Best of
Mystery

1934

Cain's Jawbone


E. Powys Mathers - 1934
    One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations... but only one is correct. Can you solve Torquemada's murder mystery? In 1934, the Observer's cryptic crossword compiler, Edward Powys Mathers (aka Torquemada), released a novel that was simultaneously a murder mystery and the most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle ever written. The pages have been printed in an entirely haphazard order, but it is possible - through logic and intelligent reading - to sort the pages into the only correct order, revealing six murder victims and their respective murderers. Only two puzzlers have ever solved the mystery of Cain's Jawbone: do you have what it takes to join their ranks? Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted.NB This is a new edition of the last 100-page puzzle in Torquemada's 1934 "The Torquemada Puzzle Book". It is a limited edition boxed set in which the pages are printed on cards to facilitate solving.

Fer-de-Lance


Rex Stout - 1934
    When someone makes a present of one to Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin knows he's getting dreadfully close to solving the devilishly clever murders of an immigrant and a college president. As for Wolfe, he's playing snake charmer in a case with more twists than an anaconda -- whistling a seductive tune he hopes will catch a killer who's still got poison in his heart.

Touch and Go


Patricia Wentworth - 1934
    She has just been engaged as governess to seventeen-year-old Lucilla Hildred, whose mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident. Lucilla’s father died in the war, and his younger brother, Maurice, has been missing since 1918.   Uncle Maurice’s disappearance isn’t the only mystery at the Red House. One night Sarah is awakened by a frightening noise. Something flings itself against her window and she hears the sounds of claws against glass. Then Holme Fallow, the estate where Lucilla was born—and where no one has lived since the war—is burgled. The only clue as to the culprit is a set of muddy footprints.   Next someone tampers with the brakes on Lucilla’s bicycle, and she stumbles over a baluster rail. It’s soon clear to Sarah that someone is trying to kill the orphaned teenager, sole heir to Holme Fallow. Is it visiting American John Brown? Lucilla herself, playing a dangerous game? Or has someone else been patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike? No matter the perpetrator, a ghost from the past could change everything.   Patricia Wentworth, beloved creator of Miss Silver, crafts a puzzling mystery replete with twists, turns, and multiple suspects.

The House on the Roof


Mignon G. Eberhart - 1934
    “She reached the roof and emerged at the opening of the parapet wall. Flat, black, and dirty. Chimneys, incinerators, ventilators. The house itself, dark and dingy and passive. Nothing moved. . . . No sound except, away below, the murmur of a passing automobile. . . . Quite suddenly she realized that if she had removed the threat of the police she had also removed their protection.” In a few moments she will face sheer dizzying horror.

By the Light of the Study Lamp


Carolyn Keene - 1934
    The girls plan to place it in their study room at Starhurst when they return for their sophomore year. But before the girls leave, the lamp is stolen! After the sisters return to Starhurst, they discover the lamp in a secondhand shop and buy it back. Unwittingly, the girls make an enemy of their classmate, Lettie Briggs, not only because the girl had planned to buy the lamp but because the Danas' room is the one Lettie wanted to have at Starhurst.The Danas are overjoyed when they discover that their friend Evelyn Starr has returned to Starhurst. Evelyn's family once owned Starhurst, but Evelyn and her brother now have very little money, and Evelyn is unsure that she can pay for the tuition. The Danas hope that they can find a way to help Evelyn stay at Starhurst, little realizing that the solution to Evelyn's problem is held within the antique study lamp.

The Howling Beast


Noël Vindry - 1934
    Not just from the police, who suspect him of a double murder, but also from the memory of the circumstances in which two impossible crimes were committed in the ruined castle which is the hereditary seat of the Comte de Saint-Luce, an old big-game hunting friend from the past. The castle is virtually inaccessible, situated as it is in a high-walled park on a desolate stretch of moorland not far from Versailles On his first visit, four years ago, one of the other guests had disappeared in inexplicable circumstances just after Herry had heard the distant howling of an unknown beast. Now, following threatening letters and renewed howling, the Comte and the wife of the earlier guest have been killed before his very eyes. Ho w can he defend himself if he cannot explain what happened? M. Allou explains everything in this masterpiece of French locked room literature. Locked Room International translates and publishes the works of international impossible crime authors past and present. For information about signed and lettered editions of all living authors please contact pugmire1@yahoo.com or go to www.mylri.com. Pierre Herry is on the run. Not just from the police, who suspect him of a double murder, but also from the memory of the circumstances in which two impossible crimes were committed in the ruined castle which is the hereditary seat of the Compte de Saint-Luce, an old big-game hunting friend from the past. The castle is virtually inaccessible, situated as it is in a high-walled park on a desolate stretch of moorland not far from Versailles On his first visit, four years ago, one of the other guests had disappeared in inexplicable circumstances just after Herry had heard the distant howlings of an unknown beast. Now, following threatening letters and renewed howlings, the Compte and the wife of the earlier guest have been killed before his very eyes. How can he defend himself if he cannot explain what happened? M. Allou explains everything in this masterpiece of French locked room literature.