A NORTH QUARTET

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. First Edition Thus. . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. An omnibus edition of four late Lockridge mysteries featuring the husband-and-wife writing team's best-known protagonists, society sleuths, Jerry & Pamela North, who were also the featured characters in movies and a tv series. In "The Long Skeleton" (1958) the Norths find a writer's corpse in their hotel room and learn dead men do tell tales; "Murder Is Suggested" (1959) has the detective duo wrestling with the death of a psychologist who may have died in a hypnotic experiment; "Murder Has Its Points" (1961) features a dramatic fight between two authors at a large party and, "Murder By The Book" (1963), the final North novel, finds the Norths on a Florida vacation until Pam goes fishing and discovers a dead doctor at the end of the dock. Book Club edition, first edition thus. About 6 x 8 1/2 inches, 600 pages in black back strip over yellow paper-covered boards with yellow lettering on spine. Top of spine lightly foxed, o/w boards and text are complete, clean and unmarked, without significant wear or flaws. The dustjacket is basic black with yellow and red lettering on front panel and spine. Aside from a tiny chip missing from the top edge of the back panel, the dj shows only very moderate surface and edge wear, no tears, creases or other damage. A very decent copy of this increasingly scarce collection of mysteries. [Due to the book's size and weight, we cannot accept priority/express orders or orders from outside the U.S. without added postage.]