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The Friends of Eddie Coyle -
George V. Higgins
1972 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Edition
A fine copy of the highly acclaimed hard-boiled murder mystery and first novel by U.S. Attorney George ‘Fuzz’ Higgins. Housed in a custom chemise and slipcase, which also contains specially made pockets containing three contemporary reviews.
‘What I can’t get over is that so good a first novel was written by the “Fuzz”.’ – Norman Mailer.
Basis for the 1973 Peter Yates film starring Robert Mitchum as Eddie Coyle and Peter Boyle as Dillon.
New York Times – ‘I don’t know what kind of lawyer George Higgins is, but I know now that he’s a writer. With “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” he’s given us the most penetrating glimpse yet into what seems the real world of crime’.
Asked to name the top ten mysteries, Elmore Leonard said, ‘My all-time favorite, the one book that has made a lasting impression is The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That would be my list’.
Life magazine – Shove over, Raymond Chandler, if you don’t want an elbow in the eye, And somebody pull up a chair for George Higgins, the new boy in the back room. Hard-nosed George is an assistant U.S. attorney by trade. But that first cops-and-robbers novel tucked under his arm qualifies him for the corner table where all the best tellers of low tales sit, taking their Dashiell Hammett straight with a Hemingway chaser’.
Time magazine – ‘George Higgins’s pungent, ironic dialogue precisely registers the feints and formalities of a world in which unguarded speech can often be fatal He risks confusing us in order to make us sink or swim as his characters must learn to do. Alertness is richly rewarded’.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1972 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Edition
A fine copy of the highly acclaimed hard-boiled murder mystery and first novel by U.S. Attorney George ‘Fuzz’ Higgins. Housed in a custom chemise and slipcase, which also contains specially made pockets containing three contemporary reviews.‘What I can’t get over is that so good a first novel was written by the “Fuzz”.’ – Norman Mailer.
Basis for the 1973 Peter Yates film starring Robert Mitchum as Eddie Coyle and Peter Boyle as Dillon.
New York Times – ‘I don’t know what kind of lawyer George Higgins is, but I know now that he’s a writer. With “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” he’s given us the most penetrating glimpse yet into what seems the real world of crime’.
Asked to name the top ten mysteries, Elmore Leonard said, ‘My all-time favorite, the one book that has made a lasting impression is The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That would be my list’.
Life magazine – Shove over, Raymond Chandler, if you don’t want an elbow in the eye, And somebody pull up a chair for George Higgins, the new boy in the back room. Hard-nosed George is an assistant U.S. attorney by trade. But that first cops-and-robbers novel tucked under his arm qualifies him for the corner table where all the best tellers of low tales sit, taking their Dashiell Hammett straight with a Hemingway chaser’.
Time magazine – ‘George Higgins’s pungent, ironic dialogue precisely registers the feints and formalities of a world in which unguarded speech can often be fatal He risks confusing us in order to make us sink or swim as his characters must learn to do. Alertness is richly rewarded’.
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Price HK$ 2,500
The Vultures Gather -
Anne Hocking
1945 - Geoffrey Bles, London - First Edition
A fine first edition in the rare dust jacket. Featuring Chief Inspector William Austen.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1945 - Geoffrey Bles, London - First Edition
A fine first edition in the rare dust jacket. Featuring Chief Inspector William Austen.
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Price HK$ 3,000
Then There Were Three -
Geoffrey Homes (pseud. Daniel Mainwaring)
1938 - William Morrow & Co., New York - First Edition
A lovely bright and sharp example of the first edition.
Robin Bishop, the blithe, cynical reporter-detective, and Robin’s boss, the irascible old Oscar Morgan, become three when they team up with Humphrey Campbell, a chubby, funny private detective with a flair for the accordion. Very different people, these three, but sharing one thing in common: a hunch for homicide, which they exercise to the limit in this fast, exciting novel. [front flap]
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Price HK$ 4,000
1938 - William Morrow & Co., New York - First Edition
A lovely bright and sharp example of the first edition.Robin Bishop, the blithe, cynical reporter-detective, and Robin’s boss, the irascible old Oscar Morgan, become three when they team up with Humphrey Campbell, a chubby, funny private detective with a flair for the accordion. Very different people, these three, but sharing one thing in common: a hunch for homicide, which they exercise to the limit in this fast, exciting novel. [front flap]
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Price HK$ 4,000
Finders Keepers -
Geoffrey Homes (pseud. Daniel Mainwaring)
1940 - William Morrow & Company, New York - First Edition
A nice bright first edition of this fast paced and entertaining mystery featuring Humphrey Campbell and Oscar who ‘looked at their new client, Michael Burke, and Humphrey wondered if he’d come to them knowing that Oscar was hard-boiled and unscrupulous and his private detective agency somewhat questionable - or if it was just chance... [front flap]
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Price HK$ 3,800
1940 - William Morrow & Company, New York - First Edition
A nice bright first edition of this fast paced and entertaining mystery featuring Humphrey Campbell and Oscar who ‘looked at their new client, Michael Burke, and Humphrey wondered if he’d come to them knowing that Oscar was hard-boiled and unscrupulous and his private detective agency somewhat questionable - or if it was just chance... [front flap]
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Price HK$ 3,800
Chipstead of the Lone Hand -
Sydney Horler
1929 - Henry Holt and Company, New York - First American Edition
The second Bunny Chipstead novel.
