Detective Fiction

Showing 37–72 of 485 results

Detective Fiction

Johns (W.E.) Murder by Air

£175



London, Newnes, [1937].

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth.

The first edition in book form (preceded by appearance in The Thriller magazine the same year) of this more grown-up tale by the creator of Biggles, featuring former First World War pilot turned crime-fighter Deeley Montfort Delaroy (aka "Steeley").

Detective Fiction

MacDonald (Philip) The Noose

£225



London, Collins Crime Club, n.d. [1931].

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original blue boards. Second issue jacket, priced 3/6.

One of the popular thriller series by Philip MacDonald featuring his amateur detective character Anthony Ruthven Gethryn. This was the first title to be published in the 'Collins Crime Club' series of detective and thriller fiction (the first impression can fetch in excess of £2,000), making this scarce early issue jacket an attractive alternative to collectors of crime classics.

£60



London, Michael Joseph, 1955.

First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.

One of a series of crime thrillers by journalist, author and war correspondent Macdonald Hastings.

£795


Second Series
London, Bliss, Sands and Foster, 1896.

First edition. 8vo. Publisher's advertisements. Original green pictorial cloth.

The first of prolific writer Meade's literary collaborations, an early example of a medical mystery.

£75



London, Sampson Low, 1949.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.

Dave Lee was shot dead as he rode the Joyland ferris wheel. As hard-boiled private investigator Max Thursday stalked Dave's killer, he encountered … a high-powered sob sister, the sadistic king of a gambling syndicate, and a delicate, sphinx-like girl who packed a.38 revolver.

£75



London, Sampson Low, 1949.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.

When a phony count, a weird artist, and a dazzling blond beauty relentlessly dog his footsteps, hard-hitting private investigator Max Thursday knows his charming personality isn't the attraction.

£150



London, Methuen, 1922.

First edition. 8vo. Publisher's advertisements at rear. Original green cloth lettered and decorated in gilt to spine.

Rare detective fiction first edition by 'Christopher Robin' creator A.A. Milne, one of three such crime titles he wrote (others being The Fourth Wall (1928) and the play The Perfect Alibi (1928)). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.

"And an excellent story it is! Anthony Gillingham light-heartedly unravels the mystery, standing at the head of a long, and soon extending queue of humorous sleuths who gave a new and refreshing slant to the business of fictional crime. 'What fun! Here's a body!' sums up the style; yet this fantasy, with its brilliant dialogue, finely-drawn scenes from the night-life of the 'twenties and credible characters, hold the reader until the final page is turned." (Quayle, The Collector's Book of Detective Fiction, pp.107-108).

£125



London, Ward, Lock, [c.1901].

Early edition. 8vo. Original cloth-backed pictorial boards.

An attractive illustrated edition of this account of the ongoing adventures of investigator Martin Hewitt, first introduced to readers in 1894. Morrison is best known today for his novel A Child of the Jago (1896).

£100



London, Macmillan, 1950.

First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

The exciting story of an adventurous young African boy whose main ambition is to join the Gold Coast Police Force, encountering smugglers and other wrongdoers in the process.

£295



London, Heath Cranton, 1937.

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

A novel about an ex-army man who becomes a gentleman thief in the Raffles mode.

Detective Fiction

Rees (Arthur J.) The Brink

£450



London, The Bodley Head, 1931.

First edition. 8vo. Original sage cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

A distinctive first edition by Australian author Rees.

£125



London, Geoffrey Bles, 1946.

First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.

A pleasing first edition of the 42nd in Rhode's long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.

£250



London, Jarrold, 1936.

First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in green to spine. Supplied dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.

Superb jacket married to a somewhat pre-loved example of the first edition of this Hubin-listed crime thriller.

£80


An Edwardian Mystery
London, Macmillan, 1939.

First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.

A nice jacketed example of this "piquant and persuasive study in the macabre" (Sunday Times). Royde-Smith was the first woman literary editor of the Westminster Gazette and in that capacity published the early work of such writers as Rupert Brooke, Graham Greene, Elizabeth Bowen, and Rose Macaulay. Rare.

