Dead Man's Folly -
Agatha Christie
1956 - Published for The Crime Club, London - First Edition
An exquisitely bound first edition in which Ariadne Oliver, the famous crime writer who bears a passing resemblance to Christie, sets up a murder mystery event at a local fete, and invites her old friend Hercule Poirot to the West Country.
Unsurprisingly, the party provokes a real murder. A salutary lesson in Sod's law: if you intend to host a murder mystery party, do not invite real detectives.
According to Cooper and Pike’s Detective Fiction, the grounds and boat house of the author’s home, Greenway House, in Devon, were used as some of the novel’s locations. Dame Agatha Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (1890-1976) - the first of the really distinguished women writers in the field of detective fiction.
References: Haycraft, Murder for Pleasure 129. Harpercollins, web. Wagstaff and Poole. Cooper & Pike, Detective Fiction, 82-89.
Octavo (binding size 18.6x12.3cm), pp. [4] 256 [2]. Finely bound by the Baker Bindery, Anniston, Alabama in full green morocco, with gilt titles and decoration to spine, green patterned paste-paper endpapers, generous turn-ins ruled in gilt, with gilt motifs of dagger, pistol, moustache and knitting needles tooled as the four corner-pieces, and all edges gilt. Original cloth spine and upper bound in at rear. Condition: Fine in fine binding. Ref: 112112 Price: HK$ 6,500
Unsurprisingly, the party provokes a real murder. A salutary lesson in Sod's law: if you intend to host a murder mystery party, do not invite real detectives.
According to Cooper and Pike’s Detective Fiction, the grounds and boat house of the author’s home, Greenway House, in Devon, were used as some of the novel’s locations. Dame Agatha Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (1890-1976) - the first of the really distinguished women writers in the field of detective fiction.
References: Haycraft, Murder for Pleasure 129. Harpercollins, web. Wagstaff and Poole. Cooper & Pike, Detective Fiction, 82-89.
Octavo (binding size 18.6x12.3cm), pp. [4] 256 [2]. Finely bound by the Baker Bindery, Anniston, Alabama in full green morocco, with gilt titles and decoration to spine, green patterned paste-paper endpapers, generous turn-ins ruled in gilt, with gilt motifs of dagger, pistol, moustache and knitting needles tooled as the four corner-pieces, and all edges gilt. Original cloth spine and upper bound in at rear. Condition: Fine in fine binding. Ref: 112112 Price: HK$ 6,500