He Could Not Have Slipped!

New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1939. First American edition. Hardcover. Good in poor dust jacket. Red cloth with black lettering. Slight wear to edges of boards, though lower corners and head and heel of spine are bumped. Small dent in edge of both boards. Page edges a bit soiled. A few lower corners have small creases. Dj is heavily chipped and scuffed with a number of tears, most closed, though not all. Largest chip is a long 1/2 inch by 2.5 inch strip at top, cutting off "By the author of MUR -". Flaps are intact, and "Price $2.00" remains on first flap. Pencil notes to last flap. Binding is brick red wih black text. A scarce first American printing of this mystery novel, which is rather uncommon in any edition. It is the story of a swindle to create an asylum for European Political Exiles that ends in greed and murder. Beeding was the pseudonym of Hilary Aiden Saint George Saunders (1898-1951) writing in conjuction with his best friend John Palmer (1885-1944). Saunders later became a popular historian of World War II writing for the British Government and after the war was librarian of the House of Commons. The pair wrote over 30 novels under this name. Their best known works were "House of Dr. Edwarddes" adapted into Hitchcock's "Spellbound" and "Death Walks in Eastrepps".