Illustration by Alexandru Savescu from The Folio Society edition of Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham © Alexandru Savescu 2018PIC
Is it only me who finds some books more than just books. Some are a thing of beauty, something to treasure, even to salivate over. But no dribbling please. Seriously the Folio Society produce just such treasures and have added a few more classic crime thrillers to their portfolio: Hide My Eyes, Goldfinger and Strangers On A Train each with brilliant illustrations for those who love to add high class and beautiful publications to their library.
Margery Allingham’s Hide My Eyes. Illustrated by Alexandru Avescu
Illustration by Alexandru Savescu from The Folio Society edition of Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham © Alexandru Savescu 2018PIC
Allingham is one of Frost Magazine’s all time favourites and she found a new audience on the TV with Albert Campion, played by Peter Davison, (formerly the chaotic Tristan Farnun in All Creatures Great and Small) going about the business of solving crime.
In this particular novel, more a psychological crime, in which a grisly spectre of murder and greed hangs unseen over the tiny corner of London known as Garden Green. Brought in to investigate a number of apparently unconnected disappearances, Albert Campion finds himself faced with a series of ever more disparate clues: a country bus with a pair of unusual passengers parked outside a London theatre; a lizard-skin lettercase; a left-handed glove. Over the course of a single day, he must race to stop a singularly ruthless killer whose own complex web of deceit threatens to destroy those closest to him.
As with her all her crime novels, the plot is tight, complex and the tension is like walking along a high wire in the wind. Her characters are sharply observed, there is a unique psychological depth, and all is played out against a background of London in all its murky glory.
Hide My Eyes features illustrations by Romanian artist Alexandru Savescu. Longlisted twice in The Folio Society’s annual Book Illustration Competition, Savescu has provided a series of moody images that expertly capture the novel’s sense of creeping dread.
Hide my Eyes by Margery Allingham. Illustrated by Alexandru Savescu
Available exclusively from The Folio Society – www.foliosociety.com
Bound in Elephanthide paper printed and blocked with a design by the artist. Set in Utopia with Victoria display. 224 pages. 6 full-page colour illustrations. 9˝ x 5 ¾˝.
UK £29.95 | US $44.95 | Can $59.95 | Aus $59.95
Strangers on a Train By Patricia Highsmith Illustrated by Geoff Grandfield
Illustration by Geoff Grandfield from The Folio Society edition of Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith © Geoff Grandfield 2018
Patricia Highsmith, author of the highly popular Ripley novels, is among the twentieth century’s greatest thriller writers. Her first venture into noir, Strangers on a Train, was published in 1950 and adapted into a major film by Alfred Hitchcock the following year. Taut, sinister and shocking, it still represents the benchmark for its genre.
The Folio Society edition features seven atmospheric full-page colour illustrations by Geoff Grandfield, and is a wonderful addition to any personal crime fiction library, as well as being a perfect gift for all mystery lovers.
Strangers on a Train is both a classic crime novel and a supreme psychological thriller. Ordinary people and the extraordinary depths to which they are capable of sinking define this dark world. Highsmith’s blending of the events and concerns of everyday life with the nightmarish thoughts and actions of her deranged protagonist is what make this book so remarkable.
Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno are passengers on the same train. High-flying architect Guy is divorcing his unfaithful wife, and is manipulated by the psychopathic Bruno into swapping murders. ‘Some people are better off dead,’ Bruno remarks, ‘like your wife and my father, for instance.’ The chilling sequence of events which ensues demonstrates how, if the conditions are right, anybody is capable of murder
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Illustrated by Geoff Grandfield
Available exclusively from The Folio Society – www.foliosociety.com
UK £34.95 | US $51.95 | Can $69.95 | Aus $69.95
Bound in blocked cloth. Set in Sabon with Adrianna Extended display. 280 pages. 7 full-page colour illustrations. 9˝x 6¼˝.
Goldfinger By Ian Fleming Illustrated by Fay Dalton
Illustration by Fay Dalton from The Folio Society edition of Goldfinger by Ian Fleming © Fay Dalton 2018
Filled with characters, incidents and images which have made the Bond series iconic, Goldfinger reveals Fleming at the height of his powers. Opening with 007 enjoying what he believes is a simple game of cat and mouse, Fleming gradually heightens the tension until the reader, along with Bond, realises that the agent has fatally underestimated Auric Goldfinger – the strange, gold-obsessed millionaire. Terrorized by the implacable, cat-eating Oddjob, the agent scrambles to foil the plans of the horrifying Goldfinger, aided in part by Pussy Galore, the tough and canny leader of a team of female burglars.
Fay Dalton continues her acclaimed work for the fifth title in The Folio Society’s Ian Fleming series, producing seven exquisite colour illustrations that ooze with the glamour and dynamism of Bond. For the special illustrated slipcase, Dalton has recreated the infamous death of Jill Masterton, enshrined in shimmering gold.
In this book Fleming reveals a more contemplative side to his secret agent – Bond is a man who thrives on danger, yet in his quieter moments is troubled by the bystanders who bear the brunt of violence. While his adventures are often gloriously fantastical and populated with grotesque villains, Fleming maintains a steely reality through the relentless efficiency of his protagonist. For fans familiar only with the films, Goldfinger’s Bond will be a welcome revelation: deadly and unflappable, he is also a character of many layers.
Goldfinger By Ian Fleming Illustrated by Fay Dalton
Available exclusively from The Folio Society – www.foliosociety.com
UK £34.95 US $62.95 | Can $69.95 | Aus $69.95
Bound in blocked cloth. Set in Miller Text. 288 pages. 7 full-page colour illustrations. Blocked pictorial slipcase. 9˝ x 6¼˝.