Rare Books
The ivory grin
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The barbarous coast
Rare Books
"Though Lew Archer was called to the exclusive beach-side Channel Club in Malibu to save the club manager from a dangerously angry husband, he soon discovered that the club swimming pool was the depository for a lot of dirty linen. The angry young husband's wife, Hester, had recently been an exhibition diver at the pool; now she was missing. Two years before, her eighteen-year-old predecessor, Gabrielle, had been found dead early one morning on the adjoining beach. Looking for Hester, Lew Archer found the mystery of Gabrielle's death constantly obtruding. He also found himself up against a number of unpleasant characters who disliked his interest in both the missing girl and the dead one. Fast, tough and exciting, this story is John Ross Macdonald at this punch-packed best; if you read mysteries as a sedative, keep away from this one"--Dust jacket.
636033
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The moving target
Rare Books
"The Sampson family made their money in the Texas oil fields and spent it on the California coast. There was still plenty of it left when Ralph Sampson disappeared. Which is why Arless was called in by Mrs. Sampson, a paralysed blonde who had bad dreams, and by Albert Graves who held Sampson's power of attorney. The trail that Arless followed took him down through the seven circles of California society. For Sampson had mixed with thieves and murderers, a cult of "sun-worshippers", a silent-movie star in the last stages of degradation and a boogie pianist who had served her time. In company like that, kidnapping could be the least of anyone's troubles, and so Arless believed until he actually found Sampson and realised who was guilty. But this was not before he had seen some plain and fancy evil, solved a series of violent crimes, and handed out some rough poetic justice"--Dust jacket.
636028
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The Ferguson affair
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"The young nurse charged with selling stolen property was to be defended by Bill Gunnarson, a lawyer who had yet to make a name for himself. Bill believed her to be innocent, despite her secretiveness and her lies. Before the case came to trail a murder was committed--a murder obviously linked with the multiple burglaries which had led to the girl's arrest. The young lawyer found himself embarked on a tough, complicated and dangerous investigation; there were to be several more murders, and some bewildering developments, before Bill Gunnarson could make sense of the Fergunson case. Very few readers will be head of Gunnarson in unravelling the story, or in penetrating the secrets of the character of the film star, Holly May, who was married to the oil magnate called Ferguson"--Half-title verso.
636036
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Find a victim
Rare Books
"'He was the ghastliest hitch-hiker who ever thumbed me,' says Archer, recalling how it all started. And by the time the man was stowed into Archer's car so much blood had been pumped out of the round hole in his chest that the body was almost lifeless. By the time he reached hospital there was no life at all. But on the way, Archer had stopped for help at Kerrigan's motel, and his reception there didn't come up to what a good Samaritan might except. Archer, who had no business in this little desert town and didn't know a single soul living--or dying--in it, had to postpone his journey to Sacramento to give evidence at the inquest. And being Archer, he didn't spend the time sitting in a hotel bedroom; though he would have been a lot more comfortable if he had, because there was precious little time for sleep once he started finding out why that body had a hole in it"--Dust jacket.
636032
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The Wycherly woman
Rare Books
"She was last seen alive at the San Francisco docks, three months before Lew Archer was hired to search for her. The search lead him first to her family and her college friends, then far afield from the respectable and moneyed world where Phoebe had been brought up, into the criminal lower depths where life is valued lightly. Ross Macdonald's new book has the texture of a good novel; the characters, ranging from an oil millionaire to an unemployed actress writing her "true-confession" autobiography, are freshly seen; and, as always, with Ross Macdonald, the narrative is fast-paced, leading up to an explosive climax"--Half-title verso.
636037
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Ivory anatomical mannequin of a pregnant woman
Rare Books
Carved ivory model of a pregnant woman with an outer belly panel and internal organs which remove to reveal a small ivory fetus. The left arm articulates from a resting position on the belly to one lying across the head of the woman to facilitate the removal of the belly panel and organ pieces. The model is 16 cm long and the head rests on an intricately carved lace pillow 3 cm long for a total length of 19 cm. It is housed in a wooden box with blue velvet lining. It has been commonly thought that the box represented a coffin and a reflection that physicians of the time could only explore the internal anatomy of a pregnant woman if she had died.
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