He Who Hesitates (To Murder) Is Lost

THE BLUNDERER

By Patricia Highsmith

(1954)

First edition of Highsmith's pleasantly sadistic exploration of the many ways incompetence, more than immorality, can be a man's undoing — only the second novel published under her own name.

Very good plus in very good minus jacket.

Price: $750.00

THE BLUNDERER

"There would be no one who would speak to him. The earth would become like the moon, and he as lonely as if he were the only man on it."

Like Highsmith's previous novel, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, THE BLUNDERER examines two men's efforts to disguise and displace their own guilt; unlike its predecessor, THE BLUNDERER presents the total collapse of a life in which factual guilt is largely irrelevant and technical innocence is no advantage. The novel was the basis for two film adaptations, 1963's LE MEURTRIER and 2016's A KIND OF MURDER, both unable to fully capture the bleak comedy of the title character's inept and inevitable slide into ruin. Uncommon.

The Object

First printing. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc, (1954). 8'' x 5.25''. Original black cloth with red lettering. In original unclipped ($3.00) dust jacket designed by Rus Anderson. 277, [1] pages. Light edgewear to boards, slight spine lean. Jacket with moderate chipping and creasing, light sunning to spine.

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