2197. Bourland, Fabrice: The Baker Street Phantom
Published by Gallic Books, London. 2010
Paperback proof in fine, as new, unread condition. In the spring of 1932, with Londoners terrorised by a series of brutal murders, the private detective agency of Messrs. Singleton and Trelawney quietly opens its doors in Bloomsbury. The first person to call on their services is a worried Lady Arthur Conan Doyle. She tells of mysterious events at 221 Baker Street - and a premonition that the London murders signal terrible danger for mankind. Their investigation will take our intrepid heroes into a world of séances and spirits. Aided by the most famous detective of all time, they must draw on their knowledge of the imaginary to find the perpetrators of some very real and bloody crimes before they strike again...
1178. Braun, Lilian Jackson: The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1967
Hardback 1st edition. D/w is edge worn and chipped with a few small tears but unclipped and generally very good-. The book is very good. Jim Qwilleran is not exactly overwhelmed by his new assignment for the Daily Fluxion. Interior design has never been one of his specialities and now he's supposed to turn out an entire magazine on the same subject. But the first issue of Gracious Abodes is barely off the presses when Qwilleran finds himself back on more familiar territory - the exclusive residence featured on the cover has been burglarised and the lady of the house found dead... Now Qwilleran, with the help of Koko and Yum Yum, the brilliant Siamese cats, have their respective moustache and whiskers twitching, and when Koko starts pawing clues in the dictionary and sniffing designer furniture, Qwilleran finds himself doing a feature on a very clever murderer.
1047. Brett, Simon: A Reconstructed Corpse
Published by Gollancz, 1993
1st edition hardback fine d/w, fine book. Failed thespian and boozy gumshoe Charles Paris's acting career plumbs new depths when he takes the part of a possible murder victim in a TV series. Finding himself in a bizarre world somewhere between police procedure and showbiz, he can't resist getting involved in the investigation.
1048. Brett, Simon: A Box of Tricks
Published by Gollancz, 1985
Hardback, 2nd impression. Nr fine in a very good d/w. Murder, from the simply bizarre to the downright nasty, is the theme of this first collection of short stories from Simon Brett. The 12 stories include one featuring the boozy actor-detective Charles Paris.
1623. Brookmyre, Christopher: Quite Ugly One Morning
Published by Little Brown, London, 1996
1st edition hardback. The book leans slightly and the page edges are slightly darkened otherwise very good. The dust wrapper is only slightly rubbed at the bottom edge but is not clipped and otherwise very good. Scottish author's debut novel and winner of the Crime Writers Association's First Blood Award for the best first crime novel of the year. Yeah, yeah, the usual. A crime. A corpse. A killer. Heard it. Except this stiff happens to be a Ponsonby, scion of a venerable Edinburgh medical clan, and the manner of his death speaks of unspeakable things. Why is the body displayed like a slice of beef? How come his hands are digitally challenged? And if it's not the corpse, what is that awful smell? A post-Thatcherite nightmare of frightening plausibility, Quite Ugly One Morning is a wickedly entertaining and vivacious thriller, full of acerbic wit, cracking dialogue and villains both reputed and shell-suited.
2045. Brookmyre, Christopher: A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil
Published by Little, Brown, London, 2006
Hardback 1st edition. The book leans slightly but is otherwise clean and tight. The dust wrapper is only a little rubbed at the edges and unclipped. Overall condition is very good. We could tell you about the bodies. We could tell you their names, where they were found, the state they were in. We could tell you about the suspects too, the evidence, the investigators; join a few dots, even throw you a motive. But what would be the point? You're going to make your own assumptions anyway. After all, you know these people, don't you? You went to school with them. We all did. Granted, that was twenty years ago, but how much does anybody really change? Exactly. So if you really knew them then, you'll already have all the answers. If you really knew them then Put on your uniform and line up in an orderly fashion for the funniest and most accurate trip back to the classroom you are likely to read, as well as a murder mystery like nothing that has gone before it. Forget the forensics: only once you've been through school with this painfully believable cast of characters will you be equipped to work out what really happened decades later. Even then, you'll probably guess wrong and be made to stand in the corner.
1664. Brookmyre, Christopher: Pandaemonium
Published by Little Brown, London, 2009
1st edition hardback. The book leans very slightly and there is a small previous owners name at the front endpaper otherwise fine. The dust wrapper is not clipped and is also fine. The senior pupils of St Peter's High School are on retreat to a secluded outdoor activity centre, coming to terms with the murder of a fellow pupil through the means you would expect: counselling, contemplation, candid discussion and even prayer - not to mention booze, drugs, clandestine liaisons and as much partying as they can get away with. Not so far away, the commanders of a top-secret military experiment, long-since spiralled out of control, fear they may have literally unleashed the forces of Hell. Two very different worlds are on a collision course, and will clash in an earthly battle between science and the supernatural, philosophy and faith, civilisation and savagery. The bookies are offering evens.
