The Friends Of Eddie Coyle.

GEORGE V. HIGGINS

Publication: Alfred A Knopf, 1972, New York

First edition. Author's first novel. Warmly inscribed on title page: "For Donald McCaig, who proves to be as hugely entertaining at the table as he is on the printed page, With Many Thanks, George V. Higgins." Green cloth, top edge green. Fine in a bright fresh dust jacket. Eddie Coyle and his "friends"---people he can trade in for his own life and who can kill him for theirs---are hoods. If the "wise guys"---the syndicate wheels who sometimes surface in Eddie's world to give an order---are the same as executives, then henpecked, worried Eddie Coyle is the working stiff of crime. When asked to name the top ten mysteries, Elmore Leonard said, "My all-time favorite, the one book that has made a lasting impression is The Friends Of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That would be my list." In the 1973 Peter Yates movie, Robert Mitchum, portrayed the title character, a petty thief, in what many feel was his finest performance. A noir classic of contemporary crime fiction. From the library of award-winning Virginia novelist and poet Donald McCaig, with an inscription that prompted the in-office comment "...that's a lot of ink for George Higgins!"

Inventory Number: 52962