The Desert Moon Mystery

by Kay Cleaver Strahan 

First edition.  Garden City, NY:  Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1928 

Hardback is overall in VERY GOOD condition, with a GOOD DJ under Mylar.

• Orange covers have title in green ink. 
• Boards show some smudges, edgewear.  Corners are bumped.  See photos. 
• Spine has green text and is faded with crushed ends.
• Binding is strong. 
• Pastedowns and feps have some bookseller marks. 
• Interior is gently age-toned.  Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks.
• Text block edges have some foxing.  
• Illustrated DJ is nicely preserved behind Mylar and is backed with archival paper.
• Close examination of DJ reveals some edgewear, chipped corners, closed tears, bumping along foot edge, some staining.  See photos. 
• PS2025.0925

314 pages. 5 x 7.5 inches

First Edition.  Publisher's orange boards with sage green title, under original dust jacket designed by Edna Reindel. Some expected aging to jacket and some signs of shelfwear, but overall a Very Good copy, unmarked.

The Desert Moon Mystery was the inaugural title from The Crime Club, Inc., an imprint of Doubleday, Doran that offered members a new mystery novel each month.  Written by Kay Cleaver Strahan (1888-1941), this novel from the Golden Age of detection has the distinction of introducing to the crime-reading public one of the earliest legitimate female private eyes in the genre, "seasoned crime analyst" Lynn MacDonald.

Jacket illustrated by Edna Reindel (1894-1990).  Reindel, born in Detroit, studied at the Pratt Institute in New York and then worked illustrating children's books and book jackets until beginning her painting career under the auspices of the WPA during the Depression.  Her work, influenced by Georgia O'Keefe, has Surrealist elements and is associated with American Regionalism.

Crime Club membership inquiry coupon integrated into the rear return of the dust jacket.

Please see photos. More photos available upon request.

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