Published by Little, Brown, London. 2013
UK hardback 1st edition in very good condition. The dust wrapper too is very good and not clipped. There are no other marks or inscriptions. The third book in the Jasmine Sharp series. The much anticipated follow up to Where the Bodies are Buried and When the Devil Drives - the hugely successful new crime series from Chris Brookmyre.
1049. Broome, Adam: The Oxford Murders
Published by Geoffrey Bles, 1929
Hardback no d/w, original red cloth with black print. Light wear to extremities of slightly marked boards. Page edges slightly foxed. Overall a very good copy of this hard to find 1st edition. 'Anything at all unusual came as a relief to Police Constable Merrilees on his dreary beat.' He flashed his lantern back down the areas of the surrounding houses, and completed the turn off into Little Clarendon Street to complete his control. But it was not yet time for him to report back at the Police Station. He determined to have one more look -at close quarters- at the object which had arrested his attention'. Was it possible the tragedy in Wellington Square and what followed had its origins in the beliefs and customs of West Africa? Adam Broome assembles a cast of characters across two continents that test the wits of Chief Inspector Bramley desperate to bring his case to a conclusion before something else awful happens.
1050. Butler, Ragan: Captain Nash and the Honour of England
Published by Harwood-Smart, 1977
Hardback 1st edition. A fine book in a very good d/w. The jacket would be fine also but for sunning to the spine, it is not price clipped. The second outing for England's first private detective. To quote the observer "Chandler nicely transposed to the underworld of 1771."
1051. Butterworth, Michael: A Virgin on the Rocks
Published by Collins (The Crime Club), 1985
Hardback 1st edition. Very good d/w is slightly edge worn with a scuffed back panel. Book is fine. Variations on a theme in the black manner.
1052. Cameron Disney, Dorothy: Crimson Friday
Published by Robert Hale, 1945
Hardback reprinted 2 months after 1st edition. The book is very good+. D/w is very good and unclipped but a small section lost to bottom of spine, which has at some time been crudely repaired with tape, leaving the yellow residue to the full length of the spine.
1053. Canning, Victor: The Whip Hand
Published by Heinemann, 1965
Hardback 1st edition. Very good+ unclipped Paul Castell designed jacket. Nr fine book has a slightly dusty top edge. This fast-paced thriller opens with laconic private eye Rex Carver accepting an apparently straightforward job of tracing a missing young German au pair. Never one to avoid trouble, Carver soon becomes entangled in a dangerous game of international espionage and double dealing.
2046. Carofiglio, Gianrico: The Past is a Foreign Country
Published by Old Street Publishing, London, 2007
Hardback 1st UK edition. The book is fine, no previous owner names or marks. The dust wrapper has a small tear and crease at the top of the spine area but is unclipped and otherwise very good. One hot summer, as world-weary bloodhound Lieutenant Chiti spends sleepless nights hunting for the serial sex attacker terrorising his city, trainee lawyer Giorgio is befriended by dangerously charismatic Francesco. Slowly the innocent Giorgio is lured into a corrupt world of beautiful women, card sharps and casual violence, in dingy poker dens and luxury villas. Then one terrifying night Giorgio is forced to realise just how far he has left his past behind...
2066. Carr, John Dickson: The Door to Doom and other Detections
Published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1981
1st edition hardback with unclipped dust wrapper in near fine condition. Edited and with an introduction by Douglas G. Greene, this collection contains stories of crime, detection and the supernatural, of radio plays, Sherlockian parodies and essays. None of which has previously been published in book form in England. Carr's 50th book published by H. Hamilton to commemorate 50 years in publishing. The book also includes a detailed bibliography of all Carr's writings - under his own name and three pseudonyms, Carr Dickinson, Carter Dickson and Roger Fairbairn.
1054. Chandler, Raymond: Farewell My Lovely
Published by World Publishing Co, 1946
Hardback 3rd printing of the tower books edition. No d/w. Green boards a little chipped to top and toe of spine, pages browned otherwise very good. Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married - until someone framed Malloy for armed robbery. Now his stretch is up and he wants Velma back. PI Philip Marlow meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help him. Dragged from one smoky bar to another, Marlowe's search for Velma turns up plenty of dangerous gangsters with a nasty habit of shooting first and talking later. And soon what started as a search for a missing person becomes a matter of life and death . .
2127. Chandler, Raymond: The High Window
Published by World Publishing Co, 1946
Hardback 2nd printing of the tower books edition. Pages browned otherwise very good in a very good dust wrapper. Philip Marlowe's on a case: his client, a dried-up husk of a woman, wants him to recover a rare gold coin called a Brasher Doubloon, missing from her late husband's collection. That's the simple part. It becomes more complicated when Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead. That's also unlucky for a private investigator, because leaving a trail of corpses around LA gets cops' noses out of joint. If Marlowe doesn't wrap this one up fast, he's going to end up in jail - or worse, in a box in the ground ...
