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Friday, October 6, 2017

Hoosier Hills Book Fair

It's that time again...time to feed my book-buying habit in a big way with my yearly visit to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank Community Book Fair. Last year I attended the paid entry first day just to see if it made a difference in what I came home with. It sure seemed to--I brought home a record-breaking 103 books and a LOT of vintage mysteries. So, this year I decided to do the paid entry thing again just to see if results remained consistent. Not so much. I came home with just a little over half my haul of last year--55 books (one is destined to go to my mom) and among them is one duplicate because past Bev forgot to cross off a first edition (new Avon) Lord Peter Wimsey novel. Ah well, it doesn't seem to have been a very good year for vintage mysteries in general around here. For the first time ever, I came away from the Friends of the Library clearance sale without buying a single book. Not one (Brad thought I was sick). There just wasn't anything in my area.

 Here's what this year's treasure hunt found:

The Stately Home Murder by Catherine Aird (as a stand-in for the copy that I can't find in my stash of books)
Tether's End by Margery Allingham (MacFadden Books)
Give the Little Corpse a Great Big Hand by George Bagby 
The Mouls House Mystery by Charles Barry
The Alfred Hitchcock Murder Case by George Baxt
The Cream of Crime: More Tales from Boucher's Choicest by Jeanne F. Bernkopf (ed)
Blue Octavo by John Blackburn
Earthman, Come Home by James Blish (Avon #T-225)
Red Snow at Darjeeling by Lawrence G. Blochman (Saint Mystery Library #125)
Cat and Mouse by Christianna Brand (Avon #385)
The Soundless Scream by Michael Butterworth
Take Only as Directed by James Byrom 
The Saint Closes the Case by Leslie Charteris (TV tie-in) 
No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase
The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. Chesteron (Delta Books; UK)
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie (Dell #5860)
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (Pan Books) 
Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie (Dell #6848)
Table D'Hote by Douglas Clark
Help from the Baron by John Creasey 
The Crisscross Shadow by Franklin W. Dixon
Rebecca's Pride by Donald McNutt Douglass 
The Medical Center Murders by Lisa Drake with Otto Penzler 
Poppy Ott & the Stuttering Parrot by Leo Edwards
Murder on Wall Street by John B. Ethan
Murder at the Nook by A. Fielding  (Alfred Knopf hardback, 1930 edition)
The Safety Pin by J. S. Fletcher
A Murderous Journey by Kenneth Giles
Puzzle in Parchment by Elizabeth Greshem (academic mystery)
Cleek The Master Detective by T. P. Hanshew
2.L.O by Walther S. Masterman
An Ad for Murder by John Penn
The Chronicles of Quincy Adams Sawyer Detective by Charles Felton Pidgin & J. M. Taylor
The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart (Dell #3127)
The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart (hardback w/illustrations by Howard Chandler Christy)
Ripley's Believe It or Not! by Robert Ripley (Pocket Books #96; 2nd printing)
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers (New English Library; UK press)
Unnatural Death by Dorothy L.Sayers (Avon, 1st printing) 
The Mystery of Swordfish Reef by Arthur Upfield (Pan Books)
Judge Dee at Work by Robert van Gulik
The Willow Pattern by Robert van Gulik
The Feathered Serpent by Edgar Wallace
Dead Man Manor by Valentine Williams
The Fox Prowls by Valentine Williams
The Mystery of the Gold Box by Valentine Williams
The Portcullis Room by Valentine Williams
Behind the Green Door by Mildred A. Wirt 
The Clock Strikes Thirteen by Mildred A. Wirt
Danger at the Drawbridge by Mildred A. Wirt
Saboteurs on the River by Mildred A. Wirt
Tale of the Witch Doll by Mildred A. Wirt

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5 comments:

  1. Peggy AnnOctober 6, 2017 at 7:28 PM

    Al I can say is I’m moving to Indiana! You have the best book sales for vintage books ever!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JacquieOctober 6, 2017 at 7:52 PM

    I've wondered for a long time where you find your vintage mysteries, Bev. Seeing your purchases is so fun, thanks for sharing. We used to have a huge week long tent sale every spring in Skokie, a Chicago suburb, that benefitted Brandeis University, but finally the multitude of volunteers who ran it got too elderly and it was discontinued. I literally cried. Over the many years, I collected all my Carrs and Christies there (I'm only missing Murder on the Links) and I treasure them. Now that I'm retired I have time to read them at last. But the well has dried up for used vintage and I so miss the fun of scanning table after table, knowing there were more boxes under the tables.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JacquieOctober 6, 2017 at 8:05 PM

    Wow! Just noticed Man in Lower Ten with illustrations by Howard Chandler Christie. What a find! I'm a huge Golden Age of Illustration fan, too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. KateOctober 7, 2017 at 5:54 AM

    Wow that is still an impressive haul. Wish we got vintage sales like that in the UK. Definitely got yourself some good finds there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bev HankinsOctober 8, 2017 at 8:47 PM

    Yes, I am quite lucky with the book fair. We thought we were going to lose it when the Red Cross pulled their local offices here in Bloomington. It used to be the Red Cross Book Sale. There was a general outcry when the news hit the papers--sortof like Obi Wan Kenobi sensing a great disturbance in the bookish force...as if hundreds of voices cried out "Don't take our book fair away!"

    There is nothing like scanning the tables for treasures.

    ReplyDelete

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