Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Attractive jacket artwork by a prolific jacket artist of the period, Eugene Hastain. A tale of a proposal of marriage as a business deal, that leads to jealousy and hate...
Detective Fiction
Chicago, Covici-McGee, 1924.
First edition, first printing, signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced $2.00.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper, "For Mrs Edward F. Jordan Greeting! Vincent Starr".
"In the whimsically sardonic title given by Mr. Starrett to his collection of short stories, one receives a hint of the curious nature of the tales that make up the volume. Grotesque, fantastic, bizarre..." (jacket blurb)
Detective Fiction
London, Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1934.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
One of sherlockophile Starrett's honest & clever continuations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1963.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange boards. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d.
A chess tournament murder provides a puzzle for Nero Wolfe.
Detective Fiction
New York, Vanguard Press, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth with gilt spine. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.
The true first edition of the first published book by Rex Stout, a surprisingly significant work in the context of 20th century literature, both as a pioneering work of psychological fiction and as the first work of the modern period to utilise "second-person" narrative. A far cry perhaps from the detective fiction Stout would go on to be known for, the work is comprised of sixteen chapters, interlinked by italicised passages representing the progressive psychological perspective. The book was published by The Vanguard Press, created in 1926 to take advantage of a $100,000 grant from the left-wing Garland Fund; Rex Stout served as president of the press from 1926 until 1928. The excellent jacket artwork is by the well-known artist Winfred Earl Lefferts, who would go on to do jacket artwork for several of Stout's Nero Wolfe titles, including The League of Frightened Men (1935), The Rubber Band (1936) and The Red Box (1937).
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1958.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10/6.
Three stories that see series characters Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin tested to the limits of their ingenuity. An excellent example of the jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1949.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Striking jacket artwork on this collection of three Nero Wolfe tales; uncommon.
Detective Fiction
Strange (John Stephen) [Tillett (Dorothy S.)] Picture of the Victim.
First edition.
London. Collins, 1938
Fourth novel to feature photographer and detective Barney Gantt. Gantt finds his most elusive subject, camera-shy millionaire Jesse Jordon, dead and gets mixed up with the most obvious suspect.
Detective Fiction
London, Rich & Cowan, [1948].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Stephen Conway keeps a promise to a dead army buddy to show Alexander Dean, the renowned playwright and mystery writer the manuscript of his play.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
Stage school murder; an uncommon Collins Crime Club, by a former director of Methuens, no less.
Detective Fiction
First edition. London. Wright & Brown, 1935 Set in Burma, the story concerns the British manager of the ruby mines of Mogok has been away, attempting to track down a leopard that had been attacking livestock. He returns to discover his stand-in at the office lying dead on the floor, the safe door open and its contents stolen. Very scarce in jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 15s.
The first of two books by Alistair MacLean under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. Important scientists and their partners go missing after responding to a newspaper advertisements.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1940.
The second of the novels featuring amateur female detective Jane Carberry.
Rare in jacket. No copies online at time of listing.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A very good example of this uncommon cricket-related crime novel, which invites the reader to solve the crime by following the clues.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1936. First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6. An uncommon Asey Mayo tale and the first time we have encountered it in a jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1945.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A very good UK first edition of this Asey Mayo novel.
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Smith, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Attractive, somewhat menacing dust-jacket artwork graces this tale published under an uncommon imprint.
Detective Fiction
London, Columbine Publishing Co, 1939. The world-renowned detective Grant Rushton takes on his most sinister foe yet, High Priestess of the terrible cult of the Voodoo, Marie Galante.
Detective Fiction
London, Hurst & Blackett, [1937].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6 and with Colonial Issue price sticker to spine.
Striking jacket artwork and very good condition make this UK first a compelling copy for collectors of the Peter Clancy novels.
Detective Fiction
London, Hurst & Blackett, [1949].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A great first UK edition of this biblio yarn inspired by the notorious literary forger Thomas J. Wise, by a prolific US author.
Detective Fiction
A Study of the Detective Story
London, Wm Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1931.