1055. Chandler, Raymond and Robert B. Parker: Poodle Springs
Published by Macdonald, 1990
Hardback 1st edition. Nr fine in like unclipped d/w. When Raymond Chandler died in 1959 he left behind an unfinished work. Now thanks to the brilliant work of Robert B Parker, the foremost contemporary exponent of the Chandleresque style, that work is complete and Philip Marlowe is back once again.
1056. Charyn, Jerome: The Isaac Quartet
Published by Zomba Books, 1984
Hardback 1st edition. Blackbox thrillers series. Fine in like wrapper. The Isaac Quartet contains four detective stories from an internationally acclaimed master of the genre. Blue Eyes, the first book in Jerome Charyn's legendary crime series, introduces Isaac Sidel the toughest, most incorruptible police inspector in the biz. In Marilyn the Wild, Isaac confronts the hot-headed daughter of the first deputy police commissioner. The Education of Patrick Silver tells the story of a giant shoeless Irishman who becomes just another pawn in the war between Isaac and a gang of Peruvian pimps. And in Secret Isaac, a scar on a prostitute's cheek sends Isaac on a desperate trip to Ireland in search of relief from the tightening grip on his soul. Packed with manic energy, peopled with bizarre characters and outrageous situations.
448. Child, Lee: Die Trying
Published by Bantam Press, London, 1998
Hardback first edition, first printing of the second novel in the Jack Reacher series. The dustwrapper is unclipped but is a little rubbed at the tips and edges with a small 1cm tear at the front top edge. Slightly browned page edges but no previous owner names or other marks. Generally very good. A scarce early and collectable UK hardback from the author. Preceeds the American edition.
808. Child, Lee: Echo Burning
Published by Bantam Press, 2001
1st UK edition hardback in fine condition. Unmarked in an unclipped dust wrapper. Jack Reacher, adrift in the hellish heat of a Texas summer. Looking for a lift through the vast empty landscape. A woman stops, and offers a ride. She is young, rich and beautiful. But her husband's in jail. When he comes out, he's going to kill her. Her family's hostile, she can't trust the cops, and the lawyers won't help. She is entangled in a web of lies and prejudice, hatred and murder. Jack Reacher never could resist a lady in distress.
807. Child, Lee: Without Fail
Published by Bantam Press, 2002
1st UK hardback. Book leans slightly, page edges a little yellowed but generally very good. The dust wrapper is very good and unclipped. Jack Reacher walks alone. No job, no ID, no last known address. But he never turns down a plea for help. Now a woman tracks him down. A woman serving at the very heart of US power. A woman who needs Reacher's assistance in her new job. Her job? Protecting the Vice-President of the United States. Her problem? Someone wants the VP dead.
1057. Child, Lee: One Shot
Published by Bantam Press, London. 2005
1st edition hardback in very good condition. The book leans slightly and the page edges are a little browned. The dust wrapper is not clipped retaining the original £12.99 price at the front flap. A sniper, Barr, kills five people with six shots and leaves a clear trail of evidence; arrested, he asks for Reacher. When Reacher was a military policeman, politics stopped him pursuing Barr--he cannot understand why Barr would ask for him and Barr has been beaten in jail until he cannot remember himself. Yet, for Reacher, the loner who looks at things differently from civilians, the story does not add up--Barr should not have got himself caught, should not even have fired from where he did.
1058. Child, Lee: The Hard Way
Published by Bantam Press, London. 2006
1st edition hardback in very good condition. The book leans slightly and the page edges are a little browned. The dust wrapper is not clipped retaining the original £14.99 price at the front flap. Lee Child's main character, Jack Reacher, is the modern day equivalent of a gunslinger. This one has an even wider range than usual, starting on a busy New York thoroughfare and moving to a violent finale across the Atlantic in the sylvan depths of the English countryside, with Jack up against some very dangerous opponents.
2252. Child, Lee: Bad Luck and Trouble
Published by Bantam Press, London. 2007
1st edition hardback. A fine book in a fine dust wrapper. The dust wrapper is not clipped there are no previous owner names or marks. The events of 9/11 changed Jack Reacher's drifter life in a practical way. In addition to his folding toothbrush, he now needs to carry photo ID to get around. Yet he is still as close to untraceable as a human being in America can get. So when a member of his old Army unit manages to get a message to him, he knows it has to be deadly serious. The Special Investigators always watched each other's backs. Now Reacher must put the old unit back together. Someone has killed one of them, and he can't let that go.
