Search Results: Cozy from Murder By The Book

NY: Dodd, 1987. 1st US edition. Fine in dust jacket. Esteemed British scholar J. I. M. Stewart writes his witty, ingenious mysteries as Michael Innes, whose sleuth is Sir John Appleby. "Although retired, Appleby immerses himself in the murder of Lord Oliver Osprey, as requested by the victim's widow. The detective and his wife had met weekend guests at the Ospreys' splendid county home, where a bat infestation was deplored by Miss Minnychip and other Dickensian types. Uninterested in the flying rodents, Appleby concentrates on Osprey's valuable coin collection, missing after his fatal stabbing. Questioning Mr. Broadwater, Lady Osprey's brother, saturnine son Adrian and all those present, the detective has definite suspicions but no solid evidence. It's a surprise to him when the pesky bats play a stunning role, confirming his intuitions and trapping the criminal."..--PW. First US Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

London: UK: Hodder & Stoughton, 1956. 1st Edition, so stated. Covers show some wear at edges and spotted, pages showing some age toning but a solid copy in dust jacket, price clipped, chipped at head and foot and light wear. This is a lending library copy with plate neatly pasted at inside cover. An orphan of the Second World War, Candida Sayle has gotten so used to life with her guardian that she never considered that she might have a family somewhere. When her guardian dies, a letter appears from an unheard-of aunt, informing Candida that it is time for her to return to the Benevent family fold. The young woman ventures to the country, and finds a strange pair of spinsters who spend their days obsessing over family lore and its rumors of a long-lost Italian treasure. Bizarre though it is, the environment comforts Candida--as do the attentions of her aunt’s handsome young secretary. But her vacation goes off the rails when death strikes the house, and the brilliant detective Maud Silver… Read More

Boulder: CO: Rue Morgue Press, 2000. Fine in decorated wraps. Oversize trade paperback. (orig. 1940). 4th title in series. rich Aunt Isabelle is on one of her periodic hospital visits. Illness is her hobby, and hospital stays are her recreation of choice. Jessie Warren, the old lady's niece, has been ordered by her mother to keep her aunt company and is installed in a guest room. Jesse is a redheaded smart aleck, not at all the usual kowtowing relative. Aunt Isabelle wants Jesse to marry a handsome young doctor, and this matrimonial scheme yields considerable humor. Both Jessie and Dr. Rand are more comfortable exchanging sarcasms than sweet nothings. Her redheaded niece is just glad that the hospital's murderer prefers blondes.. 1st Prtg. Pictorial Wrappers. Fine/No Jacket. Trade Paperback.

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2005. 1st prtg. A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback. Bickering ex-lovers and a disappearing corpse highlight this 1952 comedy by the queens of screwball. There was no question that Agatha Bunson hated her cook. Em could cook. Just about everyone agreed on that point. Agatha, however, despised Em's slovenly ways and was forever cleaning up after her. If she could, she would have fired Em ages ago. But an odd clause in her father's will prevented her from doing that. Now Em was dead and Agatha assumed she must have done it, although she had no recollection of killing her. But lately, Agatha had been prone to walking in her sleep and she figured it was during one of these nocturnal rambles that she did in the disgusting old creature. What's done is done, Agatha thought, and so she propped Em up in a rocking chair and squirreled her away in a sealed closet. There'd be time enough later to figure out what to do with the body. Of course Em… Read More

Boulder: CO: Rue Morgue Press, 2001. 1st printing of this fine, unread trade paperback (originally published in 1945). During the waning months of WWII, shar-tongued Eugenia Gates accepts Mary Fredon's invitation to borrow her apartment for an unexpected two-week vacation. Mary herself is away recuperating--her colorless husband Homer has apparently skipped town with the wife next door who, unlike Mary, shares his interest in Egyptology. Unknown to Eugenia, the disconcereted Mary has also offered the apartment to an army sergeant for his furlough. Mary returns in time to see a murder committed and to express alarm at her guests' untidy ways. An inspired piece of lunacy.. 1st Prtg. Pictorial Cover. Fine. Trade Paperback.

