Frances Fyfield — A Clear Conscience

London, Bantam Press, 1994. First edition. Cloth. A smart first edition of Frances Fyfield's fifth crime novel in her Helen West series. Neatly signed by the author to the title page, dated 30th September 1995. Featuring the original illustrated dustwrapper, by Jonathan Ring. Gary J. McCallum noted in the Armchair Detective (1995, 3:28), "The defining feature of Fyfield's novels is their astonishing generosity of spirit, which may seem somewhat incongruous given her subject matter: insanity, incest, violence (often murder), emptiness, suicide -- all at the darkest extreme of human experience. Yet each of her characters is accorded a distinctive voice, that humanizes even the most unregenerate of them." In original publishers' cloth binding with original unclipped dustwrapper. Externally, cloth is smart. Dustwrapper is bright and sound, with only some light marks to the rear wrap. Internally, firmly bound, bright and clean throughout. Author's signature to the title page. Fine . Ill.: Jonathan Ring. Fine/Near Fine.