TOWARDS ZERO

First UK edition, first printing. Publisher's original orange cloth with black titles to the spine, in the J. Z. Atkinson illustrated dustwrapper. A better than very good copy, the binding firm with a little bumping to the extremities, the cloth with a few very light marks is otherwise bright and fresh. The contents have a previous owner's inscription to the top left corner of the front pastedown and mild toning to the page edges (due to the wartime economy paperstock). Complete with the lightly rubbed and nicked, price-clipped dustwrapper that is a little dust marked and has the bottom corner torn from the rear flap. Still an attractive example.

The final appearance of Superintendent Battle who had previously turned up in The Secret of Chimneys (1925), The Seven Dials Mystery (1929), Cards on the Table (1936) and Murder is Easy (1939). Published in America by Dodd, Mead and Company a month earlier. (Hubin; Wagstaff & Poole; Curran, John: The Hooded Gunman).