Squeeze Play by Paul Benjamin (pseudonym of Paul Auster). New York. 1982. Alpha/Omega Books. 0938764047. 220 pages. paperback. Cover design by John Levee.

FROM THE PUBLISHER -

In the tradition of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Paul Benjamin's first novel, Squeeze Play, is a marvelously written story of intrigue, deception, and murder. Private investigator, Max Klein, tunnels through the New York world of sport, politics and academia on the trail of one of the most devilish mysteries in recent fiction. A stunning debut by a writer of immense talent. Paul Benjamin was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1947. After graduating from Columbia University, he has worked variously as a merchant seaman, an interpreter, a ghost writer, and an insurance investigator. He is married, the father of one son, and lives in New York. The true first edition of this pseudonymous novel and an exceptionally uncommon book.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY - Paul Auster was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1947 and received B.A. and M.A. degrees from Columbia University. He is the author of four books of poetry and one previous book of prose. His essays have appeared in numerous magazines. including The New York Review of Books, Parnassus, and Harper's, and his translations of French poetry have been published widely, both here and in England. Auster has been the recipient of a Creative Artists Public Service (CAPS) Grant for poetry, a Columbia-PEN translation award, and a literary fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in New York City and is the editor of The Random House Book of 20th-Century French Poetry.