Detective Fiction

Showing 1–36 of 485 results

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

Baum (Vicki) Secret Sentence

£250



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.

£75



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.

£125



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.

£295



London, John Gifford, 1948.

First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.

Decent first edition of this early Inspector Thomas Littlejohn novel.

£195



London, John Gifford, [1949].

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.

An Inspector Littlejohn story.

£125


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.

£95



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.

£195



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.

£150



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.

£1,750



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.

£150



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.

£350



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.

£795



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.

£125



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.

£625



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.

£1,575


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.

£150



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.

£125



London, Collins Crime Club, 1955.

8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.

Attractive jacketed edition of this murder-mystery with supernatural elements.

£150



London, Collins, 1922.

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered and ruled in red.

Uncommon first edition of this pre Inspector French title.

£125



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.

£150



London, Macmillan, 1977.

First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced £3.50.

The scarce third Inspector Morse title.

£175


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.

£1,350



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.

£95



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.

£125



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.

£195



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.

£145



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.

£75



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.

£75



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

Green (Alan) What a Body!

£250



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.

£135



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.

£150



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.

£75



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.

£85



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.

£125



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.

£425



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.