Death in the House -
Anthony Berkeley
1939 - Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A rare Berkeley title.
‘Lord Wellacombe, Secretary of State for India, dies whilst giving a speech to introduce a new bill on the floor of the House of Commons. His untimely demise looks like a stroke, but is it mere coincidence that a threat on his life had been made? The bill needs to be passed, but is anyone brave enough to defy the threats and risk potential murder?’
Enter Lord Arthur... Anthony Berkeley (Anthony Berkeley Cox 1893-1971), who also wrote under the pseudonym ‘Francis Iles’, was a British crime writer and a leading member of the genre's Golden Age. Educated at Sherborne School and University College London, Berkeley served in the British army during WWI before becoming a journalist. His first novel, The Layton Court Murders, was published anonymously in 1925. It introduced Roger Sheringham, the amateur detective who features in many of the author's novels including the classic Poisoned Chocolates Case. In 1930, Berkeley founded the legendary Detection Club in London along with Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and other established mystery writers. It was in 1938, under the pseudonym Francis Iles (which Berkeley also used for novels) that he took up work as a book reviewer for John O'London's Weekly and The Daily Telegraph. He later wrote for The Sunday Times in the mid-1940s, and then for The Guardian from the mid-1950s until 1970.
Octavo (19.3 x 13.1 cm) pp. 255 [1 (publisher’s ad)]. In publisher’s red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Condition: Very good plus, spine toned, and gilt slightly dull, faint foxing to first and last few pages. Ref: 109016 Price: HK$ 1,800
‘Lord Wellacombe, Secretary of State for India, dies whilst giving a speech to introduce a new bill on the floor of the House of Commons. His untimely demise looks like a stroke, but is it mere coincidence that a threat on his life had been made? The bill needs to be passed, but is anyone brave enough to defy the threats and risk potential murder?’
Enter Lord Arthur... Anthony Berkeley (Anthony Berkeley Cox 1893-1971), who also wrote under the pseudonym ‘Francis Iles’, was a British crime writer and a leading member of the genre's Golden Age. Educated at Sherborne School and University College London, Berkeley served in the British army during WWI before becoming a journalist. His first novel, The Layton Court Murders, was published anonymously in 1925. It introduced Roger Sheringham, the amateur detective who features in many of the author's novels including the classic Poisoned Chocolates Case. In 1930, Berkeley founded the legendary Detection Club in London along with Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and other established mystery writers. It was in 1938, under the pseudonym Francis Iles (which Berkeley also used for novels) that he took up work as a book reviewer for John O'London's Weekly and The Daily Telegraph. He later wrote for The Sunday Times in the mid-1940s, and then for The Guardian from the mid-1950s until 1970.
Octavo (19.3 x 13.1 cm) pp. 255 [1 (publisher’s ad)]. In publisher’s red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Condition: Very good plus, spine toned, and gilt slightly dull, faint foxing to first and last few pages. Ref: 109016 Price: HK$ 1,800