Death in Four Letters

1st edition, 1st impression (true first). Olive green cloth-covered boards, with bold title lettering to spine and publisher’s motif on front panel. 12mo.  A little rubbed & faded, rounded at corners & light fraying at head and heel of spine. Tight, clean and square. Previous owner’s name on front free end paper. There’s a tiny ink dot on the leading text block edge, not affecting pages. Francis Beeding was the non-de-plume of John Leslie Palmer and Hilary Saunders (one time librarian of the House of Commons) who wrote several spy thrillers together between the 1920s and 1940s, notably creating the recurring character Colonel Alistair Granby. This is one of their rarer forays into the emerging genre of crime fiction but still has the flavour of a thriller.