THE DEADLY DECISIONS

New York: Harcourt Brace & World, Inc., 1964. Hardcover. Very Good/Poor. MacInnes was a very popular, mid-20th century author of romantic spy-thrillers. A librarian, married to British professor, who was also employed by Britain's MI6, MacInnes' novels, though romantic, were noted for their realistic descriptions of Cold War espionage. "The Deadly Decisions" combines two 1960s novels -- "Decision At Delphi" (1960) and "The Venetian Affair" (1963) -- under one cover, an apparent book club offering sometime in the 1960s. Both novels feature innocent travelers to Europe -- one an architect on a magazine assignment, the other a vacationing journalist -- who become accidentally involved in espionage operations. About 5 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches, 728 pages in black paper-covered boards with pink lettering on spine. The dustjacket's front panel design shows white and pink lettering against a background that resembles a wrinkled and torn document. Boards are minimally worn along edges, at corners and spine ends with a single, pen point-sized dent on spine. Pink-dyed top edge shows a scattering of tiny, light-colored spots, and front-end page contains previous owner's neat signature in ink in corner. O/w boards and text are complete, clean and unmarked with hinges intact and binding firm and square. The dustjacket is considerably worn and damaged though now in Brodart protector. Most of the dj's spine is gone and there are large chips missing on both front and back panels. The dj is included because the damage has missed most of the graphic design and printed material. Even so, this is a reading/study copy. [Due to its size and weight, priority/express orders or orders from outside the U.S., will require additional postage.]