CIMARRON ROSE - Scarce Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by James Lee Burke - SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Burke, James Lee

ISBN 10: 0752804863 / ISBN 13: 9780752804866

Published by London, England: Orion Books Limited, 1997, 1997

About this Item

1st Printing. Signed. 278 pages. Published in 1997. The author's sixteenth novel. One of James Lee Burke's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the American Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents James Lee Burke's "Cimarron Rose". His beloved masterpiece. "A beautiful writer. His descriptions are glorious. One can almost see the ghost of Billy Bob's partner, feel the Texas thunderstorms, and see the town of Deaf Smith" (Library Journal). Firmly labeled as a "mystery writer", James Lee Burke is an American literary treasure, and more than any other living "mystery writer", his novels completely inhabit and transcend their genre at the same time. An absolute "must-have" title for James Lee Burke collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by James Lee Burke. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: The author stopped doing public signings since his arthritic condition worsened in recent years, making signed copies of his books highly collectible. Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. The American Limited Edition is priced as much as $350, as though it were the true first, which it is not. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest American novelists of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JAMES LEE BURKE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0752804863. Seller Inventory # 10167

Bibliographic Details

Title: CIMARRON ROSE - Scarce Fine Copy of The ...

Publisher: London, England: Orion Books Limited, 1997

Publication Date: 1997

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: Signed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Lucas Smothers, nineteen and from the wrong end of town, has been arrested for the rape and murder of a local girl. His lawyer Billy Bob Holland is convinced of Lucas's innocence but proving it means unearthing the truth from a seething mass of deceit and corruption. A corruption endemic in the way it can be only in a gossipy small town where everybody knows everybody else's business.

Billy Bob's relationship with Lucas's family is not an easy one - years back he was a close friend of Mrs Smothers, too close according to her husband Vernon. And when Lucas overhears gruesome tales of serial murder from a neighbouring cell in the local lock-up, the waters are muddied even further and Lucas himself looks like a candidate for an untimely death.

Review:

James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed. (Michael Connelly)

A gorgeous prose stylist. (Stephen King)

Richly deserves to be described now as one of the finest crime writers America has ever produced. (Daily Mail)

There are not many crime writers about whom one might invoke the name of Zola for comparison, but Burke is very much in that territory. His stamping ground is the Gulf coast, and one of the great strengths of his work has always been the atmospheric background of New Orleans and the bayous. His big, baggy novels are always about much more than the mechanics of the detective plot; his real subject, like the French master, is the human condition, seen in every situation of society. (Independent)

The king of Southern noir. (Daily Mirror)

His lyrical prose, his deep understanding of what makes people behave as they do, and his control of plot and pace are masterly. (Sunday Telegraph)

One of the finest American writers. (Guardian)

When it comes to literate, pungently characterised American crime writing, James Lee Burke has few peers. (Daily Express)