------------------------------------------------- What is the
most satisfying hard-boiled bargain you have found? Doesn't
have to be first-hand but it should be something you were
looking for and would probably have paid more for.
-------------------------------------------------
About a month ago I was checking the local Goodwill --
generally the best used book store in my area -- and saw
something that made my little heart go pitter pat. Apparantly
someone had just cleaned out the attic, because there on the
shelves were hundreds of 50's paperbacks in near mint
condition: Gold Medal, Dell, Bantam, etc. All of them
hardboiled. I'm talking things like a complete, perfect set
of the Chet Drum series, all of my missing Shell Scotts, the
complete Ben Gates series by Robert Kyle (only five books,
but they're great, and in perfect unread condition), Robert
Colby, Neil McNeil (W.T.Ballard), Richard Marsten (Ed
McBain), and on and on, including some really obscure stuff
like THE MAN OF COLD RAGES by Jordan Park (C. M. Kornbluth,
considered by many to be his best novel; been seraching for
that one for years), and a paperback of MOSTLY MURDER by
Fredric Brown (try and find that one). Well, I filled up a
couple of boxes, leaving behind the Kanes (Frank and H! enry)
and a ton of Michael Shaynes, and brought them up to the
counter. The lady looked at them and said, "These are so old
I don't feel right about charging you full price for them." I
smiled demurely. Adding it all up -- I'd taken around 150
books -- the average cost per book was around 21 cents. Now
that's what I all a good day at the Goodwill.
BobT
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