‘Amateur gentleman hero, Bunny Chipstead once again comes to the aid of Sir Robert Heddingly, chief of the British Secret Service. Chipstead owns a flat in Paris, an apartment in New York, and a pied-à-terre in St. James, London; he is accustomed to travelling first class, promotes tea drinking to one of the finer arts, smokes a pipe (an infallible marker of virile masculinity and decency), and serves unofficially for both the British and U.S. Intelligence Services (”for the sheer thrill of the game” as the story puts it). In this adventure, Bunny is once again up against the master criminal “The Disguiser,” who has kidnapped Heddingly from a sanatorium.’ – Alan Burton, British Spy Fiction.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1929 - Henry Holt and Company, New York - First American Edition
The second Bunny Chipstead novel.‘Amateur gentleman hero, Bunny Chipstead once again comes to the aid of Sir Robert Heddingly, chief of the British Secret Service. Chipstead owns a flat in Paris, an apartment in New York, and a pied-à-terre in St. James, London; he is accustomed to travelling first class, promotes tea drinking to one of the finer arts, smokes a pipe (an infallible marker of virile masculinity and decency), and serves unofficially for both the British and U.S. Intelligence Services (”for the sheer thrill of the game” as the story puts it). In this adventure, Bunny is once again up against the master criminal “The Disguiser,” who has kidnapped Heddingly from a sanatorium.’ – Alan Burton, British Spy Fiction.
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Price HK$ 2,500
And Death Came Too -
Richard Hull
1942 - Julian Messner, New York - First American Edition
A somewhat scarce example, fine in the war-time dust jacket.
‘Arthur Yeldham, a retired housemaster from Finchlngfield School invites four young people to come on to his house after a local dance; and when they get there, Yeldham is found stabbed...’
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Price HK$ 2,700
1942 - Julian Messner, New York - First American Edition
A somewhat scarce example, fine in the war-time dust jacket.‘Arthur Yeldham, a retired housemaster from Finchlngfield School invites four young people to come on to his house after a local dance; and when they get there, Yeldham is found stabbed...’
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Price HK$ 2,700
The Case of the Journeying Boy -
Michael Innes (Pseud. John Innes Mackintosh Stewart)
1949 - Dodd, New York - First Edition
‘It is not easy to run full tilt through pitch darkness, it outrages an instinct against which the will can scarcely urge the muscles on. Much less is it easy in the knowledge that ice-cold waters, through which a corpse is drifting, await one at the length of an extended arm.’
When Humphrey Paxton accompanies his father to the movies, his hopes of a quiet afternoon are dashed by a murder, conspiracy, and an explosion, all before the final credits roll. The resulting investigation will take Humphrey and half of Scotland Yard on a series of escapades through London, Wales, and Ireland in order to catch the perpetrators. Written with Innes’s characteristic wit and humour, the novel has since been listed as one of the Crime Writer Association’s top 100 crime novels of all time.
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Price HK$ 1,500
1949 - Dodd, New York - First Edition
‘It is not easy to run full tilt through pitch darkness, it outrages an instinct against which the will can scarcely urge the muscles on. Much less is it easy in the knowledge that ice-cold waters, through which a corpse is drifting, await one at the length of an extended arm.’When Humphrey Paxton accompanies his father to the movies, his hopes of a quiet afternoon are dashed by a murder, conspiracy, and an explosion, all before the final credits roll. The resulting investigation will take Humphrey and half of Scotland Yard on a series of escapades through London, Wales, and Ireland in order to catch the perpetrators. Written with Innes’s characteristic wit and humour, the novel has since been listed as one of the Crime Writer Association’s top 100 crime novels of all time.
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Price HK$ 1,500
The ‘Phone Booth Mystery -
John Ironside (psued. Euphemia Tait)
1924 - Henry Holt and Company, New York - First American Edition
Rare in dust jacket. The best known of John Ironside’s nine detective novels, published in England as ‘The Call-Box Mystery’ and in France as ‘La Cabine 19’.
‘The wife of a famous diplomat is found murdered in a telephone booth after the theft of confidential documents her husband kept in secret in his home office. An obviously innocent suspect is imprisoned and can only count on his wife and friends to exonerate him before he is hanged.’
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Price HK$ 5,000
1924 - Henry Holt and Company, New York - First American Edition
Rare in dust jacket. The best known of John Ironside’s nine detective novels, published in England as ‘The Call-Box Mystery’ and in France as ‘La Cabine 19’.‘The wife of a famous diplomat is found murdered in a telephone booth after the theft of confidential documents her husband kept in secret in his home office. An obviously innocent suspect is imprisoned and can only count on his wife and friends to exonerate him before he is hanged.’
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Price HK$ 5,000