2269. Child, Lee: The Affair
Published by Bantam Press, London. 2011
1st edition hardback. The book leans very slightly and there is a dirty mark, probably sticker residue to the top front corner of the unclipped dust wrapper otherwise very good. Featuring Jack Reacher, hero of the new blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise, in his coolest, sexiest, punch-packing thriller yet. March 1997. A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Mississippi. Just down the road is a big army base. Is the murderer a local guy - or is he a soldier? Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover. The county sheriff is a former U.S. Marine - and a stunningly beautiful woman. Her investigation is going nowhere. Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn't she really want to find the killer? Set just six months before the opening of Killing Floor, The Affair marks a turning point in Reacher's career. If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn't, will the army be able to live with him?
Published by Bantam Press, London. 2012
Hardback, 1st UK edition in very good condition. There are no previous owner names or inscriptions. The dust wrapper is also very good, not clipped or faded. Book 17 in the Jack Reacher series. Nebraska - and Jack Reacher, huge, hulking and with a freshly busted nose, is still trying to hitch a ride east to Virginia. He's picked up by three strangers - two men and a woman. Immediately he knows they're all lying about something - and then they run into a police roadblock on the highway. But they get through. Because the three are innocent? Or because the three are now four? Is Reacher a decoy?
1059. Christie, Agatha: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1962
1st edition hardback, very minor edgewear to unclipped d/w with no fading. Overall a very good copy. What was it that Marina Gregg, the famous film actress just before a murder was committed in her house? What or who caused her expression to change so violently that one observer was reminded of Alfred Tennyson:-One flew the web and floated wide; the mirror crack'd from side to side: "The curse to come upon me," cried the Lady of Shalott. A few minutes later a body lay dead in Marina's large house, the second time a victim of willful murder had been discovered there. Miss Marple, whose house in St Mary Mead is close to the scene of the murder, finds a perfect opportunity to indulge in the particular kind of "unraveling" at which she is adept.
1060. Christie, Agatha: The Big Four
Published by Collins, c1930
No d/w or date (30's?) #8 in the Collins 1/- fiction library pocket edition. Edge worn blue boards with dark blue print & decoration to spine and upper border. Overall a very good early copy. Framed in the doorway of Poirot's bedroom stood an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man's gaunt face stared for a moment, and then he swayed and fell. Who was he? Was he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what was the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life to uncover the truth about 'Number Four'.
1061. Christie, Agatha: A Miss Marple Quartet
Published by Collins, 1985
Hardback 1st in this edition. D/w is price clipped otherwise fine/fine. No crime is too complex, no mystery too devious for her prodigious skills - which she takes great care to conceal behind the appearance of an eccentric, elderly spinster. Four of the most brilliant Miss Marple stories are brought together in one volume for the first time. The Body in the Library. A Pocket Full of Rye. A Murder is Announced & The Moving Finger.
1062. Christie, Agatha: Miss Marple's Final Cases and two other stories
Published by Collins (Crime Club), London. 1979
1st edition hardback. Both book and unclipped dustwrapper are fine in condition. There are no previous owner names or marks. Six superb short stories featuring Miss Jane Marple, Christies favourite sleuth, never previously published in volume form on this side of the Atlantic.
2419. Christie, Agatha: Miss Marple's 6 Final Cases and two other stories
Published by Collins (Crime Club), London. 1979
1st edition hardback. The spine leans slightly otherwise both book and unclipped dust wrapper are in very good condition. There are no previous owner names or marks. Six superb short stories featuring Miss Jane Marple, Christie's favourite sleuth, never previously published in volume form on this side of the Atlantic. Also includes "The Dressmaker's Doll" and "In a Glass Darkly"
1063. Christie, Agatha: Poirot's Early Cases
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1974
Hardback 1st edition. Very good book and dust wrapper, although the jacket is price clipped, rubbed and worn at the edges. Captain Hastings recounts 18 of Poirot's early cases from the days before he was famous… Hercule Poirot delighted in telling people that he was probably the best detective in the world. So turning back the clock to trace eighteen of the cases which helped establish his professional reputation was always going to be a fascinating experience. With his career still in its formative years, the panache with which Hercule Poirot could solve even the most puzzling mystery is obvious. Chronicled by his friend Captain Hastings, these eighteen early cases - from theft and robbery to kidnapping and murder - were all guaranteed to test Poirot's soon-to-be-famous 'little grey cells' to their absolute limit.
1064. Christie, Agatha: At Bertram's Hotel
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1965
1st edition hardback no d/w, very good slightly dusty top edge small ink scribble on front end paper. One of the guests is the oft-married Lady Bess Sedgwick, who seems to be very friendly with racing driver Ladislaus Malinowski. Bess's estranged daughter Elvira is also staying at Bertram's and it seems that she too knows Ladislaus rather well. Where does the rather vague Canon Pennyfather fit in with these glamorous people and why was he abducted? With her customary wisdom; Miss Jane Marple pulls together the strands of this strange puzzle.