First edition. Large 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red with red top-stain to text block. Dust-jacket with wraparound photographic artwork, correctly priced at 7/6.
First edition, described by Ellery Queen as "the most ambitious treatise on the detective story written in the, language" before Haycraft (In the Queen's Parlor, p.131).
"Despite the universal appeal of detective fiction, only recently has serious attention been paid to its technique. It is surely high time that criticism 'placed' detective fiction and officially recognised the conscientious craftsmanship that beguiles our leisure hours" (Foreword).
Detective Fiction
London, Jarrolds, 1935
First UK edition (Translation of Chateau en Limousin published in Paris in 1934). 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
Suzanne Marguerite Tinayre was a prolific French novelist and woman of letters. This was her only crime novel and is listed in Hubin.
It concerns the celebrated case of Madame Lafarge and whether she really murdered her husband nearly a century earlier.
Very scarce with only one copy cited by COPAC in the British library.
Detective Fiction
London, Michael Joseph, 1969.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced £1.50.
One of Mitchell's crime capers featuring architect Timothy Herring.
Detective Fiction
London, Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7s6d.
An attractively stylised jacket by D.V. Barry, on a murder mystery by American adventurer, stage actress, novelist and screenwriter Virginia Tracy.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Cassell, 1917.
A collection of eleven tales, one of which is a locked room mystery and two of which have definite weird content. Not mentioned by Bleiler.
“The Mystery of Howard Romaine”
involves the disappearance of a coffin and a body from a locked room (Adey p.300)
The Cuckoo Clock" is a tale of delirium involving the transmigration of a soul into a cuckoo clock. "The Fatal Fairy" is about a man who kidnaps a fairy at dawn, whereupon it turns into a monstrous baby vulture -- until he releases it a day later.
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager. This collection appeared in the year of his death.
Very scarce in jacket.
Detective Fiction
Sydney, Australia, Angus & Robertson, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A scarce first edition by the Australian writer Upfield, set in a farming community in western Australia, featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) of the Queensland Police Force.
Detective Fiction
Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
Arresting jacket artwork on this first book edition featuring series character Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf. The story was previously serialised in The Red Book Magazine under the title 'The Lone Wolf's Breed'.
London, Jenkins, [1921].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/.
An early dust-jacket, with wonderful jacket artwork.
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Paul, [1934].
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's compliments stamp to title; advertisements. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
All of the first editions by this author of crime fiction appear to be scarce - despite the wear to the jacket this is an attractive example, with a visually compelling jacket design.
Detective Fiction
London, Ward Lock, 1934,
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Evelyn Charles Henry Vivian was the pseudonym of Charles Henry Cannell, a British editor and writer of fantasy, supernatural and detective novels and stories who also wrote using the name Jack Mann.
A Hubin-title featuring Inspector Head.
Rare in d/w.
Detective Fiction
London, Constable, 1955.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6.
Equestrian murder mystery.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [c.1926]. Early H&S edition. Signed & inscribed by the author. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Wonderfully inscribed edition of this title, originally published in 1917. Inscribed by the author: 'It is much easier to write books than inscriptions! The chief interest I have in "The Clue of the Twisted Candle" is that I used to think it was the best mystery story I had ever written.'
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1926].
First edition. 8vo. 8pp. advertisements at end. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
A rare book in the original first issue dust-jacket, with striking artwork.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [c.1930]. Early reprint. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6. A very good early printing of this key title by Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace, aka The King of Mystery Fiction.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London. Jarrolds, 1932
A very scarce locked room mystery interestingly not noted by Bob Adey in his seminal bibliography of Locked Room Murders. James Harold Wallis (1885-1958) was the author of a series of novels featuring New York detective Inspector Wilton Jacks.
Detective Fiction
First edition, signed presentation copy.
London. Collins, 1941
Author’s first novel. Hubin listed. Set in the murky world of London nightclubs and narrated by Jimmy, a smart young policeman who loses his heart to Anna, a cabaret dancer. James Warren was the pseudonym of Robert Brendon, a British writer. Inscribed on the title-page.