£150



London, Herbert Jenkins, 1953.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 9/6.

A very good first edition of this crime thriller by an author who remains somewhat enigmatic.

£750



London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1931.

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

Great jacket artwork by Hastain on this 'Jim Maitland' novel.

£595



London, Heinemann, 1934.

First edition. Autograph letter from the author (as Shearing) tipped in at front endpapers. 8vo. Original pink cloth.

A murder mystery, based on the unsolved murder of Harriet Buswell in 1872. The autograph letter from Bowen to the Scottish lawyer and keen amateur criminologist William Roughead is dated December 1939, and mentions a book of his published that same year, Neck or Nothing.

£150


and other stories
London, Hutchinson, [1934].

First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, 'Blue Star Library' issue.

Further crime thriller fiction based in the Pacific from the author of The Tales of Mynheer Amayat.

£225



London, Collins Crime Club, [1939].

First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.

An automobile accident strands Nero Wolfe and Archie in the middle of a private pasture - and a family feud over a prize bull.

£95



London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, no price.

Uncommon and attractive UK edition of this legal crime thriller by Tillett.

£125



London, Michael Joseph, 1970.

First edition. 8vo. Original sage boards. Dust-jacket, priced 35s/£1.75.

The fifth novel by Gladys Mitchell under this pseudonym.

£75



London, Heinemann, 1959.

First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 13s6d.

A very good first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.

£75



London, Heinemann, 1960.

First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket.

An excellent first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.

£75



London, Heinemann, 1961.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced sticker of £1.75 over original price 13s6d.

A very good first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.

£275



London, Francis Aldor, 1946.

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

A good first edition of this '40s adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.

£85



London, Heinemann, [1960].

First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark blue boards. Dust-jacket, 13s6d.

A very good first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.

£225



London, Michael Joseph, 1958.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

An attractive first edition of these Judge Dee historical mysteries. The main character was based on a real 7th century detective.

£150



London &c., Harrap, 1924.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket.

The second of the American author's 'Pennington Wise' titles, scarce in the jacket.

£95



London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1955.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.

A nice first edition of one of the later 'Miss Silver' titles by Wentworth.

£425



London, Collins Crime Club, 1943.

First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

The first edition of an intense psychological thriller from the author of The Lady Vanishes.

£375



London, Skeffington, [c.1924].

First UK edition. 8vo. Original pale green/grey cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.

Distinctly uncommon title and edition of this wonderfully jacketed crime fiction novel, by American pianist, religious apologist and author Harvey Wickham, an author whose renown dipped somewhat following his pro-Mussolini stance and his denigration of the works of D.H. Lawrence.

£150


A Romance of England under the Blitz
London [&c.], Hurst & Blackett, [1942].

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

Attractive jacket artwork on this war-time first edition.

£425


the private memoirs of Wayne Armitage
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1936.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.

A murder mystery set amongst US expats and local characters in a town in France. Frank Sherwin was an English artist known for his paintings and designs for railway destinations around the British Isles.

£425

First edition, inscribed by the author on the frontispiece.
London. Lincoln Williams, 1935
According to the Bear Alley blog the book is listed in the English Catalogue of Books as having appeared in February 1935 and it was listed under the pen-name "Trill". The publisher Lincoln Williams went into administration in July 1935 so the book probably wasn’t reprinted. Trill was a pen name for Harry C. Liebart according to Hubin. Very scarce in a jacket.

Detective Fiction

[anon.] Maria Marten

£50


or, The Murder in the Red Barn
London, John Lane The Bodley Head, 1943.

Second edition thus, reprint. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.

A modern rendering of the popular 19th-century melodrama relating to a high-profile murder case of 1827. Here with an introduction by the playwright Montagu Slater, famous for his work with Benjamin Britten.

£395



London, Drane's, [1924].

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

An uncommon first edition of this collection published by an uncommon imprint. Many of the tales revolve around a consulting detective agency in Calcutta, as in the author's coeval work Benjamin & Co., and despite a tendency towards some rather "old school" jingoism and misogyny do include some rather wonderfully evocative sketches of colonial life in India.