Lyons, Colorado, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2004. 1st prtg. Fine, unread copy of the trade paperback. When Henry Debbon accepted (most reluctantly) the job of being bodyguard to his boss’s beautiful red-headed daughter, he never expected he’d end up being shot at (twice), or have his clothes confiscated at a hospital. He also wasn’t prepared for hosting most of the people from his office at the house (painted black) in upstate New York he recently inherited from his very eccentric aunt. And though he thoughtfully poured out an extra glass of sherry in his aunt’s memory, he was just as surprised as the rest of his “guests” when she (apparently) drank it. A little ghostly imbibing was the least of Henry’s worries. Those unwelcome guests also included a potential murderer—an escaped convict who seemingly will stop at nothing to avenge himself on Henry’s boss for refusing to represent him. Worse yet, a major snowstorm has isolated them all from any help.… Read More

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2007. 1st prtg. Oversize trade paperback, fine in decorated wraps. First published in 1953, The Black Iris was the twentieth of twenty-one screwball mysteries by the incomparable Little sisters. The Little sisters were the reigning queens of the cozy screwball mystery from the 1930's to the 1950's. Combining the the charm and laughs of a Frank Capra movie with the eccentric characters of a George S. Kaufmann play. "The two elderly aunts liked a glass of sherry, a plate of cookies.. .and a nice little game of Russian roulette. But someone else was playing an even deadlier game. Miss Ivy and Miss Violet quarreled about everything, especially about who would get their money when they were gone: their nephew Richard or the glamorous Broadway actress Ada Terry, related to them by marriage. It got to the point that the only way they could settle the dispute, or so they thought, was to play Russian roulette with one another. The wishes of whichever… Read More

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2003. 1st prtg (originally published in 1942). A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback. Vintage Little with a doll that gets up and walks at night, a host who is obsessed with home repair, and a deadly swimming hole that make this a weekend houseparty to remember.. 1st Prtg. Pictorial Wrappers. Fine. Trade Paperback.

N.Y.: St. Martin's, 1991. 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket. The 3rd Faith Fairchild, former New York City caterer, investigates a suspect retirement home in the small New England town where she now lives. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 1994. 1st edition, September 1994 with complete number line beginning with 1 Near fine in dust jacket, a couple of creases, unclipped. The 2nd Joan Spencer title. Joan Spencer, violist and manager of the Oliver, Indiana Civic Symphony, is busy with preparations for the group’s performance at the hugely popular annual quilt show. But when the body of show organizer Mary Sue Ellett is found under a quilt, the competition takes on a sinister tone. Joan suspects Mary Sue’s death had to do with a missing will that the entire Ellett family has been circling like vulture to locate. But looking for cold hard motives among the soft down turns up some surprising stitches–and the handiwork of a devious killer.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Book.

New York: Berkley Pub Group, 1997. 1st. Edition. Fine in dust jacket. "If you've ever wondered why the Channel tunnel didn't open 20 years ago, you can thank everyone's favorite retired art teacher/sleuth, Miss Emily Seeton (Sweet Miss Seeton, 1996, etc., etc.). Caught up in a burst of Plummergen charity spurred by an unexpected legacy of reclusive pensioner Horace Jowett, Miss Seeton still has time to accompany the village Junior Mixed Infants on a day trip to France, where she meets Sir George Colveden's old friend Count Jean-Louis de Balivernes; to help entertain the Count when he and his daughter Louise repay the visit; and to make the sketches that help Scotland Yard--already thoroughly alarmed by an unexploded wartime bomb the tunnel drilling crew has run up against--identify first a murder victim and then her killer." -- Kirkus Review. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

NY: Putnam, 1992. 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket. Jim Qwilleran and his cats Koko & Yum Yum in their 14th adventure. Pickax City columnist and wealthy bachelor Jim Qwilleran travels to Scotland, leaving his Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum at home, in one of the most lively recent entries in Braun's popular "The Cat Who . . . " series. Also on the Bonnie Scots Tour are Qwill's current woman friend, Polly Duncan, the Moose County librarian; and his recently returned former girlfriend, Dr. Melinda Goodwinter, who proposes marriage. Tour leader Irma Hasselrich (a friend of Polly's and a patient of Melinda's) dies of apparently natural causes; then a jewel case and the tour-bus driver disappear. Qwill, Polly and Melinda decamp the tour early; back in Pickax City, listening to tape recordings he made along the way--and to Koko's intuitive yowls--Qwill begins to suspect that Irma was murdered. Convincing others, however, takes time and an investigation. Although the cats play… Read More

NY: Putnam, 1994. 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket. Jim Qwilleran and his cats Koko & Yum Yum in their 16th adventure, this one set on Breakfast Island.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Fine.

