Wallace, Edgar; Leroux, Gaston; Carr, John Dickinson (2017) ‘The Locked-Room Mysteries’, Folio Society illustrated edition

Edgar Wallace; Gaston Leroux; and John Dickson Carr (2017) ‘The Locked-Room Mysteries‘, published by The Folio Society as an illustrated edition. Three volumes in a slipcase.

Condition: as new and still in shrink-wrap. The pictures were taken from our personal copy. The buyer will receive a sealed copy.

Production details:

In his introduction to the set, crime novelist and President of the Detection Club Martin Edwards discusses the fascinating history of the genre, from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue to the role of television in the resurrection of the form. Illustrator Mark Thomas adds a layer of stylish mystique to the set with a series of black and white illustrations.

The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace is the book that inspired the locked-room movement. Four mysterious vigilantes send a threatening letter to the Foreign Secretary stating that he must rescind his Alien Extradition Bill or he will die at a set time on a set day. Originally published without a solution and offering a £500 reward to those able to explain the mysterious death of Sir Philip Ramon, The Four Just Men has continued to baffle generations of readers since.

The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux is amongst the first locked-room mysteries, and played a part in inspiring the young Agatha Christie. Reporter Joseph ‘Rouletabille’ investigates an attack on Mademoiselle Stangerson, who has been beaten with a mutton bone and left for dead. Leroux is a master of the tease, providing eager readers with a tantalising variety of clues, suspects and even floor plans of the crime scene.

The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr, often rated the best locked-room mystery of all time, is a fiendishly clever novel, imbued with a macabre atmosphere and all the portentous gloom of London in winter. How could a murderer walk through a locked door, shoot his victim and then simply disappear? How can a man be gunned down in the street at close quarters without the assailant leaving behind a single footprint in the snow? Dr Gideon Fell sets out to investigate and expose the truth.

Introduced by Martin Edwards. Illustrated by Mark Thomas. Bound in blocked thermo-reactive paper. Set in Berling with Trajan Pro display. 664 pages in total. Frontispiece in each volume and 26 integrated images throughout the set. Blocked slipcase. Each volume 8¾˝ x 5½