Manhattan Night

New York: Minton, Balch & Company. Very Good+. 1930. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a good solid copy, slight wear to extremities, large and attractive custom bookplate (Alex and Lois Webster) on front pastedown]. Mystery novel, of sorts, centered around New York's nightlife; one critic at the time noted that "although there is a murder in it, [it] rather is a story of too much luxury and a taut marriage than a 'who done it' book." Another contemporary review summarized the plot: "Martha and Tack Thayer, around whom the story develops, are supposed to be a fairly typical young New York couple with expensive tastes and a strong attraction for night life. Martha becomes infatuated with an attractive gigolo and Tack becomes a victim of blackmail. There is much of recent New York murders to be seen in some of the developments of the story. It is claimed to be an accurate account, though unflattering picture of a section of New York life, but in any case it bears the stamp of reality and that in itself is a worth-while accomplishment." The author, a one-time city editor of the New York Tribune, had scored a success with his previous book, a novelization of the hit play "The Trial of Mary Dugan," but unfortunately was only able to produce a handful of additional novels before his untimately death in 1933, at the age of 47. .