Lorac, E C R Pseud for Edith Caroline Rivett (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine dj. Reprint. [no significant shelfwear, but with a handful of diagonally-creased upper page corners, one-time owner's initials plus date & place of purchase and brief comment written in ink along the edge of the rear pastedown (concealed beneath the jacket flap); the jacket itself is very nice, with just a bit of abrasion at the spine ends]. Reprint of this Inspector MacDonald mystery, originally published by Collins in 1955. "An elderly lady, whose appearance gave her an Edwardian dignity, reported to the St. John's Wood police that her nephew had disappeared. At first it seemed that this was just a routine investigation, but a chance clue reveals that the police are faced with a case of murder. The nephew, Keith McAmboine, was an Australian journalist and, when enquiries in Fleet Street were followed by serious accidents to two of the few potential witnesses, it was obvious that the murderer was both dangerously active and well informed." Most of the works of this prolific mystery author, who also wrote as "Carol Carnac," remained out of print between her death in 1958 and the early 2020s, when a number of her books (as both Lorac and Carnac) -- not including this one -- were reprinted in the British Library Crime Classics series.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good dj. First Edition. (price-clipped) [minor shelfwear, light foxing/staining to endpapers, one-time owner's initials plus date & place of purchase and brief comment written in ink along the edge of the rear pastedown (concealed beneath the jacket flap); the jacket shows some wear at the extremities, wrinkling and soiling on the rear panel]. The final book by this prolific mystery writer (published the year after her death), the last entry in her long-running series of Inspector MacDonald mysteries. "When Superintendant MacDonald visited Fellcock Farm, bought against the day of his retirement, he put all thoughts of crime and criminals out of his head. But even there, high the fell country above Lunesdale, he was forced to face again the fact that a policeman is never off duty. The discovery of a dead body in the deserted house at High Garth set him to unravel a fascinating and baffling case and put him on to a trail which led him from the fells to Dartmoor and to a figure in prison uniform vanishing into the mist." Published in the U.S. as "The Last Escape." Most of the works of this author, who also wrote as "Carol Carnac," remained out of print between her death in 1958 and the early 2020s, when a number of her books (as both Lorac and Carnac) -- not including this one -- were reprinted in the British Library Crime Classics series.