2128. Christie, Agatha: At Bertram's Hotel
Published by BCA by arrangement with Harper Collins. 2006
Hardback, 1st reprint, facsimile edition in an unclipped d/w in fine condition. One of the guests is the oft-married Lady Bess Sedgwick, who seems to be very friendly with racing driver Ladislaus Malinowski. Bess's estranged daughter Elvira is also staying at Bertram's and it seems that she too knows Ladislaus rather well. Where does the rather vague Canon Pennyfather fit in with these glamorous people and why was he abducted? With her customary wisdom; Miss Jane Marple pulls together the strands of this strange puzzle.
1065. Christie, Agatha: Destination Unknown
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1954
Hardback 1st edition. Very good in a clipped d/w. Pages a little browned. Jacket is rubbed, chipped and slightly soiled but overall very good. A young woman with nothing to live for is persuaded to embark on a suicide mission to find a missing scientist… When a number of leading scientists disappear without trace, concern grows within the international intelligence community. Are they being kidnapped? Blackmailed? Brainwashed? One woman appears to have the key to the mystery. Unfortunately, Olive Betteron now lies in a hospital bed, dying from injuries sustained in a Moroccan plane crash. Meanwhile, in a Casablanca hotel room, Hilary Craven prepares to take her own life. But her suicide attempt is about to be interrupted by a man who will offer her an altogether more thrilling way to die…
1066. Christie, Agatha and Charles Osborne: The Unexpected Guest
Published by Harper Collins, London. 1999
1st edition hardback. Both book and unclipped dust wrapper are near fine in condition. The book leans ever so slightly and there is a little rubbing of the jackets top edge. There are no previous owner names or marks. Originally written by Agatha Christie as a play in 1958, "The Unexpected Guest," now adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne. When a stranger runs his car into a ditch in dense fog in South Wales and makes his way to an isolated house, he discovers a woman standing over the dead body of her wheelchair-bound husband, gun in her hand. She admits to murder, and the unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story. But is it possible that Laura Warwick did not commit the murder after all? If so, who is she shielding? The victim's retarded young half-brother or his dying matriarchal mother? Laura's lover? Perhaps the father of the little boy killed in an accident for which Warwick was responsible? The house seems full of possible suspects…
1067. Christie, Agatha: By The Pricking Of My Thumb
Published by Dodd, Mead, 1968
Hardback no d/w, 1st US edition, hinge detached, bumped at the spine & corners. A good reading copy. The third Tommy & Tuppence novel. When Tommy and Tuppence visited an elderly aunt in her gothic nursing home, they thought nothing of her mistrust of the doctors; after all, Ada was a very difficult old lady. But when Mrs. Lockett mentioned a poisoned mushroom stew and Mrs Lancaster talked about 'something behind the fireplace', Tommy and Tuppence found themselves caught up in an unexpected adventure involving possible black magic…
1068. Christie, Agatha: The Labours of Hercules
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1947
Hardback 1st edition in an unclipped d/w. Very near fine book which has a very slightly bowed back board. D/w has edge wear, a few small tears and creases but loss is minimal, very good. Twelve little masterpieces of detection. Poirot and Agatha Christie at their inimitable best. Scarce in this condition.
1070. Christie, Agatha: Death on the Nile
Published by BCA by arrangement with Harper Collins. 2006
Hardback, facsimile edition of the 1937 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is as new, unread, and mint. No mention of the BCA on either the dust wrapper, which is not clipped and retains the original 7s 6d price! Nor the book spine, both stating the Crime Club. BCA only mentioned on the copyright page. A very nice replica of an original Poirot classic to mark the 80th anniversary of Hercule Poirot's first appearance. The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful. A girl who had everything… until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: 'I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.' Yet in this exotic setting nothing was ever quite what it seemed…
1071. Christie, Agatha: The Body in the Library
Published by BCA by arrangement with Harper Collins. 2006
Hardback. Reprinted facsimile edition of the 1942 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is as new, unread, and mint. No mention of the BCA on either the dustwrapper, or the book spine, both state the Crime Club. BCA only mentioned on the copyright page. It's seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.
1072. Christie, Agatha: The Murder at the Vicarage
Published by BCA by arrangement with Harper Collins. 2005
Hardback 1st thus. Facsimile edition of the 1930 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is as new, unread, and mint. No mention of the BCA on either the dust wrapper, nor the book spine, both stating the Crime Club. BCA only mentioned on the copyright page. Agatha Christie's first ever Miss Marple mystery. 'Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,' declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, 'would be doing the world at large a service!' It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later. From seven potential murderers, Miss Marple must seek out the suspect who has both motive and opportunity.
