SOLOMON'S VINEYARD. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., [1941]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1] 2-218, publisher's light blue cloth stamped in black. First edition. Hard-boiled mystery novel republished later as THE FIFTH GRAVE, a 1950 American paperback with drastically expurgated text. "SOLOMON'S VINEYARD is a genuine hard-boiled classic ... It has everything! A private eye; a shoot-out at a roadhouse; necrophilia; a shoot-out in a steam bath; mobsters; a crooked police chief; a bizarre religious cult; a knife fight in a whorehouse; kidnapping; a mystery woman with a taste for kinky sex; human sacrifice; crypt-robbing -- you name it, detective Karl Craven has to deal with it ... For this book ... [Latimer] indulges in his taste for Grand Guignol with evident relish. SOLOMON'S VINEYARD is clearly Latimer's homage to the classic hard-boiled detective story ... As such it is a brilliant success ..." (Art Scott). Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, pp. 465-466. Owner's inked signature at top edge of front free endpaper. A very good copy in nearly fine dust jacket priced 7/6 on the front flap. From the library of a well-known mystery writer with his library stamp on the front paste-down. Rare in dust jacket. (#176551).
Price: $7,500.00
"First published in Great Britain in 1941" on copyright page.