CAT O'NINE TALES.**

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2.] FINE/FINE. No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip (£16.99) to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,colour illustrated dw/dj with gilt and white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.Head of spine/backstrip and rear top edges minisculely bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and clean also - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - appears an unread copy - apart from my own collation.Bright,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,a red+gold striped headband and immaculate plain red endpapers.UK,slim 8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,ixpp+3-254pp [paginated] includes foreword,12 short stories,13 full-page and profuse part-page b/w line illustrations by Ronald Searle throughout the text and the book; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication,contents list/table and 6pp blanks to rear.
Author's 5th collection of short stories. Ingeniously plotted,with richly drawn characters and deliciously unexpected conclusions,and with the added bonus of illustrations by the internationally acclaimed artist,Ronald Searle.
While incarcerated for two years in five different prisons,Jeffrey Archer picked up several ideas for short stories.They range from a tale of 'The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office' to the story of a company chairman who tried to poison his wife while on a trip to St Petersburg - both with unexpected consequences.In another,'Maestro' an Italian restauranteur ends up in jail,unable to explain to the tax man how he can afford a yacht,a Ferrari and a home in Florence,while only declaring a profit of £100,000 a year.
'The Red King' is a tale about a con man who discovers that an English Lord requires one more chess piece to complete a set that would be worth a fortune.In another tale of deception, 'The Commissioner',a Bombay con artist ends up in the morgue after he uses the police chief as bait in his latest scam.
'The Alibi' reveals how a convict manages to remove an old enemy while he's locked up in jail,and then set up two prison officers as his alibi.
In total contrast is the accountant,who,in 'Charity Begins at Home', realizes he has achieved nothing in his life and sets out to make a fortune before he retires.
And then there is Archer's favourite,which he came across after leaving prison,'In the Eye of the Beholder',where a handsome premier division footballer falls in love with a twenty-stone woman . . who just happens to be the ninth richest woman in Italy.
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