First Editions
He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident--death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure.
Pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, Kinsey soon realizes that Daggett had an awful lot of enemies. There's the daughter who grew up with a cheating drunk for a father, and the wife who's become a religious nut in response to an intolerable marriage. There's the lady who thought she was Mrs. Daggett--and has the bruises to prove it--only to discover the legal Mrs. D. And there are the drug dealers out $25,000. But most of all, there are the families of the five people John Daggett killed, victims of his wild, drunken driving. The D.A. called it vehicular manslaughter and put him away for two years. The families called it murder and had very good reason to want John Daggett dead.
Deft, cunning, and clever, this latest Millhone mystery also confronts some messy truths, for, as Kinsey herself says, "Some debts of the human soul are so enormous only life itself is sufficient forfeit"--but as she'd be the first to admit, murder is not a socially acceptable solution.
1st edition, 1st printing, ex-lib; dust jacket in protective cover. G/G
1st edition, published by Zomba Books, London, England, 1983; Black Box Thrillers, contains 4 novels in one; dust jacket in protective mylar cover; black cloth with gilt lettering on spine; glued binding - when opened flat the binding cracks and pages look cracked in gutters. G/G+
Sir Rudolf Bing was the General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera for 22 years (1950-72). The New York Times called this book "a witty, arrogant, forthright memoir." (NYT, October 22, 2972)
1st edition. Inscribed by author. Dust jacket in protective mylar cover; spine has some wear and chipping; dark red cloth with gilt lettering on cover and spine; deckled edges; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/G
Robert Barr (16 September 1849 – 21 October 1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland. He emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada at age four and was educated in Toronto at Toronto Normal School. Barr became a teacher and eventual headmaster of the Central School of Windsor, Ontario. While he had that job he began to contribute short stories—often based on personal experiences—to the Detroit Free Press. In 1876 Barr quit his teaching position to become a staff member of that publication, in which his contributions were published with the pseudonym "Luke Sharp." Hal Hurst (1865–1938), illustrator, was an English painter, etcher, miniaturist, illustrator and founding member of the Royal Miniature Society.
New York and London: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1896. 1st ed.; profusely illustrated by Hal Hurst. No dust jacket; tan cloth with pick-axe design in brown, silver, and blue on cover; spine darkened; spine edges frayed; corners bumped; covers lightly soiled; former owner's bookplate on pastedown; front hinge weak; text clean. G-
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer, known for her depictions of life during wartime. In A World of Love, an uneasy group of relations are living under one roof at Montefort, a decaying manor in the Irish countryside. When twenty-year-old Jane finds in the attic a packet of love letters written years ago by Guy, her mother’s one-time fiance who died in World War I, the discovery has explosive repercussions. It is not clear to whom the letters are addressed, and their appearance begins to lay bare the strange and unspoken connections between the adults now living in the house. Soon, a girl on the brink of womanhood, a mother haunted by love lost, and a ruined matchmaker with her own claim on the dead wage a battle that makes the ghostly Guy as real a presence in Montefort as any of the living.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955. 1st edition. Dust jacket in protective cover; spine edges chipped; corners chipped; top of flaps tanned; green cloth with red and blue design and lettering on cover and spine; deckled edges; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/G+
Bascom Books, NY, 1973. Signed by author. VG/VG
Arkham House, 1960. 1st edition; dust jacket protected; edges lightly worn; not price clipped; black cloth; head of spine very lightly bumped; top front edge has small area of residue; binding tight; text clean. G/G
CD Publications, 1992. Signed edition limited to 750 copies, of which this is number 247. Black cloth slipcase; dust jacket protected; maroon cloth; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG
New York Graphic Society, 1980. Deluxe edition, limited to 750 copies signed by Nancy Ekholm Burkert and Jane Langton; deluxe edition contains an eleventh color plate, "Sunset on the Dawn," between pages 44 and 45; this is copy number 85. VG/VG
Mycroft & Moran, 1968. 1st edition; pamphlet; top corner bent. G+