Sally's Weekly Update 6/15/12
Please note that I will be on vacation this week. I will be back at the store on Monday, June 25th. You will receive your next Weekly Update Friday, June 29th. During my absence, please direct all e-mails requiring an immediate answer to Ian at ian@mysteriousbookshop.com or call him at (212) 587-1011. If you are a member of the Crime Club, please state that, so that any information can be put on the correct file.
Ian will be on vacation from Monday, June 25th and will be back in the store on Monday, July 2nd. During his absence, please direct all e-mails requiring an immediate answer to me at sally@mysteriousbookshop.com
Miss us
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, June 21st, 6.30 p.m - 8.00 p.m.
Brian Gruley will read from
The Skeleton Box, a Starvation Lake mystery
$25.00
SIGNED COPIES NOW AVAILABLE
We don't know whether publishers are cutting back on their print runs, or if the book business is booming A little of both maybe - our sales are certainly very healthy compared to a couple of years ago. In any case, we are finding that, no matter how many copies we order of some titles, it never seems to be enough. And that when we re-order, that title has gone to a second, third, and sometimes fourth printing. This was certainly true of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and now we're afraid we do not have enough copies of Mission to Paris by Alan Furst (now in a second printing) for those of you who are a) not in the Crime Collectors Club or b) did not pre-order this title. We are certainly increasing our initial orders but please forgive us if do not have enough signed first editions to fulfill later orders. Please pre-order titles where you can.
XO by Jeffery Deaver features Kathryn Dance whose friendship with country-pop star Kayleigh Towne draws her into the dangerous and terrifying realm of fan obsession. Edwin Sharp thinks Kayleigh's songs contain messages meant specifically for him. When Kathryn intervenes on Kayleigh's behalf, Sharp's frightening attention turns to her. A Thriller/Espionage Crime Club Main Selection. $26.99
Mission to Paris by Alan Furst is set in the late summer of 1938. Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie. The Nazis know he will be there and plan to use him for propaganda purposes - aimed at the French. But what they don't know is that Stahl is part of an informal spy service being run out of the American embassy in Paris. Another elegantly written espionage thriller from the master. A Crime Collectors Club Main Selection. $27.00
The Nervous System by Nathan Larson is, like his first book, The Dewey Decimal System, a hardcover limited to 72 signed copies. Dewey, a most original PI who suffers from OCD, is once again righting wrongs on the mean streets of New York. In boards as issued. $50.00
We have signed copies of the U.S. edition of Cop to Corpse by Peter Lovesey. Somebody is assassinating police officers in the city of Bath. When Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond is assigned to the case, he begins to find curious connections between the dead officers after talking to their widows. A Soft Boiled Crime Club Main Selection. $25.00
Jason Starr signed copies of The Craving, his follow-up to The Pack. Simon Burns was down and almost out when things started turning around for him, thanks to a group of friends, daytime dads like himself: the pack. Now, because of them, Simon isn't the man he was. In fact, he's not really a man at all anymore. Trade Paperback Original. $15.00
We do have some signed copies of The Kings of Cool by Don Winslow. This prequel to Savages (now a movie) tells the story of how Ben Chon and O became the people they are. We are, we hope, getting more copies of this one because it is a Crime Collectors Club Main Selection. $25.00
NOT SIGNED, BUT...
Crime Square, edited by Robert J. Randisi contains original short stories by some of our (and your) favorite authors including John Lutz, Max Allan Collins, Angela Zeman, Brad Parks, Reed Farrel Coleman, Kenneth Wishnia, and Parnell Hall. The stories in this anthology cover Times Square from 1912 until the present and are in chronological order. A Trade Paperback Original. $15.95
SIGNED FROM THE U.K.
Gold is the third novel from Chris Cleave, one of the most original authors at work today. The publisher has kept the story under wraps but I know that it opens at the Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004. I also know that the sport is sprint cycling, but this is Chris Cleave so the story is going to be about so much more than going for the gold. Gold is about the limits of human endurance, both physical and emotional. But that is only half the story. $43.00
We have just two copies of Dead Men and Broken Hearts by Craig Russell. This story featuring Lennox is set in Glasgow in 1956 where he is hired by a woman to follow her philandering husband. The case is not going to be as straightforward as it seems. $33.00
Gold is the third novel from Chris Cleave, one of the most original authors at work today. The publisher has kept the story under wraps but I know that it opens at the Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004. I also know that the sport is sprint cycling, but this is Chris Cleave so the story is going to be about so much more than going for the gold. Gold is about the limits of human endurance, both physical and emotional. But that is only half the story. $43.00
We have just two copies of Dead Men and Broken Hearts by Craig Russell. This story featuring Lennox is set in Glasgow in 1956 where he is hired by a woman to follow her philandering husband. The case is not going to be as straightforward as it seems. $33.00
FOR COLLECTORS
On Murder's Skirts by Terry Adler, Phoenix, NY. 1947. First Edition. $100.00
Fine in dust jacket with minor wear at spine ends and corners. Scarce in collectable condition, as are most books by this publisher, which earned a special chapter in Bill Pronzini's Gun in Cheek, a hilarious study of the worst writing in the mystery genre.
