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
London, Ernest Benn, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A continental rest cure for inquiry agents Maurice & Cyril rapidly becomes their most exciting experience.
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
Syndey, Angus & Robertson, 1936.
True first edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
The first in his "Bony" series. The novel tells the story of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, a half Aboriginal detective from the Northern Territory of Australia, who is sent to investigate the murder of a pilot in the remote Diamantina River district.
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'.
Detective Fiction
London, Hammond, Hammond, 1947.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped with price-sticker for '3/6'.
An attractive example of this uncommon title by a seemingly relatively obscure author...
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, The Leisure Library, [c.1936].
First UK edition, '29th thousand'. Small 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket.
An attractive UK edition, not least for the advertisement for 'Kolynos dental cream' on the jacket's lower panel.
Detective Fiction
London, Constable, 1955.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6.
Equestrian murder mystery.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1937.
Reprint. Small 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
An attractively jacketed 'yellowback" of this Edgar Wallace work, originally published in 1927.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1932.
Early reprint. Small 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A lovely copy of this Wallace title. Jesse Trasmere, a wealthy miser, unexpectedly leaves town, yet his body is later found in a locked vault. His nephew Rex has financial motives.
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, [c.1928].
Early printing. Small 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
An attractively jacketed 'yellowback" of this Edgar Wallace work, originally published in 1927.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1928.
First edition. Small 8vo. Original orange cloth. Early reprint dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A first UK edition in early jacket of this classic Wallace thriller - Li Yoseph, a suspected rich smuggler, lives at Lady's Stairs; when Mark, Tiser, and Ann investigate Ronnie's death linked to Bradly, Yoseph vanishes.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1920s].
Early Printing. Small 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
An attractively jacketed 'yellowback" of this Edgar Wallace work from his Detective Sgt Elk series, originally published in 1926.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1925.
First edition. Small 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
A great first edition. At first glance J G Reeder is an ordinary, slightly shabby little man with red hair, weak eyes, whiskers, square-toed boots and a chest protector cravat. However, working for the Public Prosecutor he finds plenty to stretch his extraordinary mind. Here are eight thrilling, highly original tales from one of the greatest talents ever applied to detective fiction.
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, 1926.
Early printing. Small 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
A mysterious stalker is revealed to be a detective protecting the interests of a young orphan from the machinations of a sinister countess...
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [c.1928].
Early printing. Small 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
An attractively jacketed 'yellowback" of this Edgar Wallace work, originally published in 1926. The story provided the basis for the 1963 West German film The Curse of the Yellow Snake directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb and starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Brigitte Grothum.
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
London, John Hamilton, [1928].
First edition. 8vo. Original dark red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An uncommon first edition, one of Hamilton's Sundial Editions. James Morgan Walsh (1897-1952) wrote crime thrillers with compelling spy and espionage elements.
Detective Fiction
London, Melrose, 1937.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Uncommon edition of this murder-mystery about a string of rubies - the famous 'Blood of Buddha'.
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.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1934.
First edition, reprint. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, with price sticker 2/6.
A darn decent copy of this difficult title to find in a contemporary jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good first edition of one the of later, stand-alone titles by this crime writer.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The author's second 'Miss Silver' book, extremely uncommon in the original, artistically excellent, dust-jacket. A compelling tale of wrongful imprisonment and the pursuit for justice that eventually falls on the shoulders of Miss Silver to take up.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1944.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
On New Year's Eve 1940, James Paradine accuses a family member of theft and is later found dead. Miss Silver must unravel the tangled web of family resentment to solve the mystery. Uncommon in jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1946].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
A plot of diabolic ingenuity taxes Chief Inspector Stephen Rant of the Yard. Attractive jacket artwork.
Detective Fiction
London, Fisher Unwin, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
An important work by Thrilling Stories of the Railway author Canon Whitechurch, more famous perhaps for its insight into the author's working method as outlined in his preface. An uncommonly good example.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1957.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black boards lettered in silver. Dust-jacket, priced 12/6.
Hardboiled noir fiction by the author of Dead Calm.