Mystery
SOUND OF REVELRY.
New York: Popular Library, n.d. [1945]. Small octavo, illustration by Hoffman, pictorial wrappers. First paperback edition. Popular Library #46. Mystery novel.
THE QUAKING WIDOW bound with THE DEEP END.
New York: Ace Books, [1956]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Ace double D-195. Paperback original. The Colby book is the author's first novel. The Dudley book is the author's second. Jaffery, S., Double Trouble: A Bibliographic Chronicle of Ace Mystery Doubles, pp. 46.
A KILLING IN QUAIL COUNTY.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Cole. The author's first book.
DRINK TO YESTERDAY.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. Octavo, pp. [1-12] [1-2] 3-270 [271: blank] [272: printing statement] [273-276: blank], original red cloth, spine stamped in black, top edge stained blue, fore and bottom edges rough cut. First U. S. edition. The author's first mystery novel which introduces the character of Tommy Hambledon, WW I spy in Germany. Haycraft-Queen cornerstone. Hubin, p. 178.
WITHOUT LAWFUL AUTHORITY.
Garden City, New York: Published for the Crime Club by Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., 1943. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. edition. A Tommy Hambledon adventure.
THEY TELL NO TALES
Garden City: Published for The Crime Club, Inc. by Doubleday Doran and Company, Inc., 1942. Octavo, pp. [1-4][i-vi] vii-viii [ix-x] [1] 2-296 [297-298], cloth. First U.S. edition. The third Tommy Hambledon spy novel, set during the period leading to WW II. Pederson (ed.), St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, (4th ed.), pp. 214-216. Smith and White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction (3rd ed.) 3707.
A TOAST TO TOMORROW.
Garden City: Published for The Crime Club, Inc. by Doubleday Doran and Company, Inc., 1941. Octavo, pp. [i-vi] vii-viii [ix-x] [1] 2-310, cloth. First U.S. edition. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone book. The second Tommy Hambledon spy novel, set during the period leading to WW II. Pederson (ed.), St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, (4th ed.), pp. 214-216. Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 154. Smith and White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction (3rd ed.) 3709.
WITCH'S MONEY.
New York: The Viking Press Publishers, 1940. Octavo, pp. [1-2] [1-6] 7-30 [31-32: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], title page printed in red and black, original decorated red cloth, front panel stamped in white and gold. First edition. Limited to 350 copies signed by Collier. Privately distributed to friends of the author and the publisher. The story was first published in The New Yorker magazine in 1939, later collected in PRESENTING MOONSHINE (1941). Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy 234.
WITCH'S MONEY.
New York: The Viking Press Publishers, 1940. Octavo, pp. [1-2] [1-6] 7-30 [31-32: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], title page printed in red and black, original decorated red cloth, front panel stamped in white and gold. First edition. Limited to 350 copies signed by Collier. Short story. Privately distributed to friends of the author and the publisher. Later collected in PRESENTING MOONSHINE (1941). Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy 234.
CUT ME IN.
New York: Abelard Schuman, 1954. Octavo, boards. First edition. Author's first hardcover mystery.
DOG EAT DOG.
New York: Scribner's, 1949. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition.
KILL YOUR DARLINGS.
New York: Walker and Company, [1984]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by the author on the title page. The third Mallory novel, set at a Bouchercon.
MURDER BY THE NUMBERS.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. A novel featuring Elliot Ness.
NICE WEEKEND FOR A MURDER.
New York: Walker and Company, [1986]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed on the title page. A Mallory novel, set at a murder mystery game weekend.
NO CURE FOR DEATH.
New York: Walker and Company, [1983]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Author's second hardcover mystery. Signed by the author on the title page. A Mallory novel, chronologically a "prequel" to THE BABY BLUE RIP-OFF.
BLOOD MONEY.
New York: Curtis Books, [1973]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Curtis Books 07277. Paperback original. The author's second book. Second Frank Nolan novel.
THE BLOOD RED DREAM.
New York: Dodd, Mead, 1976. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. A Dan Fortune novel.
CASTRATO.
New York: Donald I. Fine, 1988. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. A Dan Fortune novel.
THE NIGHTRUNNERS.
New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. A Dan Fortune novel.
THE SILENT SCREAM.
New York: Dodd, Mead, 1973. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. A Dan Fortune novel.
THE CASE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' RING.