Black Box Thrillers: Zomba Books, a London publishing house, published large trade paperback omnibus editions of some very desirable authors, most of the titles being out of print. The following volumes, long out of print and now scarce, are all first printings in this format and are in about fine condition:
March Behm, contains The Eye of the Beholder, The Queen of the Night, The Ice Maiden. $35.00
Anthony Boucher, contains The Case of the Seven of Calvary, Nine Times Nine, Rocket to the Morgue, The Case of the Crumpled Knave. $25.00
Fredric Brown, Night of the Jabberwock, The Screaming Mimi, Knock Thre-On-Two, The Fabulous Clipjoint. $25.00
W.R. Burnett, Little Caesar, The Asphalt Jungle, High Sierra, Vanity Row. $35.00
Jerome Charyn, The Isaac Quartet (Marilyn the Wild, Blue Eye, The Education of Patrick Silver, Secret Isaac) $25.00
David Goodis, Nightfall, The Moon in the Gutter, Down There, Dark Passage. $35.00
Horace McCoy, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, No Pockets in a Shroud, I Should Have Stayed Home. $35.00
Jim Thompson, The Getaway, The Grifters, The Killer Inside Me, Pop. 1280. $35.00
Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black, Rear Window, Phantom Lady, Waltz into Darkness. $35.
The Case of the Curious Heel by Ken Crossen, Wise-Eerie Series, NY. 1944. First Edition. $75.00
Very scarce book by this outstanding pulp writer. Digest-sized paperback original. A very small chip at base of spine, else near fine in pictorial wrappers.
Man Alone by William Campbell Gault, Gryphon, NY. 1995. First Edition. SIGNED. $75.00
Limited to only 100 copies, numbered and signed by Gault, Bill Pronzini (who wrote the introduction) and Bruce Timm(the jacket artist). A long novella (167 pages) published here for the first time. Pristine copy in dust jacket.
Norgil the Magician by Maxwell Grant, Mysterious Press, NY. 1977. First Edition. $35.00
A collection of stories originally published in the pulps, written by the creator of the Shadow. The fourth book published by the Mysterious Press, limited to 1,000 copies of the trade edition, with a colored frontispiece (and jacket) by Steranko. Very fine in dust jacket.
Norgil: More Tales of Prestidigitection by Maxwell Grant, Mysterious Press, NY. 1979. First Edition. SIGNED $100.00
Limited to 250 copies, numbered and signed as both Walter B. Gibson and Maxwell Grant. A collection of stories originally published in the pulps, written by the creator of the Shadow. With a dust jacket by Steranko. Very fine in dust jacket and slipcase.
Chee's Witch by Tony Hillerman, Crippen & Landru, VA. 2002. First Separate Printing. $50.00
Short story originally published in New Black Mask 7, 1986. Scarce pamphlet, limited to 1,000 copies. Very fine.
The Complete Short Stories of Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, St. Martin's, NY. 1984. First U.S. Edition Thus. $45.00
Contains an introductory essay by George Orwell and a Foreword by Peter Haining. Very fine, as new copy in dust jacket.
The Steeltown Strangler by Harry Stephen Keeler, Ward, Lock, London. 1950. First Edition. $450.00
There was no U.S. edition. Fine and tight in a fresh, price-clipped dust jacket with a trace of wear at spine ends.
(John D. MacDonald) A Friendship: the Letters of Dan Rowan and John D. MacDonald, 1967-1974, Knopf, NY. 1986. First Edition. $40.00
Unlikely but voluminous correspondence. Very fine in dust jacket.
The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen, Mysterious Press, NY. 1979. Golden Anniversary Edition,. SIGNED. $100.00
Limited to 250 copies, numbered and signed in a slipcase. Very fine, as new, in dust jacket. Signed by Queen (Fredric Dannay).
The Tragedy of Errors by Ellery Queen, Crippen & Landru, VA. 1999. First Edition. $150.00
Limited to 250 numbered copies. Very fine in dust jacket. Laid in is a separate pamphlet reproducing the original manuscript and typescript of The Tragedy of Errors.
The Stuffed Men by Anthony Run, Newnes, London. 1936. First U.K. Edition. $65.00
Notoriously scarce "Yellow Peril" novel. Horrific Hubin-listed mystery and Bleiler-listed fantasy novel. "The queerest criminal traffic of the Orient comes to light when a vengeful, murderous band of yellow fanatics invade Long Island and Westchester and an honorable rich man dies horribly, swelling up and solidifying until it seems that he must be stuffed with some horrible, living variety of straw." Bookseller rubber stamp on front endpaper, else very good.
The Return of Jimmy Lavender by Vincent Starrett, Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, Ontario. 1997, First Edition. $45.00
Adventures of Starrett's most popular character, the Chicago PI who appeared in 50 stories between 1916 and 1965. Very fine, as new copy in dust jacket.
