SAFEKEEPING

NY,NY.: Penzler, 1985. 1st edition, October 1985., with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in near fine dust jacket, very lightly soiled at edges, not price clipped, with protective mylar cover. "The protagonist of Safekeeping, Robbie James St. James Burnes Walter Farhall-Pladroman, is a boy-hero cut of the same cloth as any archetypal boy-hero, but no one knows who he is! No one has to read about his trip to America in their English class at school, nor do they have to hear about his being placed in the charge of Thadeus Lowry, a journalist who is like W.C. Fields with a typewriter, or his subsequent run from a mob hitman, or his hiding out in the home of a Harlem prostitiute. That's just a shame. The author's notoriety for his Fletch books and movies seem to have overshadowed this little-known gem he produced in the early '80s. There was not much in the arena of children's literature suitable for adult consumption for him to compete with in the latter half of the twentieth century, but the book was published with nary a ripple in the literary pond. Pick it up. For the love of a hero. For the love of words strung so tightly and beautifully together that they cradle a reader like the mother Robbie is left without. For your children, the same reason that compelled my mother to pick it up for me. It's not readily available here, but finding it is worth the effort, and saving it from obscurity is a noble, noble crusade." -- Amazon. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Fine. Book.