Search Results: Humorous from Murder By The Book

Quartet London 1984 Fine in dj. Mystery writer longs to drop his crude--though highly successful--detective. NYC. 1st British.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine.

NY: Saint Martin's Press, 1983. 1st ed. Fine in dj, large tape repaired tears at front panel. Mystery writer longs to drop his crude--though highly successful--detective. NYC. 1st British.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Good.

New York, NY, U.S.A.: St. Martin's Press, 1992. 1st US edition with complete number line beginning with 1. Lightly spotted at front end paper else near fine in near fine dust jacket, light chipping at spine ends, one small crease at front.not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. Winner of the British Crime Writrs' LAST LAUGH DAGGER AWARD for most humorous crime novel. "A cabbie and part-time musician, Angel responds to a cry for help phoned in by his best friend, roadie Francis (Werewolf) Dromey, who has fallen afoul of a Breton "liberation group" by smashing up and losing possession of a truck in which they had hidden a shipment of drugs without the Werewolf's knowledge. Warned that the group will kill his friend if he doesn't find and return the drugs, Angel sets off, aided by his exotic former girlfriend, Lucinda (Lu Lu) Luger, who at 64 towers over the members of the heavy-metal band she manages, and by Werewolf's brother, Gearoid, a beekeeping monk.… Read More

London: UK: Harper Collins Crime Club, 1991. 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket. Winner of the British Crime Writers' Association Last Laugh Award. The 4th title in the humorous Angel series. "A cabbie and part-time musician, Angel responds to a cry for help phoned in by his best friend, roadie Francis (Werewolf) Dromey, who has fallen afoul of a Breton "liberation group" by smashing up and losing possession of a truck in which they had hidden a shipment of drugs without the Werewolf's knowledge. Warned that the group will kill his friend if he doesn't find and return the drugs, Angel sets off, aided by his exotic former girlfriend, Lucinda (Lu Lu) Luger, who at 64 towers over the members of the heavy-metal band she manages, and by Werewolf's brother, Gearoid, a beekeeping monk. They find the drugs, which turn out to be Ecstasy tablets, but discover that the original Dutch dealer is also after the shipment. In another twist, the kidnappers tell Angel he will have to smuggle… Read More

NY: Villard, 2000. 1st ed. fine in dust jacket. A weird and fascinating book about dinosaurs masquerading as people in the modern world. A very funny and wildly creative detective novel. "What would the world be like if the dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct? As this very funny book shows, for one thing, L.A. would be even weirder than it is now." Dave Barry. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Putnam, 1999. 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket. . Murder and mayhem accompanied by great humour involving hitmen, an embezzler, an alcoholic and a multitude of rich characters. Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Miami Herald , and the author of many bestsellers. BIG TROUBLE is the author's first novel. EDGAR Award Nominee. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine.

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Doubleday, 1999. First edition, so stated, January 2000 with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. Publisher's sheets laid in. The fifth title in the Marshal Lilly Bennett series. Out West, where open spaces are practically sacred, land developers are considered the closest thing to Satan, so it's really no surprise to Lilly Bennett when members of the Johnson clan - the evil spirits behind the Johnson Land Company - start getting bumped off. She finds herself hanging out with a bevy of Las Vegas showgirls, dining with mobsters, and hosting a party for Wayne Newton and then finds herself hot on the trail of an unlikely serial murderer and finds herself drugged and lost in the Nevada desert.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.

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.

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2004. 1st prtg. A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback (originally published in 1947). vintage Little, complete with their trademark, the disappearing corpse. The post WWII housing shortage has left several people homeless in a smallish New Jersey town, including Aloysius P. Graham--who couldn't resist selling his own home at an enormous profit-- and his headstrong daughter, virginia. Unknown to his cousins they have installed themselves in the unused wing of the couisins' enormous mansion. It seems like the perfect solution until a number of other people crash the party. But when the lights start going on and off own their own and the ghost of the mansion's dead owner begins walking the corridors at night, our squatters realize that even free rent may be to high a price to pay for a roof over their heads. 154 pages.. 1st Prtg. Pictorial Wrappers. 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.

