Dent, Lester. DEAD AT THE TAKE-OFF. Garden City: Published For The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1946. Octavo, cloth. First edition. The first hardcover mystery by the prolific writer of most of the Doc Savage pulp stories under the pseudonym Kenneth Robeson. "Dent's later mystery novels are both extensions of his BLACK MASK work and reactions against the kind of fiction he has previously written, and they represent the byproducts of the more sophisticated writing he was applying to Doc Savage. These are novels of intrigue and psychological interaction in which realistic characters and emotions dominate." - St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, pp. 293-95. Touch of staining to lower edge of boards at spine panel, else a fine copy in very good dust jacket with light chipping to corners and spine ends and small closed tear and crease at lower edge of front panel. Still a nice, bright example of the jacket. (#84515)