1073. Christie, Agatha: A Murder is Announced
Published by Harper Collins. 2005
Hardback 1st thus. Facsimile edition of the 1950 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is as new, unread, and mint. The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.' A childish practical joke? Or a hoax intended to scare poor Letitia Blacklock? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out…
1074. Christie, Agatha: Sleeping Murder
Published by Harper Collins. 2005
1st thus hardback. Facsimile edition of the 1976 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is as new, unread, and mint. Miss Marple's last case. Miss Marple, almost as if she knew she wouldn't be around much longer, is her most self-effacing while she watches and warns quietly that "murder in retrospect" is the equivalent of sleeping murder which like those dogs should be let lie. However a young couple buy a house where just-married Gwenda has some deja-vu intimations of what took place their eighteen years ago and she and her husband look into the disappearance of her stepmother and the several men in her life that was.
1069. Christie, Agatha: The Man in the Brown Suit
Published by HarperCollins, 2007
Hardback 1st facsimile edition in an unclipped d/w. Fine condition with an unclipped publishers wrap around band. A young woman investigates an accidental death at a London tube station, and finds herself of a ship bound for South Africa… Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her - and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails. The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind: '17-122 Kilmorden Castle'?
2237. Christie, Agatha: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Published by Collins, London. 2011
1st thus, facsimile edition hardback, fine/as new in condition. The dust wrapper too is fine and unclipped. Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Now, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose. But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish the letter, he was stabbed to death… First published in 1926, this edition published to mark the 80th anniversary of Hercule Poirot's first appearance.
1150. Christie, Agatha: Death in the Clouds
Published by Collins (Crime Club), 1952
Hardback Crime Club reprint. The dust wrapper is a little worn with creases at the edges and some small chips lost at the tips. The pages are browned otherwise in pretty good condition. A woman is killed by a poisoned dart in the enclosed confines of a commercial passenger plane… From seat No.9, Hercule Poirot was ideally placed to observe his fellow air passengers. Over to his right sat a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite; ahead, in seat No.13, sat a Countess with a poorly-concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway in seat No.8, a detective writer was being troubled by an aggressive wasp. What Poirot did not yet realize was that behind him, in seat No.2, sat the slumped, lifeless body of a woman.
2156. Christie, Agatha: The Thirteen Problems
Published by BCA by arrangement with HarperCollins. 2006
Hardback reprinted facsimile edition of the 1932 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is fine. BCA only mentioned on the copyright page. One Tuesday evening a group gathers at Miss Marple's house and the conversation turns to unsolved crimes… The case of the disappearing bloodstains; the thief who committed his crime twice over; the message on the death-bed of a poisoned man which read 'heap of fish'; the strange case of the invisible will; a spiritualist who warned that 'Blue Geranium' meant death… Now pit your wits against the powers of deduction of the 'Tuesday Night Club'.
2155. Christie, Agatha: They Do It with Mirrors
Published by BCA by arrangement with HarperCollins. 2006
Hardback reprinted facsimile edition of the 1952 Crime Club 1st edition. The condition is as new, unread, and mint. BCA only mentioned on the copyright page. Jane Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a mysterious visitor is found shot dead in another part of the building.
2225. Christie, Agatha: A Murder is Announced
Published by Collins, London. 1990
1st thus. Centenary edition hardback in fine condition. There are no previous owner names or marks. The dust wrapper is fine and unclipped. The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.' A childish practical joke? Or a hoax intended to scare poor Letitia Blacklock? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out…
2290. Christie, Agatha: A Pocket Full of Rye
Published by BCA, London. 2006
Facsimile edition hardback. The book has a slight lean and lacks the rear endpaper otherwise very good in a fine dust wrapper. Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonising and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals. Yet, it was the incident in the parlour which confirmed Miss Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme…
2279. Christie, Agatha: Murder on the Orient Express
Published by HarperCollins, London. 2011
1st thus, facsimile edition hardback. The book and dust wrapper are in fine/as new condition. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stopped the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train was surprisingly full for the time of the year. But by the morning there was one passenger fewer. An American lay dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. With tension mounting, detective Hercule Poirot comes up with not one, but two solutions to the crime.
2280. Christie, Agatha: The ABC Murders
Published by HarperCollins, London. 2012
1st thus, facsimile edition hardback. The book and dust wrapper are in fine/as new condition. There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim's corpse the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place. Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans…
2379. Christie, Agatha: The Murder on the Links
Published by HarperCollins, London, 2007
1st thus, Facsimile edition hardback. There is a small clear glue smear which affects both the dust wrapper front panel and the front of the wraparound band otherwise fine. There are no previous owner names or other marks. A crime novel featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who travels to France following an urgent plea for help from a client, but he arrives late and the client is found dead. Before Poirot can begin to assess the clues, a second corpse is found, murdered in the same way as his client.
