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
London, Collins, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original mauve boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
The author's first book; a classic murder mystery which will keep you guessing until the final pages.
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
London, Frederick Muller, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Attractive jacket artwork on this uncommon, and untypical, detective fiction title.
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.
Detective Fiction
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1940.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original grey cloth.
Macabre murder mystery by one of the great Golden Age authors, uncommon.
Detective Fiction
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1950.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
Contains Chandler's essay on the art of detective stories and a collection of eight classic Chandler mysteries.
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
London, Cassell, 1926.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth blocked in red. Later issue jacket, priced 3/6.
An uncommonly good jacket, albeit not first issue, on this highly collectable Father Brown first edition: Father Brown 'unravels the tangled skein of crime with entire success, and does it with convincing common-sense logic'.
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
London, Collins Crime Club, 1952.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d.
A decent first UK edition of this famous village 'whodunit', playfully placing Poirot in the scene rather than Miss Marple.
Detective Fiction
New York, Dodd, Mead, 1929.
First US edition. 8vo. Original turquoise cloth lettered & decorated in red. Dust-jacket.
An attractive first US edition of this short story collection featuring Christie's detectives Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, first introduced in The Secret Adversary (1922). All of the stories in the collection had previously been published in magazines.
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, 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, 1955.
8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.
Attractive jacketed edition of this murder-mystery with supernatural elements.
Detective Fiction
London, Alston Rivers, [1932].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
"This thrilling novel deals with the ever threatening Red Menace..." (jacket blurb).
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.
![Arthur Conan Doyle, [Adventures of Sherlock Holmes], in vol.III of The Strand, January - June 1892](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/85658-300x300.jpg)
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, 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, Arthur H. Stockwell, [1929].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
A very good first edition of an elusive crime thriller, especially in the jacket.
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, Francis Aldor, [1946].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
"Miss Fenisong knows her New York backgrounds very well, as she shows in this exciting story of what happened in Brooklyn Heights when the family from Gramercy Park moved over." (jacket blurb)
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.