Blurbs for Clayton Rawson Mysteries

(Note: Books are listed alphabetically.)

Death from a Top Hat (1938)

by Clayton Rawson

Collier Books (1st printing, 1962)

Death from a Top Hat

'The two murders are disconcertingly alike. First, the sinister Dr. Sabbat, the student of demonology and the occult, is found dead in his locked apartment. Later, Eugene Tarot, billed as "The King of Cards," is found dead under similarly eerie circumstances. Both murders suggest witchcraft.

'Yet The Great Merlini, retired prestidigitator, knows that things are not always what they seem -- especially where magicians are concerned and where every move has been planned to deceive. While coins disappear from his agile fingertips, Merlini instructs the police (and the reader) in the lore of illusion as he unscrambles this diverting baffler.'

'The key: What two feats could one of the suspects do that no one else could?'

Note: The bottom third of the back cover is eye-catching red background, over which is drawn a shiny black top hat with a cane; inside the headband of the hat is a small white human skull.

(A map of the murder scene in Death from a Top Hat is here.)

Footprints on the Ceiling, The (1939)

by Clayton Rawson

International Polygonics (1st printing, December 1986)

Cover price: $4.95

Note: Front cover shows a mean-looking white rabbit, a .45 automatic in one hand and a gold coin in the other; he's wearing an old-fashioned diving suit and is examining the contents of what appears to be a pirate's chest overflowing with gold coins.

Back cover:

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM READING THIS NOVEL:

'You'll learn how a woman suffering from acute fear of open spaces could be found murdered in a house miles away from her own.

'You'll learn why footprints were discovered on the ceiling of the room in which her body was discovered.

'You'll learn how a man could die of the bends (in a locked room, of course) on the twenty-first floor of a New York City hotel.

'You'll learn of the sunken treasure in the hold of the frigate HMS Hussar in New York's East River just off 130th Street.

'And above all, you'll learn why they call him the Great Merlini!'

No Coffin for the Corpse (1942)

by Clayton Rawson

International Polygonics (1st printing, October 1987)

Cover price: $4.95

Note: Front cover shows that same sinister rabbit dressed in formal evening attire -- white tie, tuxedo, top hat and cane, a cape, and even a monocle -- standing before a darkened graveyard illumined by a pale green moon, the sky criss-crossed with streaky blood-red clouds.

MERLINI AND THE MURDERED MUNITIONS MAGNATE FROM MAMARONECK

'Wealthy munitions manufacturer Dudley T. Wolff is being blackmailed by a mysterious stranger named Smith. During an argument, Wolff lashes out at the extortionist, who falls dead at his feet.

'Wolff inters the body four feet underground, but somehow Smith won't stay buried, and reappears to haunt the millionaire's mansion.

'Then Wolff himself is found murdered in a locked room.

'The chief suspect?

'A ghost who walks through walls.

'Enter the Great Merlini -- ghostbuster!'

"Merlini does himself proud." -- Kay Irvin, The New York Times Book Review

(A map showing the crime scene in No Coffin for the Corpse is here.)