1075. Claridge, Marten: Slowburn
Published by Headline, 1994
Hardback 1st edition. Fine in a near fine unclipped d/w. Jacket is slightly rubbed. Demoted and exiled on the Isle of Arran, McMorran stumbles across a murder that has all the hallmarks of the work of the Fangman, a killer previously thought to be a mainland terror.
1076. Clark, Mary Higgins: Night-Time Is My Time
Published by Simon & Schuster, London. 2004
1st edition hardback in near fine condition. The book leans very slightly otherwise fine. There are no previous owner names or marks and the dust wrapper is not price-clipped. The definition of an owl had always pleased him: "I am the owl," he would whisper to himself after he had selected his prey, "and night-time is my time."Jean Sheridan, a prominent historian, returns to her hometown to attend the twenty-year reunion of Stonecroft Academy, where she is to be honoured along with six other members of her class. There is, however, something uneasy in the air: one woman in the group, Alison Kenall, a beautiful, high-powered Hollywood agent, died just a few days before, drowned in her pool during an early morning swim. She is the fifth woman in the class whose life has come to a sudden, mysterious end.At the award dinner, Jean does not suspect that among the distinguished people she is greeting is the "Owl", a murderer nearing the countdown on his mission of vengeance against the Stonecroft women who had mocked or humiliated him, with Jean his final intended victim.
2422. Clark, Mary Higgins: A Stranger is Watching
Published by Collins, London. 1978
1st edition hardback. The book and unclipped dust wrapper are in very good condition. The book leans slightly and there is some light foxing inside the jacket, to the preliminary pages and at the page edges. There are no previous owner names. Four people's lives are changed by a murder. Steve Peterson, whose wife Nina has been killed, their son Neil, who saw the murder, Sharon, a journalist and Ronald Thompson, the convicted killer of Nina who still claims his innocence, are the characters featured. The novel was made into a 1982 film starring Rip Torn, James Naughton and Kate Mulgrew.
1077. Cleife, Philip: The Zuss Imperative
Published by Harwood-Smart, 1976
Hardback 1st edition. D/w has a couple of small closed tears otherwise very good and unclipped. The book is nr fine. Hi-jacking, kidnapping, blackmail & murder these are the terror tactics of Joseph Zuss.
1078. Cody, Liza: Monkey Wrench
Published by Chatto & Windus, 1994
Hardback 1st edition. Very good+ with previous owner and inscription on front end paper. In very good price clipped d/w. Eva Wylie, the heavyweight wrestler heroine of "Bucket Nut", returns. She has a big mouth and large biceps, but meets her match in tiny, tenacious Crystal, a street companion from the past. Crystal's prostitute sister has been beaten to death and she's seeking revenge.
Published by Chatto & Windus, London. 1994
UK paperback 1st edition. The book is in fine condition so too is the unclipped dust wrapper. There are no previous owner names or other marks. This is the third in a series of crime-fiction anthologies from the Crime Writers' Association. This collection encompasses criminal activity, passion, black humour and intrigue from such writers as Sara Paretsky, Frances Fyfield, Ruth Rendell, Val McDermid, Donald E. Westlake, H.R.F. Keating, James Melville, Ian Rankin and Stephen Murray.
1079. Connelly, Michael: A Darkness More than Night
Published by Orion, 2001
Hardback 1st UK edition. Fine book and unclipped d/w. When a small-time criminal is found dead, former homicide detective McCaleb is persuaded to profile the killer. Six years ago the victim had been arrested by Harry Bosch for murder but was later released uncharged. McCaleb picks up a clue the sheriffs missed, and discovers that the killer left a message at the crime scene - a message that seems to implicate Bosch... Meanwhile Bosch is in the midst of a high stakes trial being covered in the press by Jack McEvoy. Bosch was lead investigator on a murder case that saw the arrest of the son of a wealthy and powerful man. As the trial progresses the defence strategy becomes clear: put Bosch on trial instead of the rich kid. McCaleb and Bosch, first at odds, must now work together to clear Harry's name.
1080. Connelly, Michael: The Black Ice
Published by Orion, 2001
Hardback reprint of the 1995 edition. Fine in a fine unclipped d/w which states that this is a W.H. Smith promo edition. A very scarce hardback in any edition. When a body is found in a hotel room, the press soon pick up on the case: it appears to be a missing LAPD narcotics officer, apparently gone to the bad. The rumours were that he had been selling a new drug called Black Ice that had been infiltrating LA from Mexico. The LAPD are quick to declare the death as a suicide, but Harry Bosch is not so sure. There are odd, unexplained details from the crime scene which just don't add up. Fighting an attraction to the cop's widow, Bosch starts his own maverick investigation, which soon leads him over the borders, and into a dangerous world of shifting identities and deadly corruption...
