James M. Cain. First edition (stated). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946. Both unclipped dust jacket, in a mylar protective wrapper, and hardcover are in Very Good+ condition. Original price $2.00 on inside flap. Dust jacket designed by Harry Roth. There is a small piece missing at the bottom of spine on the jacket. Other than former owner signature on flyleaf, no writing or markings in the book, 232 pp.
Cain's only historical novel about a love affair between a Confederate spy and a prostitute in a mining camp.A Confederate spy in the mining town of Virginia City, a prostitute, and the spy's desperate struggle to possess her - at all cost.
Cain wrote of this novel, "I have tried to put real human beings before the reader, to explain, as plausibly as I can, how a gunman got that way, what the prostitute was doing there, why the mine-owner was a bit of a heel, and so on. Also, I have tried to present the life of the times as it was, and as few people nowadays seem to realize it was."
