R.H. Shimer. Stated first edition. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1972. Both unclipped dust jacket and hardcover are in Very Good+ condition. No writing or markings found in this well-preserved copy, 225 pp. The intriguing dust jacket design is by Panos Koutrouboussis. A Harper Novel of Suspense.
This is an "Edgar Award winner, Best First Novel 1973."
R.H. Shimer (Ruth H. Shimer, 1924–2014) won the 1973 Edgar Award for Best First Novel for Squaw Point. It was her debut, and she only published a handful of novels afterward — The Scroungers (1971, actually predates it), The Correspondent (1974), and The Cricket Cage (1975) — none of which appear to have made much of a mark, which is part of why Squaw Point stands out.
Set in a remote Alaskan cannery town, Squaw Point opens with a discovery no one wanted: Preacher White, murdered with a fishing knife, found leaning against the cannery's back wall. As suspicion ripples through a small, isolated community of fishermen, traders, and a nervous Coast Guard officer, this taut debut mystery earned Shimer the Mystery Writers of America's top honor for a first novel — a rare distinction for an author who published only a handful of books afterward. A genuine piece of Edgar Award history, scarce in the collectible market.
