They Walk in Darkness

London: Faber and Faber. Very Good in Very Good dj. 1955. First Edition. Hardcover. [modest shelfwear, spine slightly turned, light bumping to several corners; the jacket has tiny tears and some paper loss at the spine ends, a short ragged closed tear at the bottom of the front panel, and some scattered edgewear]. European-set novel about a "good-looking, irresponsible, irresistible charmer" who "has abandoned his wife, his children, his former mistress, his friends; has forfeited any claim he ever had to their respect and their love. Yet he remains the emotional centre of all their lives. Until he comes back -- until the ghost returns to life and is exorcized for ever -- there can be no peace, no happiness for any of them." The American author, who had written one previous novel ("Four Were Possessed," 1934), was married to an Englishman and "spent most of the war in England as a representative of the United States Office of War Information." .