This is the hardcover first edition of The Perfect Murder, a "literary experiment" in which Tony Hillerman participated. The book's editor, Jack Hitt, asked five well-known mystery authors to contribute advice for a hypothetical "perfect murder" scenario. Published in 1991 by HarperCollins, the book also contains contributions by Lawrence Block, Sarah Caudwell, Peter Lovesey, and Donald E. Westlake, in addition to Tony Hillerman.
This is a hardcover book with dust jacket and clear plastic cover; jacket design and illustration are by Jon Weiman. The front cover illustration shows a dark-haired man facing away from the observer, with head turned to the right so that a small portion of his face is visible. He is wearing a brown trilby hat and a tan trench coat with the collar turned up. The upper back of the trench coat serves as the background for the book title and editor's name, printed in red. At the bottom of the front cover, the contributors' names are printed in blue-black.
The back of the book jacket has a parchment-colored background, with one-sentence biographies of the contributors printed in black with a red heading and frame. The bar code is at the bottom right.
The front fold-out contains a description of the book and the price in the upper right corner. The back fold-out contains a brief biography of the editor.
