Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket.
A poisoned nursery rhyme leads detective Miss Marple to untangle a web of deceit and murder within a wealthy family, uncovering dark secrets along the way.
Detective Fiction
Christie (Agatha) and E. Phillips Oppenheim. Two New Crime Stories
[The Under Dog; Blackman's Wood.]
London, The Readers Library, n.d. [1929].
First edition thus. Small 8vo. 2pp. adverts. Original cloth, gilt. Dust-jacket.
A rare pre-1930s Readers Library title, combining a title by Agatha Christie and another by E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Detective Fiction
Issue 1
New York, Avon Book Company, March 1947.
Large 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers, priced 26c.
The first issue of this short-lived magazine published by the Avon Book Company, New York in 1947. It was a bi-monthly magazine carrying reprints of crime stories and the occasional original story (in this case 'The Missing Vice-President' by Paul R. Rickens). The Agatha Christie story here is 'The Tape-Measure Murder' featuring Miss Marple. The magazine ceased after three issues. Scarce.
Detective Fiction
Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1948
First Penguin edition. 8vo. Original green & white wrappers.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, n.d..
Collins 2/- issue. 12mo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
A neat early edition of this Agatha Christie classic.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1929.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original near black cloth blocked in red.
A thrilling tale of deception and intrigue unfolds as a group of young adventurers stumble upon a deadly secret connected to the enigmatic Seven Dials Club.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1952.
8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.
Attractive edition of this murder-mystery with supernatural elements.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, June 1932.
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original dark cloth.
A group of friends known as the Tuesday Night Club gathers together regularly to share and solve mysterious cases. Each member takes turns presenting a baffling puzzle or crime for the others to unravel. Miss Marple, a seemingly frail and unassuming elderly lady, surprises everyone with her keen observation skills and sharp intuition as she uncovers the truth behind each enigma...
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of this tale of international intrigue and deadly peril.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of this tale of international intrigue and deadly peril.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 10s. 6d.
The first edition of Agatha Christie's personal memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan, where she worked on the digs and wrote some of her most evocative novels.
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1983.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket.
A fine copy of this later work by the novelist and screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke (1907-89), one of the few Brits to win Best Original Screenplay Oscar, for his script for The Lavender Hill Mob.
Detective Fiction
London, Longmans, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Murder and political intrigue at the Home Office...
Detective Fiction
London, Hutchinson, 1937. One of the Inspector Williams novels, by an author also known for writing Sexton Blake titles.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1945.
First edition, third impression. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4s6
Mrs Warrander uncovers the truth behind a murder during an undergraduates' dance.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue cloth blocked in orange. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6 (later issue).
The first edition of the author's first novel, in an early issue jacket (1930s), introducing Superintendent Henry Wilson. Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.
Detective Fiction
London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first edition in book form of a story that was made famous by a successful West End play.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1933.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, second issue priced 2/6.
A superior example of this Secret Service thriller from the pen of the inimitable Corbett, "King of the one-line gaffe" (Rod Collins).
![James Corbett, Gallows Wait, first edition, [1947]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84584-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1947].
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
An attractive first edition by the productive James Corbett, from Jenkins' 'House of the Green Label' series.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1932].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, with publisher's 3/6 price-sticker on top of original 2/6 price.
A scarce early title by this prolific author, who wrote over forty novels, often with a flair for unusual phrasing that would be lucky to escape the editor's blue pencil these days.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
'"The case of the century" was how the Press described the weird mystery that centred around "The Bat" - a ghoul of the air who, in his efforts to perfect an almost incredible invention, swooped down to kill without mercy". (jacket). A very good first edition, uncommon in the jacket.
![James Corbett, The Somerville Case, first edition, [1949]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84602-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1949].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange boards, lettered in black. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Quite a lovely dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Classic whodunnit murder-mystery by an author often better remembered for his spoonerisms and malapropisms, unfairly perhaps.
Detective Fiction
Courtney (John, pseud. John Cournos) Grandmother Martin is Murdered
London, Skeffington, [1930].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Crime fiction by an intriguing author: born in Russia with Yiddish as his first language, Cournos moved to London in 1912 where he engaged in anti-communist activism, notably via his pamphlet London under the Bolsheviks: A Londoner's Dream on Returning from Petrograd (1919); he also enjoyed some success as an Imagist poet, but garnered more renown for his novels and short stories under the Courtney pseudonym - today he is perhaps best known for his failed relationship with Dorothy L. Sayers, an unhappy experience recounted by both authors (Strong Poison by Sayers (1930) and The Devil Is an English Gentleman by Cournos himself in (1932)).
Detective Fiction
London, John Long, 1947.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
Dr Palfrey tackles dubious friars, a giant and "the Testament of Evil" in this cruise-ship caper.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10s6d.
A rather topical Dr Palfrey adventure, as floods begin to besiege the world...
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1964.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
A very good first edition of this later Dr Palfrey tales, by one of the most prolific authors in the crime/thriller genre.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6 and with 'The Fanfare Press, London' printed to bottom edge of lower panel.
The author's second novel, continuing the capers of the Oxford professor and amateur detective Gervase Fen. The copyright page includes a printed dedication to the poet Philip Larkin.
Detective Fiction
Crispin (Edmund, pseud. Bruce Montgomery) Obsequies at Oxford
Philadelphia & New York, Lippincott, 1945.
First US edition of The Case of the Gilded Fly. 8vo. Original black cloth stamped in white. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
The first US edition of the first Gervase Fen title.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1947.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6 and with 'The Fanfare Press, London' printed to bottom edge of lower panel.
First edition of the fourth in Crispin's series featuring the Oxford Don and amateur detective Gervase Fen.
Detective Fiction
Crispin (Edmund, pseud. Bruce Montgomery) The Case of the Gilded Fly
London, Gollancz, 1944.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6 and with 'The Fanfare Press, London' printed to bottom edge of lower panel.
The first edition of the debut of the pseudonymous Crispin (in reality, composer Bruce Montgomery), whom the New York Times once called the heir to John Dickson Carr. Gervase Fen's first outing.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1957.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12/6.
A very good first edition of this later and hard-to-find Freeman Wills Crofts title, featuring series character Chief Superintendent French, "the most human sleuth to be found in detective novels today" (Punch).
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/3.
Inspector French investigates a poisoning in this uncommon first edition. The handwritten note to the jacket spine refers to the American edition.
Detective Fiction
being weird episodes from life
London, Jarrold, 1903.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown pictorial cloth.
An excellent copy of this collection of ten short stories about the history of poisons and their use in crime, told from the perspective of a doctor-detective.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1926
First edition. 8vo. 2pp. advertisements. Original dark red cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 3/6.
A great first edition, with enticing jacket artwork. The authors had previously collaborated on the The Forbidden Hour.