The Feathered Serpent

London: Hodder and Stoughton [circa 1932 (dated from owner inscription)]. (Hardcover) 312pp. Very good in very good dust jacket. Publisher's device on title page and 38 titles listed on back of half-title page. The top edge is lightly spotted, there are two one-inch chips to the dust jacket, and there is a previous owner's inscription on the front endpapers. "What annoyed Peter Dewin most, as it would have annoyed any properly constituted reporter, was what he called the mystery-novel element in the Lane case. A real good crime story may gain in value from a touch of the bizarre, but all good newspaper men stop and shiver at the mention of murder gangs and secret societies, because such things do not belong to honest reporting, but are the inventions of writers of best or worst sellers" - from Chapter 1. Dedicated to Daphne Du Maurier. (Mystery, Mystery).