THE INVISIBLE BOARDER

New York: Random House, 1974. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. Davis' writing career began in 1948 when her "The Room Upstairs" won an Edgar Award for best first novel. She published regularly in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s until 1977 when she published "Scorpion," and appeared to have stopped writing altogether. Almost three decades went by before Davis, in collaboration with her daughter, Katherine Roome, re-worked a previously unpublished manuscript and, with "The Avenging of Nevah Wright," in 2006, began a 21st century mystery-suspense series set in Maine. "The Invisible Boarder" issued in 1974, features a young woman, Norma Boyd, who returns to Freetown four years after the murder of her small son, intent on finding the boy's killer only to become the target of a series of frightening incidents in the rooming house where she is living. About 5 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches, 214 pages in blue paper-covered boards and black backstrip with silver lettering on spine. Pictorial dustjacket's front panel by Paul Gamarello in red, black & yellow with white lettering. Back panel shows b & w photo of Davis and notes she has four daughters. Boards show a touch of edge wear, text edges are slightly soiled with small stain in bottom margin of first dozen pages, o/w boards and text are complete, clean and unmarked. No tears, no creasing, no dogears. Not ex-library or remaindered. Dustjacket shows some moderate surface wear though no tears or creasing. It appears dj's top edge may have been trimmed about 1/8th inch, something sometimes done to eliminate a ragged edge. All in all, a decent reading copy or place holder.