Playback

1st edition, 1st impression (true first). UK edition precedes the US publication. 206pp. Red cloth covered boards (rounded at corners and spine ends, a little grubby around base of spine). Internally a little toned, previous owner’s inscription on front free endpaper. In its original dust jacket (rubbed, chipped and lightly chapped at edges, minor loss at spine base, shelf worn). DJ now protected in mylar wrapper to protect and prolong its life. Final instalment in the Philip Marlowe canon, in which Marlowe is hired to tail a redhead arriving on a train. Without really knowing why or who he is working for, Marlow follows the woman to San Diego.

Modern Fiction Firsts, detective fiction