Seven Dead - J. Jefferson Farjeon 1939 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First American Edition A rare example of what many consider to be Farjeon’s best work (the other being ‘Mystery in White’), in the fine bright sharp dust jacket. Featuring Detective Inspector Kendall.

Assumed first American edition, published the same year as the Collins edition of London, in a number of cases the Bobbs-Merrill edition was published earlier, and without further investigation we cannot prioritise which came first in this case. Both editions are rarely encountered in their dust jackets.

‘Ted Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies.

Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate’ –
British Library Crime Classics.
  Provenance: Donald C. Jacobson with his bookplate and signature.

Joseph Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) was a British author of more than eighty novels, mostly crime and mystery, he was one of the first to mix romance with crime, however despite this he did not shy away from the sinister side. In addition to his novels, Farjeon also wrote a number of plays, including Number Seventeen which was adapted for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock.

First edition stated on the copyright page which gives date of ‘1939’ and no later printings noted.

Octavo (19.7x13.8cm), pp. 321 [1]. In publisher’s scarlet cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge tinted red others untrimmed. Dust jacket priced ‘$2.00’ to lower corner of front flap.
  Condition: Near fine, some rubbing to gilt titles on spine, in fine dust jacket with the exception of a very thin vertical crease.   Ref: 110570   Price: HK$ 3,800