A Taste for Honey

London: Cassell, 1942. First Edition. Hard Cover. Dust Jacket. First UK Edition. Publisher's grey cloth stamped in black to the spine. Foxing to the page block edges which has crept into the text and end-papers in places and very slight spine fade (hardly worth mentioning) overall VG indeed. In the RARE D/W priced 7/6 net to the spine (as called for). The slightly chipped D/W has been reinforced to the verso in several places with water-based brown paper tape (not sellotape). Originally published in the USA in 1941 the US first edition published by Vanguard turns up occasionally but this, the UK first edition is almost non-existent and incredibly scarce. Horror strikes when killer bees swarm amok in the seemingly-idyllic hamlet of Ashton Clearwater in the British Countryside. Even more sinister is the discovery that the angry swarms were programmed to kill by a mad, ingenious apiarist named Heregove. One of the village's honey addicts - the hapless, reclusive, ego-centric Sydney Silchester - stumbles into Heregrove's diabolical scheme. Silchester's sweet tooth leads him to the indomitable Mr Mycroft a retired beekeeper possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of bees and a Holmesian penchant for sleuthing. This novel - the first significant book-length and cleverly-disguised Sherlock Holmes pastiche - is required reading for all Sherlockian aficionados and is one of the best. "A Taste for Honey" was a huge bestseller and much acclaimed by, inter alia, Vincent Starrett Boris Karloff and Rex Stout. The journalist & writer Christopher Morley called "A Taste for Honey" the only worthwhile Sherlock Holmes sequel, adding that it was "engaging and terrifying". The basis for the 1966 British Horror Movie "The Deadly Bees" directed by Freddie Francis and starring Suzanna Leigh, Guy Doleman and Frank Finlay. A Haycraft Queen Cornerstone. Very scarce (especially in dust wrapper) and an acclaimed cult phenomenon in mystery fiction. Photographs/scans available upon request.