About this title: From an Edgar Award-winning author comes this international bestseller that was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier. The murder of a noted orchestra conductor at a local music festival pits black, big-city homicide expert Virgil Tibbs against the bigoted police department in a small Southern town, when they are ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Fair. Bookplate. Previous owner's name in ink on endpaper.; Great Value. Prompt delivery with tracking. Many satisfied customers. Satisfaction guaranteed. Enjoy! ; Mass Market PB; 8vo 8"-9" tall. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: 7th Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam, New York
Date Published: 1967
Description: Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Name on first page. Shelf and edge wear to wraps. Cover torn at spine. Chips. More of a reading copy with clean pages. read more
Edition: 5th Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam, New York
Date Published: 1967
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Movie tie-in edition. Some creasing to spine. Light shelf wear. Solid copy with clean pages. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: 8th Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper & Row, New York
Date Published: 1965
ISBN-13:9780060101954ISBN:0060101954
Description: No Illustration. Good in Good jacket. EX-LIBRARY. EXPECTED MARKINGS AND ATTACHMENTS. ILLUSTRATED DUST JACKET WRAPPED IN MYLAR. BLACK CLOTH COVER. INTERIOR PAGES STAMPED "DISCARD", HAVE SMALL TEARS AND LIGHT FINGERING TO MARGINS WITH LIBRARY STAMPS MARKED OUT. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Front cover shows light crease near top edge. Light corner curl to cover and pages. No markings to text. No creasing to spine. Tight binding. 194 p. "A Bantam book. " read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Limited, Markham, ON, Canada
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780889020290ISBN:0889020299
Description: Fair. Ex-School/Library Book Has ex-school markings---Cover is worn & has bumping, chipping, marks, creases, plastic is peeling at edges-Marks on edge-Edgewear-Bumped / dogeared pgs-Some marks on pgs-Water damage-Few pgs have tears-Tape repair at FPD-Worn but readable. read more
Description: Good. Ships from the UK. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Your purchase also supports literacy charities. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Date Published: 1993
Description: Good+ Front cover is lifting light shelf wear to corners, some dog-eared pages, writing on inside front cover, light scratches on front and back covers. read more
"I read this novel this year in my English class. Upon finding out what novel we were to be reading, I was rather disappointed. When we first began, I knew right away that this was not my type of novel, but since it was to be read in class in preperation for a test I forced myself to continue. I'm glad now, that I did.
I finished this book happily surprised by the ending. The murderer was the last person I would've expected. Also, this novel gave me a better idea of how people were treated in the States during the 60s.
John Ball has an interesting way of writing, the details used were pertinent to the story. Not like some authors, who just use details seemingly to fill up more pages."
"A classic, this is my second reading. I think of it as a metaphor for the changing attitudes of this country on race. Two characters over the course of the book come to reflect on their views and begin to change, one more so, just from working with the black Virgil Tibbs. That's all it takes, being around folks enough one starts to realize there is more similarity than difference."
"A murder occurs in a small Southern town of Wells, and the first suspect, a black man who just happens to be in the wrong place (the town of Wells) at the wrong time (after the body is found), turns out to be Virgil Tibbs, a homicide investigater from California. It's a small embarrassment for the police that's made only worse when the friends and family of the murder victim request his help to catch the killer. Virgil Tibbs is just the man Wells needs, but definitely not the man police chief Bill Gillespie wants.
It's a good book and a good mystery (and interesting enough to add the rest of the Virgil Tibbs mysteries to my reading list), but as much as I hate to admit it, this is one occasion where I liked the movie more. The mystery here is woefully placed in the background, especially as three other suspects after Tibbs lead the police and the reader off the trail, so the revelation of the real killer is sudden and extremely unexpected.
Officer Sam Wood is by far the strongest character in the novel--rightly so, considering his is the main viewpoint--but the main reason I prefer the movie more is because it brings Tibbs up front and center. Here in the novel, Tibbs is mostly a passive background character, doing much of his investigation off the page while the white cops work to solve (and bungle) the case. In a sense, he seems to act like the "Good Negro," unusually educated but mostly subserviant to Wood and Gillsprie, either politely deferring to the two men or quietly investigating on his own, careful not to disturb the white folk in their peaceful little town, only showing up to interrupt when he has to.
It may just be that Tibbs knows enough to keep his head down in an unfriendly place, but I still prefer the aggressive and hotheaded character from the films more. Tibbs seems to passively accept all the racism and abuse hurled at him in the book, whereas he resists it--famously so--in the movie.
That said, it's still a good book, and the number of changes made in the film helps the book stand on its own. Very interested in the rest of the series."
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