The Case of the Plastic Man

London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. 1940. First Edition. Hardcover. [a good sound copy, spine slightly turned, some soiling to top of the text block; the jacket is moderately edgeworn, lightly soiled on the rear panel, with tiny bits of paper loss at a couple of corners, a couple of small internal tape-repairs, a couple of tiny scuff marks on the front panel]. Mystery novel in which Detective-Inspector Cross and his assistant Sgt. Johnny Lamb, of the (London) Metropolitan Police, in the last of their five adventures, "pool their mental resources on a new case -- the disappearance of a famous Professor of Anthropology. Fragments of his body moulded in synthetic resin were discovered; and his brother was found asphyxiated under circumstances almost as mysterious and odd." The prolific author, who wrote under a number of other pseudonyms, was a one-time secretary to Edgar Wallace and a co-founder of the Crime Writers Association. All his "Donavan" books are quite scarce; this one was published a year later in the U.S. as "The Case of the Plastic Mask." .