A Grand Master of the British-style detective story brings Victorian England to vivid life in this murder mystery, which critic Anthony Boucher hailed as a “faultless formal puzzle in detection” In 1865, novelist Clive Strickland is relaxing at his club when his friend Victor Damon comes to him in a panic, begging Clive to help him marry off his sister to a cash-poor marquis whose affections reek of gold-digging. Victor doesn’t care. Something sinister lurks at High Chimneys and he wants his sisters out of the house before their lives are put in danger. Old Matthew Damon, their father, has long been dogged by scandalous rumors of solitary visits to the cells of women about to be hanged for murder. But when murder is done at High Chimneys, Strickland and private investigator Jonathan Whicher will have to sort out the rumors and look behind the discreetly drawn curtains of High Chimneys for a killer.

John Dickson Carr, one of the masters of the British-style detective novel, evokes the danger and delights of 1912 New Orleans in this puzzling murder mystery Journalist and spy novelist Jim Blake takes an assignment for Harper’s Weekly that puts him on a train to New Orleans, where congressional candidate James Claiborne Blake is being targeted by enemies who threaten to reveal that there is a glamorous Creole courtesan in his past. But in New Orleans, a sexual indiscretion is not enough to ruin a politician. That would require murder. When one of Clay’s supporters is found murdered, Jim Blake sets out to clear the candidate’s name—a dangerous mission in a city that comes alive at night, where rumor can be as deadly as poison.

For the first time in one place, Roger M. Sobin has compiled a list of nominees and award winners of virtually every mystery award ever presented. He has also included many of the “best of” lists by more than fifty of the most important contributors to the genre.; Mr. Sobin spent more than two decades gathering the data and lists in this volume, much of that time he used to recheck the accuracy of the material he had collected. Several of the “best of” lists appear here for the first time in book form. Several others have been unavailable for a number of years.; Of special note, are Anthony Boucher’s “Best Picks for the Year.” Boucher, one of the major mystery reviewers of all time, reviewed for The San Francisco Chronicle, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and The New York Times. From these resources Mr. Sobin created “Boucher’s Best” and “Important Lists to Consider,” lists that provide insight into important writing in the field from 1942 through Boucher’s death in 1968.? This is a great resource for all mystery readers and collectors.; ; Winner of the 2008 Macavity Awards for Best Mystery Nonfiction.

John Dickson Carr is known as the master of the “locked-room” mystery—the “impossible crime.” But Carr also wrote short stories, radio plays, essays, introductions, and book reviews. S. T. Joshi has written the first full-length study of Carr’s entire work and pays particular attention to this author’s three best-known detectives: Henri Bencolin, Dr. Gideon Fell, and Sir Henry Merrivale.

Includes Part 1, Number 2: Books and Pamphlets, Including Serials and Contributions to Periodicals (July - December)

South Carolina Biographical Dictionary contains biographies on hundreds of persons from diverse vocations that were either born, achieved notoriety and/or died in the state of South Carolina. Prominent persons, in addition to the less eminent, that have played noteworthy roles are included in this resource. When people are recognized from your state or locale it brings a sense of pride to the residents of the entire state.