Library Bookstore Clearance Sale!

So...any thought that I might actually clear more books off my TBR mountain range than I buy this year promptly went out the window. Our local library had their Spring Clearance sale and some generous soul (or souls) had obviously done a bit of vintage mystery spring cleaning. I had already missed two days of the sale and--based on my experiences of the last two year (very slim pickings in the vintage mystery category)--I didn't expect to find much. Boy, was I wrong! I walked out with forty new-to-me books and if I hadn't exerted what little self-control that I did I could easily have carted out twice to maybe three times that many. The heavy favorite was Erle Stanley Gardner--tons of pocket-size editions of his books (under both the Gardner name and A. A. Fair). I resisted the urge to  put ALL the books in my bag....But it's quite possible I may go back for more.

The best find was a David Frome Dell Mapback edition. I am always pleased to find those.

And the most interesting has to be Some Beasts No More by Kenneth Giles. Tucked in the pages is a "Preview Copy" review request form...from 1985! The book looks brand new--not a crease in the spine, like it's never been opened. I'm thinking somebody didn't send back the requested "two copies of your review."

Here's the complete list of what came home with me:

The Bitter Path of Death (Pierre Audemars)
Death Beside the Sea (Marian Babson)
The Corpse with Sticky Fingers (George Bagby)
The Paton Street Case (John Bingham)
Death by Hoax  (Lionel Black)
Malice in Wonderland (Nicholas Blake) lovely Penguin edition
Or Be He Dead (James Byrom) bought vintage Penguin to replace 1980s reprint
The House without the Door (Elizabeth Daly) Superior Reprints (WWII edition)
Aristotle Detective (Margaret Doody)

Cats Prowl at Night (A.A. Fair/Gardner)
Shills Can't Cash Chips (A. A. Fair/Gardner) Pocket Books (1st printing)
Experiment with Death (E. X. Ferrars)
All for the Love of a Lady (Leslie Ford) Popular Library edition
The Town Cried Murder (Leslie Ford) Bantam pocket size (1st printing)
The Hammersmith Murders (David Frome) Dell Mapback
The Seventh Mourner (Dorothy Gardiner) Popular Library (Crime Club selection)
The Case of the Perjured Parrot (Gardner) Pocket Books (1st WWII printing)
The Case the Shoplifter's Shoe (Gardner) Pocket Books (3rd WWII printing; fine condition)
The Case of the Sulky Girl (Gardner) Pocket Books (25th printing--but near-fine condition)
The D.A. Breaks an Egg (Gardner) Pocket Books Cardinal edition
The D.A. Calls It Murder (Gardner) Pocket Books Cardinal edition
The D.A. Draws a Circle (Gardner) 1st WWII Pocket Books edition
The D.A. Holds a Candle (Gardner) Pocket Books Cardinal edition
The D.A. Takes a Chance (Gardner) Pocket Books (2nd printing)
A Hole in the Ground (Andrew Garve) Dell Publishing (1st printing)
Some Beasts No More (Kenneth Giles)
Death on the Broadlands (Alan Hunter)
Gently Between Tides (Alan Hunter)
The Tick of Death (Peter Lovesey)
The Doberman Wore Black (Barbara Moore)
Add a Pinch of Cyanide (Emma Page)
Every Second Thursday (Emma Page)
Follow Me (Helen Reilly)
Mr. Smith's Hat (Helen Reilly)
The Darlington Jaunt (Angus Ross)
The Suicide Club & Other Stories (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Find a Crooked Sixpence (Estelle Thompson)
The Metropolitan Opera Murders (Helen Traubel)
Murder on the Thirty-First Floor (Per Wahlöö)
This Little Measure (Sara Woods)