Lyons, Colorado, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2005. 1st prtg. A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback originally published in 1950. When Judith took a job at a country hospital, she didn't expect her "reputation" would follow her. Or that "the Black Smith" would once again walk the corridors. The Black Smith is vintage Little, complete with a couple you just know will bicker all the way to "I do," a corpse that won't stay put, a cast of characters that would do any loony bin proud, and a closed setting this time a country hospital where the staff works, lives and engages in a little mayhem on the side. Judith Onslow took the job as head nurse to start life over again after she was named corespondent in a messy divorce, only to discover that the brother-in-law of her ex-lover is the doctor in charge of the hospital. Then there's Shirley, the new switchboard operator, who arrives looking just a bit on the trampy side and then proceeds to turn herself into… Read More

Lyons, Colorado, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2005. 1st prtg. A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback originally published in 1950. When Judith took a job at a country hospital, she didn't expect her "reputation" would follow her. Or that "the Black Smith" would once again walk the corridors. The Black Smith is vintage Little, complete with a couple you just know will bicker all the way to "I do," a corpse that won't stay put, a cast of characters that would do any loony bin proud, and a closed setting this time a country hospital where the staff works, lives and engages in a little mayhem on the side. Judith Onslow took the job as head nurse to start life over again after she was named corespondent in a messy divorce, only to discover that the brother-in-law of her ex-lover is the doctor in charge of the hospital. Then there's Shirley, the new switchboard operator, who arrives looking just a bit on the trampy side and then proceeds to turn herself into… Read More

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Minotaur Books, 2004. 1st. Ed.. with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in dust jacket with protective mylar cover. EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE for Best First Mystery. First Edition. Hard Cover. As New/As New. Book.

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Knopf, 1997. First edition, so stated. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. "Photographer Andre Kelly is on assignment in the South of France when he decides to spend his free day in Cap Ferrat visiting some former clients, the Denoyers. As he arrives, he witnesses Claude, the Denoyers' hired man, loading a precious Cezanne into the back of a beat-up plumber's van. Deciding that something is amiss, Andre photographs the event and thus becomes involved in a wild escapade to track down the painting. When he explains the situation to Lucy, his agent and soon-to-be love interest, they decide that they need some expert help and call in Cyrus, a wealthy art dealer, who smells a scam. Add in a scoundrelly art dealer and his daffy lover, an art forger, and a former French Legionnaire, and the trail to the lost Cezanne becomes a comedy of errors. Along the way, there are vibrant descriptions of Paris, Provence, Cap Ferrat, and of course… Read More

N.Y.: Scribners, 1968. 1st American edition, so stated. light wear at extremities, else near fine in dust jacket, unclipped, $3.95 price intact, has some minor rubbing and soiling, a few small nicks along edges. "The Chinks in the Curtain" features the return of that most reluctant spy Edmund Brown, first met in SOUR CREAM WITH EVERYTHING. Returning ignominiously from Russia to England, he is dispatched to Paris to discover why a source of information has dried up. He infiltrates the household of a Russian émigré through the salacious, if somewhat skeletal, embraces of the Prince’s niece. There he uncovers a plot to restore the old regime to Russia, hatched by the Prince and a Rasputin-like priest whose motto is -- Give God something to forgive you for. -- But the underlying sinister implications of the plot elude our hero until the eleventh hour. Joyce Porter irreverently juggles the familiar paraphernalia of midnight tiptoeing, hidden microphones and… Read More

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2008. 1st printing. A fine, unread copy of the trade paperback. Flaxborough is a "high-spirited town .. .like Gomorrah." It's Inspector Purbright's job to keep its citizens on the straight-and-narrow in this comic romp. He hasn't got a chance. There were surprisingly few mourners at Harold Carobleat's funeral, just his widow and a handful of prominent Flaxborough citizens, including newspaper publisher Marcus Gwill. When Gwill' s naked body is found electrocuted some months later, its mouth stuffed with marshmallows, Inspector Purbright and his cherubic assistant, Sergeant Love, begin to suspect the two deaths are connected. But what are they to make of a series of peculiar coded advertisements that has been appearing in the Flaxborough newspaper? And why is the doctor's surgery so busy after hours? Remember, this is Flaxborough, a "high-spirited town .. .like "Gomorrah," where anything can happen, and… Read More

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2007. 1st printing. A fine, unread copy of this Trade Paperback. An eccentric Brit's attempt to summon ancient Greek gods ends in murder most foul. Sir Rudri Hopkinson, a slightly cracked rich Englishmen with a penchant for history, is determined to reenact the ancient rituals at the temple of Eleusis in hopes of summoning the goddess Demeter. Among the thirteen people he's gathered for the experiment is a rival scholar, a handsome photographer, his adult children, and a trio of mischievous boys, whose nefarious activities are financed by criminal psychologist Beatrice Bradley. When one of their number goes missing and a severed head turns up in a box of snakes, it's time for Mrs.Bradley to set aside her babysitting chores and turn sleuth. First published in 1937, Come Away, Death is Mitchell at her best and shows why contemporary critics lumped her with Sayers and Christie as one ofthe "big three" of English women mystery writers.… Read More