by Martin M. Goldsmith

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., (1950).

First edition (stated).

Delightful internal black-and-white illustrations and dust jacket art

by William de la Torre.

The Oscar nominated screenwriter of quintessential film noir "Detour", and "Narrow Margin", used his financially successful screenwriting career to finance his and his wife's nomadic existence, which even had them living in a cave in Mexico at one point.

This is Goldsmith's fourth, and last novel, written to pay tribute to the common people he met in Mexico.

A satirical novel with endearing comical village folk stylized with the screenwriter's clever humorous dialogue and funny characterizations.

An American tourist enters a Mexican fishing village and proposes to establish a factory for extracting shark liver oil. The inhabitants all begin catching sharks instead of mackerel--all except the wretched, lazy, sinful hero, Domingo Gonzales, whose bad luck prevents him from catching a single shark. The prospect of a richer life changes everyone's outlook. A delightful story about a place and people the author enjoyed and was familiar with.

Goldsmith, a bit on the personally reclusive side, allowed one of his rare portrait photos to be published to the back panel of the dust jacket.

 In addition to writing major screenplays, Goldsmith also wrote for numerous television shows, including "The Twilight Zone", and "Gunsmoke."

Tight & clean, former owner's name neatly penned to the front end-paper, slight shelf-edge wear, as usual, else very good plus in textured sky-blue boards with gilt tiles to the spine; in a very good, price-clipped, lightly shelf-worn dust jacket with tiny chips from the upper spine edge and a 1 x .5 inch piece neatly cut from the upper edge of the front panel.

An elusive novel by an important writer whose films are studied and critiqued in countless film classes and cinema history forums, and are included on the Library of Congress' list of 100 American movies deserving of special preservation, alongside the likes of Citizen Kane. 

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