Lee Child - Anthony Award-Winning Mystery Author

One of the earliest books I collected was written by Lee Child. I found his first book ... actually several of his first books, titled Killing Floor at a Barnes and Nobles in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The book has a white cover that is easily smudged. (After buying them, I immediately put Gaylord dust jacket protectors on them.)

I found three nearly perfect copies out of a stack of seven or eight copies. These were being remaindered and discounted. This means that the publisher had overestimated demand for the book.

I believe that the first printing was about 50,000 copies. Mr. Child won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 1998. I knew that but apparently many others did not.

The books had no remainder marks as is usual for discounted books such as these - they cost only $5 each. Due to the large printing the price of the book was $40-50 for many years.

But Mr. Child continued writing and his books and protagonist, Jack Reacher, have became very popular. I noticed he was on the NY Times Best-sellers list for Bad Luck and Trouble in early 2007.

I was fortunate to meet Mr. Child at the 2002 BoucherCon and got him to sign my three books. They are now worth $125. Jim recently sold one of his copies for this much.

Here's a list of his twelve books: