THE LONGEST PLEASURE - A Masters and Green Novel.

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn. NFINE/VG++. No owner inscrptn,but price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,glossy,distinctive Gollancz yellow background dw/dj,with red+black lettered front panel,red+black lettered spine/backstrip and red+black lettered publisher's advert for other assorted authors' published titles to rear panel - all with negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - one approx. 6cm (2.5") vertical closed tear to rear panel's gutter fold/crease - no other nicks tears or splits present.Top edges lightly aged/toned with minimal sporadic dust flecking,fore-edges slightly brighter and less affected with very minimal,faint foxing; contents bright,tight, and clean,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips - appears unread,other than my own collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,red cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt-lettered spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.One of author's 20+ Masters and Green detective series.
Visually the exterior appearance is more than acceptable for a book of it's age,and even internally, the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation.It is only the exterior faults described that prevent a slightly higher grading. Despite them,it really is an exceptional copy for overall brightness and cleanliness. Almost simultaneously in four widely separated parts of Britain there are outbreaks of a rare form of food poisoning called botulism.In each outbreak the source is traced to an infected tin of meat.And each tin was bought in one of the supermarkets of the same national chain.
The Home Office suppresses news of the outbreaks in order to prevent widespread panic,but it calls in Scotland Yard,and once again we meet Douglas Clark's well-known and very popular team,Chief Superintendent Masters and Chief Inspector Green.But why ther Yard? Surely it's the job of local health authorities to trace and contain an outbreak of food poisoning? Normally,yes; but the facts here are very abnormal.They indicate conclusively that someone injected the tins with bacteria. Who could have done something so diabolical? And why? While victims are dying,and officials,scientists and police are working frantically on all kinds of leads,Masters plays one of his famous and fantastic hunches - his longest shot.And it comes off.
This is the gravest case in Mater's career,the one with most lives at stake: innocent lives,being struck down at random.He and his team rise magnificently to the challenge,in an investigation that is technically absorbing and packed with suspense. Douglas Clark (1919-1993) was born in Lincolnshire. He served in the Royal Horse Artillery in the 7th Armoured Division.Later he served in Amphibious Warfare until,on leaving the army in 1962,he joined the staff of a pharmaceutical company.He wrote some 27 crime novels, between 1969-90,chronicling the criminal investigations of the team of Superintendent George Masters and Inspector Bill Green.The series having been out-of-print now for over a quarter-century,and copies are becoming more and more hard to find,at least in good condition. In the UK most of the Clark mysteries were published in hardback by Victor Gollancz,whilst in the US,most of the books were published in paperback in the 1980s,as part of Harper & Row's Perennial series of vintage mysteries. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded, after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.
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