Mystery
THE NAKED SUN.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1957. Octavo, jacket illustration by Ruth Ray, cloth. First edition. The second novel featuring detective Elijah Bailey and his robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw by "the writer who virtually invented the science fiction mystery. In his novels THE CAVES OF STEEL (1954) and THE NAKED SUN (1957) and in the stories collected as ASIMOV'S MYSTERIES (1968), he masterfully bridged the gap between the two genres and proved that genuine detective fiction could be set in the future as well as in the present or past." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, p. 29. The human/robot detective team solve another murder, this one committed on Solaris, an Outer World with a robot-run economy, where the twenty thousand Solarians, thinly spread out over the surface of the planet, live in near total isolation from each other, and the presence or touch of another Solarian produces incapacitating physical repugnance. Bailey, from an underground Earth city, must overcome his fear of open spaces to solve the crime. "In its setting, it's a sort of inversion of THE CAVES OF STEEL, and it's equally cleverly plotted." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. [249]. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-42. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1476-9.
PUZZLES OF THE BLACK WIDOWERS.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1990. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. The fifth collection of Black Widower tales which is a 'best of' from the previous volumes and two new stories previously uncollected.
THE ROBOTS OF DAWN.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. The detective team of Lije Bailey and Daneel Olivaw investigate robotcide on the planet Aurora and meet the telepathic robot Giskard, setting the scene for the rise of a non-robotic Galactic Empire. This book is the hinge between the previously unconnected "Robot" and "Foundation" series. 1984 Hugo award nominee.
THE ROBOTS OF DAWN.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First trade edition. "The detective team of Lije Bailey and Daneel Olivaw investigate robotcide on the planet Aurora and meet the telepathic robot Giskard, setting the scene for the rise of a non-robotic Galactic Empire. This book is the hinge between the previously unconnected "Robot" and "Foundation" series." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 309. 1984 Hugo award nominee. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-52.
TALES OF THE BLACK WIDOWERS.
Garden City, NY: Published For The Crime Club By Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1974. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed inscription by Asimov to a mystery publisher and bookseller. The first collection of "Black Widowers" stories, a fictional club of mystery solvers. Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, pp. 29-30.
THE UNION CLUB MYSTERIES.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Signed presentation inscription by Asimov on the title page to a mystery publisher and bookseller. Review slip laid in. Story collection.
A WHIFF OF DEATH.
New York: Walker and Company, [1968]. Octavo, boards. First hardcover edition. First publication in hardcover of the author's first "straight" mystery novel, issued in paperback in 1958 as The Death Dealers.
PALIMPSEST.
[London]: Quartet Crime, [1981]. Ocatvo, boards. First edition. Eerie novel concerning a missing person, Inspector Henry Beaumont. (This is perhaps a review copy, no written material on front flap).
PALIMPSEST.
New York: St. Martin's Press, [1981]. Ocatvo, boards. First U.S. edition. Eerie novel concerning a missing person, with Inspector Henry Beaumont. Publisher promotional flyer laid in.
THE JUDAH LION CONTRACT.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1972. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Fawcett # T2608. Paperback original. A Joe Gall spy thriller. Joe Gall is a ruthless free-lancer called "The Nullifer."
THE WHITE WOLVERINE CONTRACT.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1971. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Fawcett # T2508. Paperback original. A Joe Gall spy thriller. Joe Gall is a ruthless free-lancer called "The Nullifer."
MISS BRACEGIRDLE AND OTHERS.
New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1923. Octavo, pp. [1-10] 1-332 [333-334: blank], original brown cloth, front and spine stamped in black. First U. S. edition. Collects thirteen stories, several crime, two of which were used as film sources. Aumonier was a highly regarded short fiction writer, praised by John Galsworthy and James Hilton. Hubin, p. 37. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 7.
THE CASE OF THE BOUNCING BETTY bound with THE CASE OF THE VIOLENT VIRGIN.
New York: Ace Books, [1957]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Ace double D-259. Paperback original. Two Ed Noon novels, first book publication for both. Jaffery, S., Double Trouble: A Bibliographic Chronicle of Ace Mystery Doubles, pp. 55-57. Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 31-32.
THE FEBRUARY DOLL MURDERS.
New York: Signet, 1967. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original. The first Ed Noon detective novel.
LITTLE MISS MURDER.
New York: Signet/New American Library, 1971. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original. An Ed Noon novel.
THE LIVING BOMB.
New York: Curtis Books, 1972. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First U.S. edition. A Ed Noon novel.
MEANWHILE BACK AT THE MORGUE.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett/Gold Medal, 1960. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original. Ed Noon.
MISSING!
New York: Signet/New American Library, 1969. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original.
THE SATAN SLEUTH NO. 1: FALLEN ANGEL.
[New York]: Warner Paperback Library, [1974]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Warner Paperback Library 75-676. Paperback original. With his wife murdered, wealthy Philip St. George goes after after the killers who are Satan worshippers. Hubin, p. 38.
SHOOT IT AGAIN, SAM.
New York: Curtis Books, 1972. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original. An Ed Noon novel.
THE TALL DOLORES.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1953]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed inscription by Avallone; "For--/all the best,/ all ways/ Michael Avallone." Author's first book and first Ed Noon mystery.
THE ULTIMATE CLIENT.
London: Robert Hale, 1971. Octavo, Hardcover. First hardcover edition. An Ed Noon adventure. First published as a paperback original under the title of Little Miss Murder (New American Library, 1971). Ed clients are the President of the United States and the New York Mets.
ALL THE WAY.
[New York]: A Midwood (Tower) Publication, [1960]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Midwood #60. Paperback original. An original novel.
HOUR OF THE MANATEE.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition.
GORGEOUS GHOUL MURDER CASE.
New York: New Avon Library, [1943]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First paperback edition. The second Hannah Van Doren mystery. Babcock was a Black Mask author.