Wife Wanted; an unusual human story [*SIGNED*]

New York: Authors Press. Fair. 1940. 3rd printing. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [worn but intact copy, slight fading to spine cloth, bumping to all corners, fraying to cloth and some exposure of boards at bottom edge, several small gouges in rear cover, small bookseller's rubber stamp inside, one-time owner's name at top of title page]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the title page: "To Marie Vasgard / with good luck wishes / Robert E. Callahan / 1947." As nearly as I can make out the plot of this somewhat overwrought novel, it has to do with a man who places hundreds of "lonely hearts" advertisements in newspapers around the country, in order to investigate and expose the matrimonial bureaus (matchmaking rackets sometimes referred to in the book as "love cults") that take advantage of lonely women looking for mates. He has undertaken this project to fulfill the wish of his now-deceased wife, and through it he also apparently hopes to achieve some sort of spiritual enlightenment. The chapter contents are laid out like those of popular fiction of an earlier era, e.g.: "Chapter 22: His Mind Goes Back -- Deep Sympathy -- Joins New Cult -- More Letters -- Another Racket." (The book is set in Los Angeles, and in one chapter our protagonist visits a "movie school" and describes its fraudulent machinations.) Basis for the 1946 movie of the same name, which starred Kay Francis, Paul Cavanagh, Robert Shayne, and Veda Ann Borg. <> .