-Sally
sally@myseriousbookshop.com
On Murder's Skirts by Terry Adler, Phoenix, NY. 1947. First Edition. $100.00
Fine in dust jacket with minor wear at spine ends and corners. Scarce in collectable condition, as are most books by this publisher, which earned a special chapter in Bill Pronzini's Gun in Cheek, a hilarious study of the worst writing in the mystery genre.
Black Box Thrillers: Zomba Books, a London publishing house, published large trade paperback omnibus editions of some very desirable authors, most of the titles being out of print. The following volumes, long out of print and now scarce, are all first printings in this format and are in about fine condition:
March Behm, contains The Eye of the Beholder, The Queen of the Night, The Ice Maiden. $35.00
Anthony Boucher, contains The Case of the Seven of Calvary, Nine Times Nine, Rocket to the Morgue, The Case of the Crumpled Knave. $25.00
Fredric Brown, Night of the Jabberwock, The Screaming Mimi, Knock Thre-On-Two, The Fabulous Clipjoint. $25.00
W.R. Burnett, Little Caesar, The Asphalt Jungle, High Sierra, Vanity Row. $35.00
Jerome Charyn, The Isaac Quartet (Marilyn the Wild, Blue Eye, The Education of Patrick Silver, Secret Isaac) $25.00
David Goodis, Nightfall, The Moon in the Gutter, Down There, Dark Passage. $35.00
Horace McCoy, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, No Pockets in a Shroud, I Should Have Stayed Home. $35.00
Jim Thompson, The Getaway, The Grifters, The Killer Inside Me, Pop. 1280. $35.00
Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black, Rear Window, Phantom Lady, Waltz into Darkness. $35.
The Case of the Curious Heel by Ken Crossen, Wise-Eerie Series, NY. 1944. First Edition. $75.00
Very scarce book by this outstanding pulp writer. Digest-sized paperback original. A very small chip at base of spine, else near fine in pictorial wrappers.
Man Alone by William Campbell Gault, Gryphon, NY. 1995. First Edition. SIGNED. $75.00
Limited to only 100 copies, numbered and signed by Gault, Bill Pronzini (who wrote the introduction) and Bruce Timm(the jacket artist). A long novella (167 pages) published here for the first time. Pristine copy in dust jacket.
Norgil the Magician by Maxwell Grant, Mysterious Press, NY. 1977. First Edition. $35.00
A collection of stories originally published in the pulps, written by the creator of the Shadow. The fourth book published by the Mysterious Press, limited to 1,000 copies of the trade edition, with a colored frontispiece (and jacket) by Steranko. Very fine in dust jacket.
Norgil: More Tales of Prestidigitection by Maxwell Grant, Mysterious Press, NY. 1979. First Edition. SIGNED $100.00
Limited to 250 copies, numbered and signed as both Walter B. Gibson and Maxwell Grant. A collection of stories originally published in the pulps, written by the creator of the Shadow. With a dust jacket by Steranko. Very fine in dust jacket and slipcase.
Chee's Witch by Tony Hillerman, Crippen & Landru, VA. 2002. First Separate Printing. $50.00
Short story originally published in New Black Mask 7, 1986. Scarce pamphlet, limited to 1,000 copies. Very fine.
The Complete Short Stories of Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, St. Martin's, NY. 1984. First U.S. Edition Thus. $45.00
Contains an introductory essay by George Orwell and a Foreword by Peter Haining. Very fine, as new copy in dust jacket.
The Steeltown Strangler by Harry Stephen Keeler, Ward, Lock, London. 1950. First Edition. $450.00
There was no U.S. edition. Fine and tight in a fresh, price-clipped dust jacket with a trace of wear at spine ends.
(John D. MacDonald) A Friendship: the Letters of Dan Rowan and John D. MacDonald, 1967-1974, Knopf, NY. 1986. First Edition. $40.00
Unlikely but voluminous correspondence. Very fine in dust jacket.
The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen, Mysterious Press, NY. 1979. Golden Anniversary Edition,. SIGNED. $100.00
Limited to 250 copies, numbered and signed in a slipcase. Very fine, as new, in dust jacket. Signed by Queen (Fredric Dannay).
The Tragedy of Errors by Ellery Queen, Crippen & Landru, VA. 1999. First Edition. $150.00
Limited to 250 numbered copies. Very fine in dust jacket. Laid in is a separate pamphlet reproducing the original manuscript and typescript of The Tragedy of Errors.
The Stuffed Men by Anthony Run, Newnes, London. 1936. First U.K. Edition. $65.00
Notoriously scarce "Yellow Peril" novel. Horrific Hubin-listed mystery and Bleiler-listed fantasy novel. "The queerest criminal traffic of the Orient comes to light when a vengeful, murderous band of yellow fanatics invade Long Island and Westchester and an honorable rich man dies horribly, swelling up and solidifying until it seems that he must be stuffed with some horrible, living variety of straw." Bookseller rubber stamp on front endpaper, else very good.
The Return of Jimmy Lavender by Vincent Starrett, Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, Ontario. 1997, First Edition. $45.00
Adventures of Starrett's most popular character, the Chicago PI who appeared in 50 stories between 1916 and 1965. Very fine, as new copy in dust jacket.
-Sally
sally@myseriousbookshop.com