RARE BOOK GUIDE - THE RUNNERS, THE RIDERS & THE ODDS

02 April 2007

Always a Thief. Jeffrey Deaver, 1988.

Jeffrey Deaver. ALWAYS A THIEF. Paperjacks, NY, 1988.

Current Selling Prices
$100-$220 /£50-£120



DETECTIVE FICTION / MYSTERY / CAPER
His second book and relatively hard to find but the kind of book you might turn up at a charity sale, thrift shop or flea market. Preceded by the supernatural thriller 'Voodoo' which is, for some reason more common and worth about a third less; second books are often harder to find than the first. Always a good idea to have some knowledge of collectable paperbacks 'cos in a lot of places paperbacks is all they've got. An art theft caper -didn't our own Jeffrey (Archer) do one of those? There is another 'Always a Thief' by Kay Hooper - a San Francisco art caper featuring Quin, a cat burglar. Not of significant value.

VALUE? Nice copy $100 + (all the cheap ones that were there when I looked in 2006 have gone) and being a paperback they are often not nice at all. Sometimes signed, I guess because punters took them to his Borders signings and the Deaver duly obliged. I have heard that occasionally this and his first book (also a pb original) turn up on ebay and can make 'ridiculous' prices. JD has sworn they will never be reprinted. Alot of writers do this, perhaps the most famous is Greene's 'Rumour at Nightfall' a book of which he was later ashamed. All copies are firsts and damned saleable. Often writers will not sign these disowned books but Deaver (by all accounts an amicable fellow and excellent cook) is an exception. [ W/Q ** ]

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