ALARUM AND EXCURSION

London: UK: Jarrolds, 1947. 1st British Edition (pub. by Crime Club Doubleday in 1944). Very light wear at extremities, cheap paper is age toned and very brittle, else near fine in dust jacket clipped [price of 9/6 net still intact], chipped at head and foot of spine light wear, spoiled at rear panel, else bright jacket. Alarum and Excursion is indeed something new in crime fiction; apart from the unusual story it is one of the earliest noir novels from a woman writer of this period. Gasoline is in short supply as World War II wages on in Europe and the Far East. Ultimate victory requires a reliable source of gasoline. Nick Matheny’s oil company just might have the answer in nicoline, a cheap synthetic fuel. The Nazis would love to get their hands on it while rival oil companies fear it could destroy their industry and bankrupt their companies. On the eve of his flight to Washington with the secret formula, Matheny is attacked, suffering a severe brain injury that leaves him with partial memory loss. When he comes to in a sanitarium where his wife has committed him, he has only a vague idea of who he is and how he got there. As his memory returns in spurts, Matheny relives the events of that night and realizes that he must defy his doctor and escape from the hospital in order to catch both a killer and a saboteur and possibly help win the war. The fifth and last book by the author, it starts literally with a bang and ends with one of the most chilling lines in the history of the genre. "Many books are said to be difficult to put down before finishing; this is one. Excellent characterization...and a real smash ending as well.-- Jacques Barzun & Wendell Hertig Taylor in A Catalogue of Crime. These critics also selected this title as one of the 50 best mysteries from the first half of the 20th century. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Very Good. Book.