it seems very much a harking back to the Victorian style of creeper, very Le Fanu or Wilkie Collins, with its diary entries, and letters, unearthed manuscript and doom laden portents uttered by gloomy locals staring out of windows overlooking marsh land.
Detective Fiction
London, Skeffington, n.d..
Early printing, stating '6th Thousand' on jacket spine. 8vo. Original olive cloth. Dust-jacket, with price rather dramatically excised from spine.
An early printing of the US author's first book.
Detective Fiction
Eadie (Arlton, pseud. Leopold Leonard Eadie) The Crimson Query
London, Skeffington, n.d..
Early printing, stating '7th Thousand' to title-page. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Originally published in 1929, sometimes subtitled Or How the Squid Got Besuckered, introduces a villain known as the Crimson Query because he leaves, Zorro-like, a sign of his machinations. In this case, a bright red question mark. All in all, this hard-to-find detective story stands alongside the more horrific novels Eadie is known for.
Detective Fiction
London, Faber & Faber, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
22 murder stories that only appeared in periodical form before.
Detective Fiction
London, Ward Lock, n.d. [c.1930].
8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black.
An early edition of this interesting yarn about two ex-jailbirds threatened by a blackmailing detective. Originally published in 1919.
Detective Fiction
London, Boardman, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Redhead reporter Rufus Reed and editor Asaph Clume at their finest, plus excellent jacket artwork.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, n.d..
'Popular Edition'. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
A lovely early reissue of this classic, "the story of a mother's vengeance".
Detective Fiction
London, Alvin Redman, 1950.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original pale blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
When health-and-exercise guru Merlin Broadstone is murdered on his private island in the Florida Keys, detective John Hugo is assigned to the case and promptly falls for one of Broadstone's nieces.
Detective Fiction
London, Methuen, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
An attractively jacketed first edition of this crime thriller featuring Gregg's recurring detective, Inspector Cuthbert Higgins.
Detective Fiction
Gunn (Victor, pseud. Edwy Searles Brooks) Ironsides Sees Red
London, Collins, 1943.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
One of several 'Ironsides' titles written by Brooks under the pseudonym Victor Gunn. He also famously wrote under the pen name of Berkeley Gray.
Detective Fiction
New York, Knopf, 1945.
7th Pocket Books edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers. Pictorial dust-jacket.
An attractive paperback edition of this classic of this hard-boiled detective novel.
Detective Fiction
London, Chatto & Windus, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped and with price-sticker 7/6.
Twelve stories showcasing Household's literary flair above and beyond the spy/thriller genre he is normally associated with. Attractive dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1906.
First edition. 8vo. Patterned endpapers, publisher's catalogue at end. Original green pictorial cloth.
A very good first edition of this mystery novel by the author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.
Detective Fiction
Innes (Michael, pseud. John Innes Mackintosh Stewart) Stop Press
London, Gollancz, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red to spine. Dust-jacket.
The fourth in Innes' series featuring John Appleby, Detective Inspector of Scotland Yard. A Golden Age of Detective Fiction classic.