Mystery
THE FACE AND THE MASK.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers, [1895]. Small octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-250 [251: ads] [252: blank], five inserted plates with illustrations by A. Hencke, original pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in silver, silver top edge, other edges untrimmed. First U.S. edition. A scarce collection of short fiction including "The Doom of London," a catastrophe story, and "The Great Pegram Mystery, a Sherlock Holmes parody. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-8 and (1981) 1-14. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 101. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 126 and 127. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 046. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 28. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 55. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 55. Bleiler (1978), p. 16. Not in Reginald (1979; 1992). Hubin (1994), p. 51.
BEARING SECRETS.
New York: Walker, 1996. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed. Author's second mystery.
THE INNOCENTS.
New York: Walker, 1995. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Author's first mystery.
PINK VODKA BLUES.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Author's well received first mystery novel.
PINK VODKA BLUES.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Author's well received first mystery novel.
KISS AND KILL bound with ON THE HOOK.
New York: Ace Books, Inc., [1954]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition and first paperback edition. Ace double D-47. Paperback original of the Barry novel. The Powell is a reprint, originally published as SHARK RIVER. Jaffery, S., Double Trouble: A Bibliographic Chronicle of Ace Mystery Doubles, pp. 21-22.
THE DELIGHTS OF DETECTION.
New York: Criterion Books, [1961]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Collects seventeen stories presented in three sections; Classic Tales, Modern Tales and Historic Tales. Authors include Dorothy Sayers, R. Austin Freeman, John D. MacDonald, Rex Stout and others.
THE BIG STEAL.
New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1955. Octavo, boards. First edition. "The $400,000 ransom on a kidnapping case leaves Steve Conway, a copper, holding the bag- the empty suitcase in which the money was once hidden. Bounced off the force, deserted by his wife, Conway alone has to prove his innocence to his enemies as well as the police, while narcotics needlemark the solution through which he redeems himself and his new girl... Under the spell of ""Spillane who insisted"" there is the familiar contusion of flesh and violence." - Kirkus review, 6/1/55. Basinsky was a wartime friend of Mickey Spillane's who encouraged his writing. This is the first of his two novels.
A PARADE OF COCKEYED CREATURES, OR DID SOMEONE MURDER OUR WANDERING BOY?
New York: Random House, 1967. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. The first Detective Max Van Larsen/Sylvia Plotkin thriller. An Edgar nominee for best novel.
PEREGRINE.
New York: Congdon & Lattes, 1981. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Winner of the 1982 Edgar award for best novel.
SWITCH.
New York: Linden Press/Simon and Schuster, 1984. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. The second Frank Janek novel. "The Janek stories...have been of a high standard; literate, inventive, and distinguished by the author's sympathetic appreciation of the sometimes ragged human condition." - Pederson (ed.): St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers (4th ed.), pp. 53-55.
RUN FROM THE HUNTER.
[Lakewood, CO]: Centipede Press, [2012]. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. hardcover edition. This copy is without the limitation page and was sent as a review copy, though no review notice is present. A suspense novel in which a convicted man escapes from prison and returns to the scene of the crime to attempt to find who really committed the murder. First published as a paperback original under the Keith Grantland pseudonym this is the first U.S. hardcover publication and the first publication under the author's true names. A collaborative short story "Moon in Gemini" is included in this edition.
THE MARDI GRAS MYSTERY.
Garden City, NY, and Toronto: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1921. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-313 [314: colophon] [315-316: blank], jacket and frontis illustration by John Newton Howitt, original green cloth, front and spine stamped in black. First edition. Author's first mystery novel. Hubin, p. 60.
PRECIOUS PORCELAIN.
New York, London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1931. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. edition. Mix of supernatural, sf, mystery and thiller novel in which the main character discovered a means of isolating the various personality fragments within himself and projecting them as living beings." - Bleiler: The Guide to Supernatural Literature #122. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 2-7.
THE WINDOW WITH THE SLEEPING NUDE.
Kingston, New York: Quinn Publishing Company, Inc., [1950]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original. The second published novel under his own name by this prolific writer, known for his hard-boiled stories, usually with plenty of slang and a touch of the comic. He published under numerous pseudonyms and is thought to have written as many as 3,000 stories (see-Pederson (ed.) - St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, 4th ed., pp. 63-64).
THE 25TH HOUR.
New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., [2000]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Contemporary crime novel, filmed in 2002 by Spike Lee.
SHERLOCK HOLMES IN NEW YORK.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1976. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Paperback original. Sherlockiana. Novelization of the made for television movie starring Roger Moore and Patrick MacNee. Photo cover.
THE FLOATING DUTCHMAN.
New York: Duell Sloan and Pearce, [1951]. Octavo, boards. First U. S. edition. Murder investigated by a secret operative for Scotland Yard. Filmed in 1952. Hubin, p. 67.
CHAIN OF WITNESSES: THE CASES OF MISS PHIPPS...edited by Marvin Lachman.
Norfolk, VA: Crippen & Landru Publishers, 2015. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collects sixteen of the author's mystery short stories.
DUANE AND THE ART MURDERS.
London: Cassell, 1939. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Hubin, p. 67.
MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL.
New York: Random House, [1994]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. The author's first book. Made into a feature film in 1997 directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack.
THE FAITHFUL.
New York: Random House, [2008]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Berenson on the title page. The author's first spy thriller and the debut of his character John Wells. Edgar award winner for best first novel.
THE GHOST WAR.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2008]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Berenson on a tipped in page. Spy thriller. The second to feature his character John Wells.
THE MIDNIGHT HOUSE.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2010]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Spy thriller. The fourth to feature his character John Wells.
THE SILENT MAN.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2009]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Spy thriller. The third to feature his character John Wells.