Drawback to Murder

"DRAWBACK TO MURDER" by Willetta Ann Barber and R.F. Schabelitz with its original dust jacket. 1947 1st edition, 1st printing (with the Scribner's seal and "A" first printing designation printed on the copyright page); Charles Scribner's Sons; New York. The book is part of the husband and wife writing duo's popular Christopher "Kit" Storm mystery series. The story revolves around a series of slayings taking place among a tight-knit group of artists and models in New York City. Christopher Storm is a Manhattan commercial artist who works part-time as a police artist. He is brought into the investigation to help crack the case. What makes this book (and the rest of the series) unique is that the plot relies heavily on visual clues. Kit uses his sketch pad to make detailed drawings directly at the scenes of the crimes. By analyzing these drawings, he is able to piece together the evidence and unmask the identity of the murderer. The actual physical books featured integrated illustrations drawn by Schabelitz himself, allowing readers to follow along with the visual clues. The story is narrated by Sheridan "Sherry" Locke, Kit's romantic partner (later wife), a children's book author who acts as the verbose documentarian of Kit's murder investigations. Condition: Clean front cover and spine; tiny stain spot at the center of the back cover. Sharp cover corners. Tight binding with no cracks and no loose pages. Both covers are firmly attached. Nice interior - the text pages are clean and appear unread with no notable issues found. Tanning to the end papers and pastedowns from the jacket flap. The rear end paper has a tiny, dark stain spot at the top edge. Overall the book is in Very Good+ condition. The dust jacket is un-clipped with the price intact on the front flap; some very light soiling to the covers and spine; small bits missing at the top/bottom edges of the spine and at the top rear flap crease corner; larger bit missing at the bottom rear flap crease corner.overall the dust jacket is in Very Good- condition. (The dust jacket comes with a clear, protective sleeve - not shown.).…