Pit Bull

New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. 1967. First Edition. Hardcover. [moderate wear to cloth at base of spine, very slight surface deterioration to covers, bookplate on front pastedown; jacket shows a bit of wear at edges and extremities, short closed tear at top of front panel, tiny chip at top front hinge and a one-inch tear along top rear hinge, with some associated wrinkling at the top of the spine, slight fading/color shift to title lettering on spine]. Novel set in the organized (and now thankfully illegal) dogfighting racket, "a rugged world of sportsmen, trainers, and dangerously greedy adventurers." The plot concerns a fellow who becomes "an apprentice to one of the fabled breeders of the Pit Bull," and finds himself being set up as a fall guy in a dognapping/fight-rigging scheme. The author is depicted in the rear-jacket photo holding his own pit bull (I'm assuming) on a leash, and the front jacket design is a stylized adaptation of that photo. Geller's first novel, "She Let Him Continue," was the basis for the 1968 film PRETTY POISON, and he subsequently did a bit of screenwriting, most notably for the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five." .