New York: Crown, 1978. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Sherlock Holmes versus Aleister Crowley.
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS ...
New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1859. 12mo, pp. [i-v] vi [7] 8-472 [note: first leaf is a blank] 1-8: ads, flyleaves at front and rear, original decorated green cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, brown coated endpapers. First U.S. edition. "The ten linked stories in THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1859) show Collins at the height of his powers. Three of the pieces are macabre ['Brother Griffith's Story of Mad Monkton,' 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dead Hand' and 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dream Woman'], and two of the three are supernatural." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 235-6. Additionally, the collection includes the detective story, "The Biter Bit." The three-volume 1859 Hurst & Blackett edition is a notorious rarity. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 408. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 2-25. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 141. See Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-14. Queen's Quorum 3. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 27. See Glover and Greene, Victorian Detective Fiction 80 and 81.
BASIL: A STORY OF MODERN LIFE ...
New York: D. Appleton & Company, 200 Broadway, 1853. 12mo, pp. [i-v] vi-xii [9] 10-317 [318: blank] [319-332: ads], flyleaves at front and rear, original black cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold and blind, fore and bottom edges rough trimmed, cream endpapers. First U.S. edition. Collins' second full-length novel and his first to be set in contemporary times. "With BASIL ..., his first characteristic novel, Collins began his search for a cosmic viewpoint that would encompass fate and chance, and the workings of human character with respect to both. He did not fulfill his objective until sixteen year later in THE MOONSTONE, but even in BASIL there is an oppressive feeling of foreordained events forever threatening, a feeling in which the weather is made to play a part. Although much of BASIL is weak, the symbolic thunderstorm during which Basil confronts Mannion and the visions seen by Basil in delirium have been praised. The text of BASIL usually read by modern readers is that of the 1862 revision, in which Collins dropped much of the quasi-supernatural background. This editing may simply have been an attempt to restore balance to the story by removing padding, but it is more likely to have been an early instance of Collins' uncertainty (evidenced again in the appendix to ARMADALE) of how far to go in attributing to Providence a series of coincidences otherwise inexplicable." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, p. 234. Bleiler (1978), p. 47 Not in Reginald (1979; 1992). Hubin (1994), p. 180.
LITTLE NOVELS ...
London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, 1887. Octavo, three volumes: pp. [1-6] [1-3] 4-319 [320: blank]; [1-6] [1-3] 4-331 [332: blank]; [1-8] [1-3] 4-303 [304: blank], half title leaves present in all three volumes, the preliminary blank leaf follows the contents leaf in volume 3, original maroon pebbled binder's cloth. First edition. Collects fourteen stories, including four ghost stories ("Mrs. Zant and the Ghost," "Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman," "Miss Bertha and the Yankee," "Miss Dulane and My Lord"), a tale of the occult (Mr. Percy and the Prophet"), and two stories of murder and attempted poisoning ("Mr. Policeman and the Cook," "Mr. Lepel and the Housekeeper"). "These tales of terror and the supernatural have been considered by many to be comparable to those of Poe, Dickens and Le Fanu." - Bleiler. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 412. Bleiler (1978), p. 47. Not in Reginald (1979; 1992). Sadleir 596. Wolff 1363.
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS ...
London: Hurst & Blackett, Publishers, Successors to Henry Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough Street, 1859. Octavo, three volumes: pp. [1-2] [i] ii-iii [iv] [1] 2-314; [1-2] [1] 2-359 [360: blank]; [1-2] [1] 2-307 [308: blank], original decorated gray green cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panels stamped in gold and blind, top edges untrimmed, light yellow coated endpapers. First edition. Collects the title story and "The Ten Days," a group of stories with narrative bridge. "The ten linked stories in THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1859) show Collins at the height of his powers. Three of the pieces are macabre ['Brother Griffith's Story of Mad Monkton,' 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dead Hand' and 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dream Woman'], and two of the three are supernatural." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 235-6. These three stories "reveal Collins's technique of grounding his horrors in fact, and domesticating the old ghost-in-a-bedsheet into realistic characters, and the supernatural, or apparently supernatural, elements into everyday phenomena." - Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 2-25. Additionally, the collection includes the classic detective story, "The Biter Bit." Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 408. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 141. See Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-14. Queen's Quorum 3. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 27. Sadleir 603. Wolff 1373.