THIS WAY OUT: An Inspector Quantrill Mystery

N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. 1st American edition, so stated with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. "... set in rural England, a decent, frustrated man meets a dynamic stranger who embodies the explosive force of his pent-up rage. Derek Cartwright and Hugh Packer share a similar dilemma: both are saddled with elderly in-laws whose presence seems to be ruining their lives. Sadistic bully Packer wants his father-in-law out of the way so he can acquire the old man's fortune. Cartwright, on the other hand, convinces himself that his motive is altruistic: he wants to free his wife from the burden of caring for her mother, a task she assumed in expiation for her guilty sense of relief when the couple's handicapped daughter died. Packer quickly realizes the possibilities and involves Cartwright--against his will--in a murderous plot in which each will kill the other's resident in-law. When Inspector Douglas Quantrill ( Fate Worse Than Death ) enters the case, his canny knowledge of human nature escalates the tension. Radley illuminates the ease with which an almost innocent slip can be a fateful step that inexorably slides into hell." -- PW . First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Book.