London: Faber, 1946

8vo, pp. 183. Original red boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. Small ownership signature to front free endpaper, rear hinge starting, some general light age-toning, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with general darkening and some fading to spine, and some slight chipping to head of spine.

First edition. The second of five Francis Pettigrew titles.

Cyril Hare was the pseudonym of Alfred Clark [1900-1958], a county court judge who turned to detective writing at the age of thirty-six. His novel Tragedy at Law (1942) has long been considered one of the finest detective novels set in the legal world, and has never been out of print. With a Bare Bodkin was published four years later, and draws on Clark's experience in the wartime civil service.

A poorly made book made under wartime restrictions, this is a well-preserved example.

HUBIN, p. 193