About the Murder of the Circus Queen: A Thatcher Colt Detective Mystery

ABBOT (PSUED. CHARLES FULTON OURSLER), Anthony

Published by Covici-Friede, New York, 1932

About this Item

First Edition. -- Condition: Near fine, light soiling to covers, and faint spotting to upper edge of text block, in near fine dust jacket with small areas of colour touch up to corners and spine ends with corresponding strips of restoration to verso. -- Details: A rare and superb example of the fourth Thatcher Colt mystery in the dust jacket designed by Arthur Hawkins. As the circus prepares to play in Madison Garden, Colt and his trusted sidekick (and story narrator) Tony Abbott enquire about a series of accidents that have occurred amongst the troupe, including one death, letters are being received by the main stars warning them against performing on the Friday 13th opening night. 'Thatcher Colt, Commissioner of Police for New York City, a dashing figure, handsome, wealthy, cultured and well connected. The Colt books are characteristic Golden Age products, complex and clever, designed to deceive and, in doing so, to satisfy.' - Cooper & Pike. Oursler (1893-1952) was a journalist, playwright, author and editor, as well as a convert to Catholicism, who wrote several religious books among them The Greatest Story Ever Told, published in 1949 - using his given name while authoring detective fiction under the nom de plume of Anthony Abbot. (Oursler also co-wrote with his son Will the fact-based book that inspired the hit film Boys Town [1938] starring Spencer Tracy.) Oursler's/Abbot's most famous sleuth, New York Police Commissioner Thatcher Colt, is clearly modeled after Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, by way of S. S. Van Dine's Philo Vance. Interesting to note that Oursler prefaced many of his titles with 'About the . . ' to keep them near the top of alphabetized book lists. [Turner Classic Movies] The UK edition was published a year later in 1933 by Collins, London. -- References: Reilly, 'Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers' (1980), 12. Cooper & Pike, 'Detective Fiction', 14. -- Octavo (book size 20.8x14.4cm), pp. [6] vii-xi [1] 275 [1]. In publisher's yellow cloth, spine and upper board lettered in red, all edges trimmed. Dust jacket priced '$2.00' to upper corner of front flap, both flaps with publisher's decorative trim to corners, and small areas of colour touch up to corners and spine ends with corresponding strips of restoration to verso. --.

Seller Inventory # 111522

Bibliographic Details

• Title: About the Murder of the Circus Queen: A Thatcher Colt Detective Mystery
• Publisher: Covici-Friede, New York
• Publication Date: 1932
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included