Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

Anatomy of a Murder

by Robert Traver

Faber and Faber, 1958, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some tears, chips, age toning, creasing and small tears to edges corners and covers (see photographs)

“Late one night attractive Laura Manion rang the lawyer Paul Biegler to tell him that her husband had been jailed for suspected murder; and said that he man he had shot, Barney Quill, had criminally assaulted her.  She begged Biegler to undertake her husband’s defence.  Despite distrust of Laura herself and dislike of her husband – the cool egotistical Frederick Manion – he agrees to take on the case.  As the days go by and the plan of defence is explored and assembled in Biegler’s mind tension mounts almost unbearably.  One by one the lesser characters become ‘enmeshed, frequently to their surprise and occasionally to their horror’ in Biegler’s anatomy of murder – and he himself loses his heart to the enigmatic Mary Pilant before he can determine her role in the dead man’s life.”
Jacket drawing by Charles Mozley