The Thirteenth Guest. Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Co., (1929).
First Edition. Extremely scarce second (and last) mystery by the author Scarface (his other 1929 novel, depicting the rise of gangster Al Capone, which was adapted into the 1932 film Scarface directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes). The Thirteenth guest served as the basis for a 1932 American Pre-Code mystery comedy thriller film, also known as Lady Beware in the United Kingdom. The novel was again brought to the silver in screen in 1943 as Mystery of the 13th Guest. Marie Morgan has been lured to an old abandoned house by a false note from a friend, and is in jeopardy although she doesn't yet realize it. As she sits at the table inside, she thinks back to the banquet held there 13 years earlier, when she was a little girl. Only 12 of 13 guests had attended, and the manor's owner, the Morgan family patriarch, who was then dying, has since passed on. The chance to claim the bulk of the estate fortune has resulted in an ongoing campaign of murder by someone targeting the original 12 guests, whose dead bodies are being left at the table in the same seats they had occupied originally. Near Fine in Very Good dustjacket, few shallow edge chips and closed tears, modest wear.
Price: $2,250.00