1081. Connelly, Michael: Blood Work
Published by Orion, 1998
Hardback 1st edition. Both book and unclipped dust wrapper are in fine condition. 'Blood Work' - that's what Terry McCaleb used to call his job at the FBI. Eight weeks ago he was a dead man, but now someone else's heart is keeping him alive. Then a newspaper report of his brush with death brings him an unwanted visitor. Graciela Rivers reveals to McCaleb that the anonymous donor of his heart was her murdered sister, and that the police investigation into the case is going nowhere. McCaleb feels he has no choice but to take on the investigation. Nothing about the seemingly random killing makes sense. McCaleb realises that someone is watching his every move - someone who has killed before and will kill again...
720. Connolly, John: Every Dead Thing
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 1999
1st edition hardback in very good condition. The dust wrapper is also very good. Tormented and racked with guilt over the brutal slaying of his wife and daughter, Charlie Parker, ex-cop with the NYPD, agrees to track down a missing girl. It is a search that will lead him into an abyss of evil. At the same time, he is warned by an old black woman in Louisiana that 'The Travelling Man' is about to strike again. Multiple strands converge with a horrific confrontation in which hunter and hunted are intimately connected by guilt.
1082. Connolly, John: Dark Hollow
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2000
Hardback 1st edition. Very good+ copy of this, d/w is very good and unclipped. Ex-NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker, is a man with a lot of pain to surmount--his wife and child were murdered in Every Dead Thing, the author's debut novel,--but he's also a dogged knight errant attuned to the pain felt by others. In Dark Hollow, his quest for the truth is a twisty one, but he stays the course, and so should you.
1083. Constantine, K.C.: Sunshine Enemies
Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 1990
1st edition hardback very good d/w, near fine book. A Mario Balzic mystery, The ninth book in the Rocksburg series.
312. Corbett, James: Death - By Appointment
Published by Herbert Jenkins, London. 1945.
1st edition hardback. No dustwrapper. The front board is bumped at the corners and there is a small tidy previous owner name to the front paste down otherwise very good.A crime novel featuring David Trent, private investigator & Detective Inspector Mordant, of Scotland Yard.
1084. Cork, Vena: Thorn
Published by Headline, 2004
1st edition hardback in fine condition. There are no previous owner names or marks. The dust wrapper is not price clipped. A tragedy has changed Rosa Thorn's life for ever. Now she has to start again with a new job, a new school for her children and some empty space in her life. But strange things start to happen... When a growing sense of unease turns into sudden violence, Rosa fears for her safety and even more so for the wellbeing of her children. For her daughter is the subject of someone's demented infatuation. But like a diseased town fox, the real threat stalks in the shadows, in the night-black recesses of the undergrowth, not just of the city, but of the human mind...
1085. Cornwell, Patricia: Black Notice
Published by Little, Brown And Company, 1999
Hardback 1st edition in fine condition in a fine unclipped d/w. As winter grips Richmond, Virginia, an air of sombreness pervades chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta's world. Her beloved niece Lucy is involved in a dangerous undercover police operation in Miami, and auntie fears for her life. A tyrannical new deputy chief, Diane Bray, wants to get Kay's department under her jurisdiction. Meanwhile, back at the office, someone has tinkered with the e-mail system, stealing Kay's identity and sending off slanderous and hurtful messages. Emotionally battered, Scarpetta fears she is going insane. Or, could it be that someone is deliberately sowing this harvest of sorrow? Despite her personal problems, Scarpetta is still the reigning diva at the department of death. She is sent to investigate the purified remains of a man found inside a container ship, "eyes bulged froglike, and the scalp and beard were sloughing off with the outer layer of darkening skin." Kay finds strange, animal-like hairs on the man's clothing--the same hairs that she discovers on a murdered store clerk a few days later. In actuality, the bizarre killings extend well beyond Virginia; whoever killed the Richmond victims also butchered people in France. Kay and police captain Pete Marino are whisked off to Paris where they must collect top-secret information from a Paris morgue, and avoid becoming victims themselves.
1086. Cornwell, Patricia: Unnatural Exposure
Published by Little, Brown, 1997
1st edition hardback fine d/w, fine book. A sadistic serial killer, the weapon a deadly virus Dublin, Ireland and Richmond, Virginia: separated by thousands of miles - linked by murder. For Dr Kay Scarpetta a lecture stint in Ireland provides the perfect opportunity to find out if the murders on both sides of the Atlantic are indeed connected. Five dismembered, beheaded bodies were found in Ireland five years ago - now four have been discovered in the States. But the tenth corpse in Virginia is different. There are vital discrepancies, and an indication that the elderly victim was already seriously ill. A copy-cat killing. Ghoulish, perhaps, but not unusual. And then abject terror grips Scarpetta and her colleagues when the next body is found. The circumstances of death broadcast a clear and horrifying message: the killer is armed with the most lethal weapon on earth - smallpox.