N.Y.: Bantam, 1991. 1st ed SIGNition, August 1991, with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. SIGNED COPY, signature only, by the author on the title page. An ANTHONY, AGATHA & MACAVITY AWARD NOMINEE. Bookstore owner Annie Laurance is hosting a weeklong Agatha Christie convention in honor of the one hundreth anniversary of her birth. When Neil Bledsoe, the most despised book critic in America, arrives she knows there will be trouble. An advocate of hard-boiled detection and gory true crime he is purported to be writing a scurrilous biography of Christie..... Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2003. 1st prtg. (Originally published in 1947 in England, this is the first American edition). The fourth and final title in the Lady Lupin Quartet. Fine, unread copy of this trade size paperback. Lady Lupin Lorrimer Hastings is the young, lovely, scatterbrained and kindhearted newlwed wife to the vicar of St. Marks in Glanville, Sussex. Her old society pals, Tommy and Duds Lethbridge, first met in "Who Killed the Curate?", try to erase the memories of WWII by throwing an old-fashioned Christmas party in a manor house the've recently inherited. "Dancing with Death" is a marvelous portrait of the postwatr austerity in Britian, in addition to being perhaps the best plotted book in the series. The party does not go well from the start and on New Year's morning one of Dud's pretty twin cousins is found dying in her bed. Lady Lupin is called in and chaos soon follows.. First US Edition. Pictorial Wrappers. Fine. Trade Paperback.

N.Y.: Scribner, 2000. 1st American edition, with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. A Luke Thanet title. Cozy. A SPOTTED OWL NOMINEE for Best Novel. "Another of the authors literate explorations of life and death in the town of Sturrenden and environs, where Inspector Luke Thanet and his faithful Sergeant Lineham bear the brunt of infrequent murder investigations (Once Too Often, 1998, etc.). The victim now is Virginia Mintaurwife of lawyer Ralph, mother of Caroline and Rachelwhose body has been found at the bottom of the decorative well adorning her prized garden. Virginia had disappeared the previous evening while entertaining neighbors Howard and Marilyn Squires; Rachel and tennis coach Matthew Agon, who have just announced their engagement; and Virginias sister Jane and her boyfriend Arnold Prime..." -- Kirkus Review. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Walker & Co, 1999. 1st ed. Initials at front endpaper, lightly soiled else fine in fine dust jacket. Distinctive jacket art by Daniel Pelavin for her books. The 5th Stella and Stargazer mystery. "Always flamboyantly dressed and often accompanied by pet chameleon Fluffy, Stella the Stargazer (who pens an astrological advice column for a Denver paper) becomes part-time assistant director for a local, privately owned theater. During one rehearsal, unfortunately, someone attempts to murder the theater's owner; and while Stella's psychic sense didn't forewarn her, she still feels compelled to investigate. Her love life, meanwhile, goes on hiatus when her boyfriend lands a job in New York. An outrageous character tempered by warmth and humor and coupled with a well-grounded plot and recognizable Denver surroundings..." -- Library Journal. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Fine. Illus. by Pelavin, Daniel (Jacket Illustration). Book.

N.Y.: St. Martin's, 2000. 1st ed., with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. The 2nd Doctor Fenimore title. "This entertaining mystery heralds the return of Dr. Andrew Fenimore, Philadelphia physician and amateur sleuth, along with that of his loyal nurse, Mrs. Doyle. Not only does this doctor make house calls, but he also finds time to tackle deadly murder cases. Fenimore is called to the small town of Seacrest, when two elderly patients, Judith and Emily Pancoast, request his help investigating the poisoning death of their niece, Pamela, on Thanksgiving. Pamela's murder seems to be tied to the sisters' antique dollhouse, an exact replica of their Victorian house down to miniatures representing each member of the family; moreover, Pamela's doll was found facedown shortly before her death. Fenimore's greatest challenge lies in discovering why Pamela's death and the successive murders all occur on… Read More

London: UK: Faber & Faber, 1993. 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket. The scene appears to be the usual country house hotel inhabited by the usual cast of characters...but things are not what they seem. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Pantheon, 1993. 1st US ed. one corner bumbed else fine in dj with one corner tear, light wear. A murder at a country house hotel with the usual cast of characters. Follow the clues to unmask the true identity of the murderer, and you'll see things are not what they seem. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Book.