THE RAT BEGAN TO GNAW THE ROPE

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., [1943]., 1943. First edition. First edition. Author's first book. 8vo. Winner of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Mystery Contest and the first of several detective novels whose titles came from Mother Goose rhymes. This copy is inscribed by the author: "For 'Miss Emma' Christiansen with sincere appreciation for the courtesy and kindness she has always shown me. Chip - C. W. Grafton, June 22, 1943." Also signed on the front pastedown sheet by Emma E. Christiansen to whom this book was inscribed by the author. From the library of Sue Grafton, the author's daughter, with her ownership label on the front pastedown sheet and with a letter of authentication from Sue Grafton's estate. Why would William Jasper Harper, approaching Ruth McClure only 10 days after her husband's death in a car crash, offer her four times the listed value of John McClure's hundred shares of Harper Products Company's stock? His offer smells fishy to Ruth, and she hires attorney Gilmore Henry to look into the offer. The suspects include a neighbor whose policies about selling eggs make no sense, the accountants who handled Harper’s books and, of course, the deceased’s invalid wife and daughter, who now stand much closer to millionaire status. Fine in dust jacket light wear to the spine ends, corners and extremities.