AN AFTERNOON TO KILL: A Jubilee reprint.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.[Originally published in 1953.Shelley Smith is the pseudonym of Nancy Hermione Bodington.One of 12 titles of Crime Club's Jubilee reprints especially selected and introduced by Julian Symons.Chosen from titles which appeared under the imprint during the years 1930-1955,and which were out of print at time of selection.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip (£4.75,which then has an ink cross through it) to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,gilt colour background with b/w Crime Club logo to top of front panel and b/w lettering,rear panel with the other 11 titles from this series advertised to rear panel; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top edges with inevitable but very light dust-soiling and toning and minimal sporadic foxing/spotting, fore-edges bright and clean with similar but less foxing/ spotting; contents crisp,bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original green +black mottled faux leather (rexine?) boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt Crime Club logo to front within a single-line edge border and bright, crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,14-166pp [paginated] includes a prologue,13 chapters and an epilogue or cod-piece; plus [unpaginated] story's precis to half-title page,title page,a dedication,contents list/table, and an introduction by Julian Symons and 2pp blanks at the rear. Lancelot Jones was on his way to his first job - as tutor to an Indian Rajah's son.But the Rajah's ancient plane and incompetent pilot decanted him in the middle of a desert, and the wrong desert at that. There,seeking shade,he found,in the only dwelling of any size within miles,a curious old Englishwoman called Alva Hine. Alva Hine buttonholed the prim Mr Jones as the Ancient Mariner once made a wedding guest his audience.She told him a strange story of a summer of fifty years ago,of love and hate and murder in a respectable middle-class Victorian household . . . Julian Symons describes this masterly tour-de-force,first published in the Crime Club in 1953,as 'that rarity,a totally original work of crime fiction.It may enthrall,amuse or annoy you,' he says,'but you will have read nothing else quite like it.' Shelley Smith,British detective novelist.At intervals in the years 1942 - 78 she has written 14 crime novels,initially classic-type whodunits,latterly psychological suspense stories,though she hardly sticks to any sort of formula.At her very best she achieves a very high level of writing,and she can produce a plot of enormous ingenuity. he lonely attract her and the way that a minor criminal act can lead inexorably to the greatest one of all. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices, weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!