A reissue of THE BIG BOW MYSTERY, a classic locked room mystery originally published in 1892 by the writer who went on to define Zionism and is better known now for his politics rather than his fiction. Ingenious, and still as puzzling and worthy of Conan Doyle in the way that the impossible crime is solved and its engineering revealed, it's also a wonderful evocation of the teeming East End at the end of the 19th century. Out of print for many years, it is part of the Detective Club set of republications that Collins have done in a wonderful pocket hardcover format to compete with the British Library's equally worthy series of vintage resurrections which have attracted such an unexpected success in the past year. Also available are Frank Richardson's THE MAYFAIR MYSTERY, Hugh Conway's CALLED BACK, Frank Froest's THE GRELL MYSTERY and Bernard Capes's THE MYSTERY OF THE SKELETON KEY. Not only fascinating reads but lovely collectable volumes. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
The first in a new series of classic detective stories from the vaults of HarperCollins is the world's first locked-room mystery, a seemingly impossible crime story as powerful as any that have copied the scenario since. The Detective Story Club , launched by Collins in 1929, was a clearing house for the best and most ingenious crime stories of the age, chosen by a select committee of experts. Now, almost 90 years later, these books are the classics of the Golden Age, republished at last with the same popular cover designs that appealed to their original readers. Originally published as The Big Bow Mystery in 1891, and re-published by the Detective Club to coincide with a new film version called 'The Perfect Crime', Israel Zangwill's novel invented the concept of the 'locked room mystery' and influenced almost every crime writer thereafter. 'A man is murdered for no apparent reason. He has no enemies and there seemed to be no motive for anyone murdering him. No clues remained and the instrument with which the murder was committed could not be traced. The door of the room in which the body was discovered was locked and bolted on the inside, both windows were latched, and there was no trace of any intruder. The greatest detectives in the land were puzzled. Here indeed was the perfect crime, the work of a master mind. Can you solve the problem which baffled Scotland Yard for so long, until at last the missing link in the chain of evidence was revealed?' This new edition includes a brand new introduction by the Golden Age crime expert, Dr John Curran, author of 'Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks'.