DEATH IS NOW MY NEIGHBOUR. [Author SIGNED copy.]

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,author SIGNED,1st edn. [Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2.] FINE+/NFINE. No owner inscrptn but author's neat,handwritten,warm conversational inscrptn thus: 'For Jo - Happy Xmas '96! So glad to hear you enjoy old Morse - & crosswords! Colin Dexter - ' to title page,and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright, crisp,clean,matt,colour photograph of Oxford's Radcliffe Camera (houses the Sciene Library) to front of dw/dj,with capitalised,embossed gilt-lettered author's name, capitalised,embossed white-lettered title and capitalised,flat printed,white-lettered THE NEW INSPECTOR MORSE NOVEL credit to lower edge; appears a non-sunned/faded grey spine/backstrip with similarly coloured+lettered,embossed title andauthor name with also thumbnail colour photograph repeated from front and publisher's capitalised,white lettered and red illustrated colophon to foot of same,rear panel with a slate grey background and white-lettered prose extract to same. Negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present - rear panel with a pair of small,vertical faint wrinkles.Front internal flap of dw/dj with an accidental,top corner diagonal crease. Top+fore-edges minimally if hardly toned,still bright,crisp, clean without foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean, solid and sound - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright,crisp, unblemished,sharp-cornered original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettering,a b/w striped headband with a sewn-in grey silk bookmark ribbon and immaculate plain pale beige endpapers. UK,8vo HB+dw/dj, 1st edn,1-349pp [paginated] includes a Prolegomenon (a discursive introduction),Pts 1-7 comprising 6, 3, 29 ,4, 12, 5, 8, and 3 chapters respectively with also an Envoi in last Pt; plus [unpaginated] half-title with publisher's list of author's other titles to its reverse,an author SIGNED+ dedicated title page,a dedication,Acknowledgements,an epigram ((Aristophanes),a title separator page,individual Pts separator pages,and to the rear,6pp blanks. Visually the exterior appearance is more than acceptable, and particularly internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation for a book of its 25+ year-old age. It is only the minimal faults that prevents a slightly higher grading for the dw/dj.Despite them,it really is still an exceptional, exemplary example for its cleanliness, brightness and lack of other detracting faults and the cachet of it being warmly dedicated and inscribed by a popular and collectable author. Dexter, now deceased (21st March, 2017), had won several Gold Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association for the best crime novel of the year. Inspector Morse,the slightly cantankerous Oxford detective returns in Colin Dexter's intellectual thriller Death is Now My Neighbor. When the Master of Lonsdale College retires,two senior dons are left competing for the single spot that will be the penultimate position of their academic careers. Summoned to 17 Bloxham Drive,Chief Inspector Morse discovers the body of Rachel James. She was shot at point-blank range. Unfortunately,few of the residents can be helpful about what they saw or heard on that fateful morning.The discovery of a cryptic 'seventeenth century' love poem and a photograph of Rachel with a mystery grey-haired man is enough to send Morse on the trail. But then Morse faces a far more personal crisis. . . A seemingly unrelated murder takes Morse and his partner Lewis from the strip clubs of Soho on a case that leads unexpectedly back to the manicured grounds of the Oxford college. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **