It's that time of year again--when I head out to the Monroe County Fairgrounds and see how many books I can stuff into my rolling shopping bag and how much money I can spend on books in the name of a good cause. For the first time ever, I decided to spend an extra $10 and attend the first day of the Hoosier Hills Community Book Fair. I was curious to see how much difference it made in what I found. What I discovered was that most of the people who were lined up for first dibs at the books were NOT looking for mysteries and did not seem to interested at all in the vintage mysteries that I was looking for. That was all to the good. I did come home more books--not quite as many really good digest size (like Mapbacks) as I dreamed of, but I certainly can't complain.
Here is Thursday's haul (81 books)
Hardbacks
The Corpse in the Snowman by Nicholas Blake (Books, Inc, 1944)The Doyle Diary by Michael Baker (Paddington Press Ltd, 1978)
Crime for Christmas by Thomas Godfrey, ed (Avenel Books 1989)
Skull Mountain by Dean Hawkins (Crime Club, 1941)
The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew, tweed cover w/DJ, 1956)
The Clue of the Black Keys by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew, tweed cover w/DJ, 1951)
The Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew, tweed cover w/DJ, 1955)
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers (Grosset & Dunlap reprint, 1935ish)
Murder at the Mardi Gras by Elisabet M. Stone (Sheridan House, 1947)
Footprints by Kay Cleaver Strahan (Crime Club edition, 1929; I have been looking for this title For. Ev. Er.)
Vintage Paperbacks
The Fear Sign by Margery Allingham (MacFadden Books #50-15, 1963)
Call for the Saint by Leslie Charteris (Avon #526, 1953)
Featuring the Saint by Leslie Charteris (Avon #803, 1958)
The Saint vs. Scotland Yard by Leslie Charteris (Avon #T-199, 1957)
The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Dell #0562, 1965)
Double Sin by Agatha Christie (New Dell #2144, 1970)
The Golden Ball & Other Stories (New Dell #3272, 1972; first paperback)
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie (New Dell #5360, July 1969)
Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (New Dell #5946, 1970)
Murder in Retrospect by Agatha Christie (New Dell #6030, 1970)
An Overdose of Death by Agatha Christie (Dell #6780)
Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie (Dell #6848, 1967)
13 at Dinner by Agatha Christie (New Dell #8742, 1969)
Green Hazard by Manning Coles (Doubleday Dolphin #C293, 1961)
A Toast to Tomorrow by Manning Coles (Bantam #118, 1947)
Death of a Racehorse by John Creasey (Berkley Medallion #F757, 1963)
Hang the Little Man by John Creasey (Berkley Medallion #F-1280, 1966)
Murder Tips the Scales by John Creasey (Berkley Medallion #Y649, 1962),
The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis (Doubleday Dolphin #C318, 1962)
Bats Fly at Dusk by A. A. Fair [Gardner] (New Dell #0476, 1963)
The Navy Colt by Frank Gruber (Superior Rprint #M649, 1945)
This Is It, Michael Shayne (Dell Mapback #533, 1951)
Six Black Camels by Edwin Lanham (Pocket Books--Permabook Edition #M4280, 1963)Headed for a Hearse by Jonathan Latimer (Dell #D196, 1957)
Date with Death by Elizabeth Linington (Popular Library, 1966)
Death of a Tall Man by Frances & Richard Lockridge (Dell Mapback #322, 1949)
Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald (Dell #D194, 1957)
Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh (Berkley Medallion #F986, 1964)
Old Bones by Herman Petersen (Dell Mapback #127, 1946)
Innocent Bystander by Craig Rice (Dell Mapback #461, 1950)
The Nine Tailors By Dorothy L. Sayers (Four Square Books #157, 1959)
The Bell in the Fog by John Stephen Strange (Doubleday Dolphin #C43, 1936?)
Recent and/or Reprint Paperbacks
The Fennister Affair by Josephine BellThe Piccadilly Murder by Anthony Berkeley (Dover Edition)
The Foggy, Foggy Dew by Charity Blackstock
A House Possessed by Charity Blackstock
The Corpse in the Snowman by Nicholas Blake
Blotto, Twinks & the Bootlegger's Moll by Simon Brett
Rehearsal for Murder by P. M. Carlson
Poison in Jest by John Dickson Carr
Storm Center by Douglas Clark
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
The Bahamas Murder Case by Leslie Ford
The Black Envelope: Mr. Pinkerton Again! by David Frome
The Eel Pie Murders by David Frome
Mr. Pinkerton at the Old Angel by David Frome
Mr. Pinkerton Grows a Beard by David Frome
Mr. Pinkerton Has the Clue by David Frome
Two Against Scotland Yard by David Frome
Death Among Friends & Other Detective Stories by Cyril Hare
Death Is No Sportsman by Cyril Hare
By Hook or By Crook by Emma Lathen
Death Shall Overcome by Emma Lathen
A Place for Murder by Emma Lathen
Exercise Hoodwink by Maurice Proctor
Rogue Running by Maurice ProctorNot Me, Inspector by Helen Reilly
Death in Harley Street by John Rhode
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers (1st ed 1960s/70s Avon edition)
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers (1st ed 1960s/70s Avon edition)
The Documents in the Case by Sayers & Robert Eustace (1st ed 1960s/70s Avon edition)
Blood on the Dining-Room Floor by Gertrude Stein
The Six Iron Spiders by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus
Basil & the Pygmy Cats by Eve Titus
Basil in Mexico by Eve Titus
Bony & the Kelly Gang by Arthur W. Upfield
The Bushman Who Came Back by Arthur W. Upfield
No Footprints in the Bush by Arthur W. Upfield
The Chinese Nail Murders by Robert van Gulik
The Adventure of the Peerless Peer by John H. Watson, M. D.; ed by Philip Jose Farmer
And...I made a second trip with the hubby on Friday for 22 more! And a total of 103 so far. That's the most I've brought home to date.
Hardbacks
The Man from Nowhere by Victor Bridges (reprint w/dust jacket)The Ebony Bed Murder by Rufus Gilmore
The Amazing Web by Harry Stephen Keeler
Untidy Murder by Frances & Richard Lockridge (1st edition w/dust jacket) Find of the Week!
Vintage Paperbacks
Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (Dell #5982, 1969)
The Beauty Queen Killer by John Creasey (Berkley Medallion #F1095, 1965)
The Blind Spot by John Creasey (Berkley Medallion #F1052, 1965)
The Killing Strike by John Creasey (Berkley Medallion #Y695, 1961)
Be Shot for Sixpence by Michael Gilbert (Doubleday Dolphin #C229, 1956)
Silence Observed by Michael Innes (Berkley Medallion #F915, 1964)
Ten Days' Wonder by Ellery Queen (Pocket Book #740, fine condition, 1950)
The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart (New Dell #2138, 1st printing, 1964)Figure Away by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Pyramid #X1579, 1967)
Of All Possible Worlds by William Tenn (Ballantine Books #407K, 1960)
Recent and/or Reprint Paperbacks
Trent's Own Case by E. C. Bentley
Room for Murder by Doris Miles Disney (MacFadden Books #75-448)
The Maltese Manuscript by Joanne Dobson (refers to Hammett's works)
Tenant for the Tomb by Anthony Gilbert (Beagle Books #95173, 1971)
Puzzle in Paisley by Elizabeth Gresham
Ashes to Ashes by Emma Lathen
Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L Sayers (1st 60s/70s Avon Edition)
5 comments:
I bought around 100 books at the book sale I go to every year in September. But there are never that many vintage books, in any edition. You are so lucky. This year they did have one box of vintage paperbacks that I went through, and a few other intersperse throughout that I was fortunate to find.
TracyK: I was beginning to wonder. When I first started looking this year it seemed like it was going to be all new stuff. Then I hit a gold mine table...
Wow! Now *that's* a haul. Don't you love when there's no competition for vintage mysteries at these sales? I sure do.
You would have been in heaven at the Hyde Park book sale I went to the very same weekend over here in Chicago. The hardcover mysteries are always modern stuff so I just skip over them and go straight to the paperback boxes. I was very selective about those I bought. I saw a box filled with Carr and Carter Dickson titles and one minute later found another box with more Carr. I swear that *all* his books were at that sale. There was another box of UK paperback editions of Agatha Christie all with very cool artwork, many of them in FINE condition. I didn't buy any of them. As we were getting ready to drive away I talked about that Christie box to Joe who turned to me with an astonished look and said, "For 50 cents a piece? Go back and get them all!" But I resisted. I'm actually proud of that. HA!
WOW Bev!!!!!!!!!!!!! You really did hit a gold mine!
John, it was marvelous. The few people who headed to the mysteries were most obviously looking for modern stuff. I absolutely pounced on the Lockridge mapback (just like the cat on the cover) and would have been happy if I had found only it and the Kay Cleaver Strahan book--that I never thought I would find "in the wild" as it were. I was beginning to think I'd have to break down and search online if I ever wanted to own it.
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