Bibliographical Description
86.01.W017: Crumley – The Wrong Case
The | Wrong | Case | A novel by | JAMES CRUMLEY | Vintage Contemporaries | VINTAGE BOOKS • A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE • NEW YORK
First Vintage Books Edition, January 1986
144 leaves, pp. [10] 1–2, 3-272 [6]
Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π2a half-title, π2b blank, π3a title, π3b imprint, π4a dedication, π4b blank, π5a epigraph, π5b blank, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-272 The Wrong Case, χ1a blank, χ1b about the author, χ2a blank, χ2b blank, χ3a blank, χ3b blank.
Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Rick Lovell; interior author photo by Lee Nye.
Copyright: ©1975. ISBN: 0-394-73558-7. Price: $5.95. The Wrong Case was first published by Random House, 1975.
Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)
Blurbs
- (front cover) An exceptionally good example of the private-eye novel. Crumley writes about damaged people seen through a haze of jaded romanticism. – Newsweek
- Milo once had a thriving divorce-case business in the small town of Meriweather, in the Pacific Northwest, but because of liberal new divorce laws has taken to drinking and staring out the window. He’s up to his third drink of the morning when an attractive young woman walks into his office and asks him to find her brother. He takes on what seems a routine missing-person case in hopes of getting to know her better, but finds himself involved in what is most definitely The Wrong Case. Everyone is a victim, one way or another, of a crime that took place long before the novel begins.
- An excellent example of new variations within an old genre. Crumley’s story is a strong one, and the revelations continue until the last page. – Texas Monthly
- A very good study in fatalism and self-destruction. – Hartford Courant
- Crumley is a vivid writer. He makes Milo much more vulnerable, more involved in this sordid case than Hammett or Chandler would have done. It is this kind of style that imprints itself on the reader’s memory. – Newsweek