A Sure Thing in Online Bookselling: Volume 3

Here's a little online bookselling gem for those of you who don't already know.  I've come across Jonathan Kwitny's The Mullendore Murder Case at least a dozen (and probably more like two dozen) times since I started in the business around 2000.  To the best of my memory, this was just one I stumbled upon by dumb luck.  I rarely frequent the Mystery section at a booksale (where this title is mistakenly dumped quite often), but have since learned of a few other True Crime titles to keep an eye out for.  Here's one more I look for in collectible condition, and is probably the most common Modern First Edition I have enountered over my time in the great state of Kansas, where this classic takes place.  I highly recommend Capote's In Cold Blood as a weekend read as well.  I have not yet read Kwitny's account of unsolved mystery set within the oil industry and ranches of Bartlesville, OK, but those who have are quick to extoll its' merit.

This is one of those that sells in any binding (mass market paperback and trade hardcover are the two I'm familiar with), with or without a jacket, and in virtually any condition, although obviously Near Fine copies and 1st Printings will fetch a premium, and are always worth listing at 3 figures.

Expect mass market reading copies to bring no less than $25 but usually not much more than $50.

1st Printing Hardcovers have sold anywhere from $75 to $250 (for a NF/NF 1st Printing discovered on a shelf in a back room of a bookstore- which I scouted with permission of course!), but I now seldom start them out at less than $100, and they always sell, and usually fast.

I think that I may have better luck finding this one than most of you out there, considering this True Crime thriller is set only a few hours down the road.  I have seen it pop up all over the country on the various venues, so I suspect it was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in relatively large numbers.  Apparently, there has been a reprint available for around $35 on Amazon since 2000, but I have not found this to affect the price all that much over time.  I suspect that most collectors crave the distinctive jacket, which the reprint appears to lack.  Happy Hunting.