Collins Crime Club first editions and other rare books published for the Collins Crime Club series. Including works by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Hulbert Footner and Anthony Gilbert.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1953.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Library binding. Dust-jacket, priced 10s 6d.
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
Lorac (E.C.R., pseud. Edith Caroline Rivett) Case in the Clinic
London, Collins Crime Club, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
Inspector Macdonald investigates a suspicious death in a rural village involving a local doctor. A classic fair-play mystery from one of the most underappreciated Golden Age authors.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, July, 1950.
First edition, fourth impression. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5s.
In Cards on the Table, the enigmatic Mr. Shaitana invites eight guests to a dinner party: four detectives—Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver—and four individuals Shaitana subtly suggests have committed murder undetected.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
The tenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, published as Death of a Peer in the United States.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1935.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original brown cloth.
Aeronautical crime-thriller featuring King's series character Michael Lord, investigating murder aboard a transcontinental flight. An intricate plot combined with "locked room" element, the mystery was praised by The New York Times as "a very thrilling story." Very much in the S.S. Dine vein, and one of only seven genre titles recorded by this author.
Detective Fiction
Macdonald (Ross, pseud. Kenneth Millar) The Far Side of the Dollar
London, Collins Crime Club, 1965.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
Private detective Lew Archer investigates the kidnapping of a troubled teen, uncovering familial secrets and greed.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1941.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.
Leslie Ford is the nom de plume of Zenith Jones Brown, who also wrote as David Frome and Brenda Conrad.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
An English country village is disturbed by the drowning of a young local girl, secretary to the woman who occupies the role of lady of the manor - the local police are baffled, leading to Inspector Arnold of the Yard being called in.
Detective Fiction
featuring Miss Marple
London, Collins Crime Club, 1964.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
Miss Marple travels abroad, but inevitably trouble still finds her.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1962.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An appealing first edition of this Miss Marple staple.
Detective Fiction
featuring Miss Marple
London, Collins Crime Club, 1965.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
An impressive hotel witnesses a violent chain of events when an eccentric hotel guest makes his way to the airport one day late...
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1961.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
A mysterious list of names and a sinister inn linked to the occult spark an investigation into a series of unexplained deaths.
Detective Fiction
Ford (Leslie, pseud. Zenith Jones Brown) The Town Cried Murder
London, Collins Crime Club, [1939].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
Lovely Faith Yardley's betrothal to a man from the north is abruptly followed by murder—and more murder.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1944.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
Jocular Ellie McKay, of the Yard, and his book-selling friend Gilkison, happen in on the murder of a cussed old codger, bibliomaniac Hatt Baildon.
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, [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.
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
A Police Diversion
London, Collins Crime Club, 1950.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
A good example of this incredibly versatile writer's detective fiction, featuring his series character Chief Detective Inspector McKay.
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 Crime Club, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket,
The first edition of the Scottish author's first novel, featuring former CID detective David Stanners. Uncommon in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1942.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
A compelling murder mystery set amongst the old sugar plantations of Louisiana. Uncommon.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1970.
Uncorrected proof copy. 8vo. Original wrappers. Dust-jacket, ?price-clipped.
Collins proofs are distinctly uncommon.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1958.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10s6d.
Architecture + murder = classic stuff.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An uncommon first edition, featuring Marsh's series character Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard.
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, 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 Crime Club, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
An interesting collaboration, recounting the misadventures of a Jekyll & Hyde New York socialite.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1935.
Sixth impression. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Classic Dr Priestley territory here courtesy of genre master Rhode.
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
Hull (Richard, pseud. Richard Henry Sampson) Left-Handed Death
London, Collins Crime Club, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.
An uncommon first edition in the jacket; a government official's investigations into an engineering company's failing business leads to murder...
![L.G. Blochman, Midnight Sailing, first UK edition, [1939]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84616-300x300.jpg)
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Collins Crime Club, [1939].
First UK edition. Ex-Library. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.
Cool jacket artwork, depicting a man with a red briefcase hastening up some steps with the number '9', but not the story of a Chancellor of the Exchequer in panic, instead a departure from the crime fiction Blochman was more well-known for, into the murky world of espionage.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1936.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Quite cool woodcut-style artwork adorns this first UK edition's jacket. Eberhart is an interesting author of detective fiction, not least for her ability to extend the same basic premise over nearly forty volumes!
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 Crime Club, 1943.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A murder mystery, set in a thermal spa in the author's home country New Zealand.
Detective Fiction
Lorac (E.C.R., pseud. Edith Caroline Rivett) The Theft of the Iron Dogs
London, Collins Crime Club, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A fascinating mystery set against a backdrop of the beautiful Fell country of Lunesdale in Lancashire.
Detective Fiction
Rhode (John, pseud. Cecil John Charles Street) Dead Man at the Folly
London, Collins Crime Club, 1935.
Sixth impression. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Classic Dr Priestley territory here courtesy of genre master Rhode.
Detective Fiction
Gunn (Victor, pseud. Edwy Searles Brooks, aka Berkeley Gray) Three Dates with Death
London, Collins Crime Club, 1947.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 3s.6d.
A pleasing first edition of the twelfth novel in the author's "Ironsides" Cromwell series.
Detective Fiction
Further Crime Investigations of Madame Storey.
London, Collins Crime Club, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth (red issue). Dust-jacket, second state, correctly priced 3/6.
The ongoing exploits of Footner's serial character, the brilliant lady detective, Madame Storey, set in Paris. The second issue jacket is to a wholly different design than the first, and as a result considered highly collectable.
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.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Collins Crime Club, 1931
First edition. 8vo. 2pp. advertisements. Original dark orange cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket spine priced 3/6, with further 1/- sticker.
'The name "Charles Pearce"...to whisper it after dark is to start a horde of wild imagings...all that makes the flesh creep and the hair stand on end...a repulsive creature to look upon; a colossal braggart; a gifted musician; a murderer - a dwarf in stature and a Samson in strength; the perfect burglar; and a man with an irresistible attraction for women...' (publisher's blurb).
A very good first edition in early issue jacket with the sinister artwork by V. Asta bright and clean to upper panel.
Detective Fiction
More Madame Storey Mysteries.
London, Collins Crime Club, 1933
First edition, second impression (i.e. first Cheap Edition, published the same month as the first). 8vo. 4pp. advertisements. Original orange cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 3'6 (1st Cheap Edition).
A very good copy of this compilation of short stories by the prolific author Hulbert Footner, featuring his well-known protagonist Madame Rosika Storey. Scarce in the dust-jacket. Preceding the US edition by four years.
Detective Fiction
First edition. London. Collins, 1927 ‘[a] swift-moving thriller...gives a vivid picture of life in New York’s underworld.’ (jacket blurb) A very good, unsophisticated example of this title by prolific Canadian author [William] Hulbert Footner, listed in Hubin but wrongly dated as 1929 (the date of the first US edition) therein. We could find no copies of this the true first edition on WorldCat’s database for institutional holdings. Exceedingly scarce in the original dust-jacket. From the collection of Adrian Homer Goldstone, 1897-1977 (bookplate). Goldstone was a renowned Californian book-collector, particularly well know for his bibliographies of Arthur Machen and John Steinbeck, both of which were published through the University of Texas.