By Ann Rule. Rule's 1983 novel, blurbed by James Dickey and Thomas Thompson, among others, in a hardcover first -- with a personal pre-publication note to her "dear and loyal friends" Linda and Otto, signed by the author.
The jacket of the hardcover is not in great shape, as you'll also see in the pics -- a number of notches and tears, toning, and some sticker ghosts. The spine has a very slight bend as well. But the jacket did its job; the boards are fine, and the pages have some mild toning of the flyleaves but are otherwise clean, with only a tiny dog-ear on page 114. I haven't had the sig authenticated formally but based on other exemplars this is indeed Rule's John Hancock. A nice little story before the "real" story, fairly rare and a wonderful find for a collector.