Debut of Prof. Theocritus Lucius Westborough, mild mannered ancient history expert who solves the murder of a Mr. Swink poisoned in his locked Chicago hotel room. A Rube Goldberg-like booby trap set atop the door jamb fell to the exposed hard floor and exploded causing the release of hydrocyanic gas killing the man almost instantly as his tripped, fell to floor and inhaled the deadly vapors.
Title refers to the inner workings of the hotel's "pancentric" locks. Westborough makes an interesting metaphor of the lock's mechanisms in explaining how he solved the crime. Motley assortment of characters ranging include a gossipy racist spinster, a wise acre of a vacuum salesman, a night clerk with a chemistry background, a kid with a chemistry kit, and a private detective using an assumed name. Almost the entire story takes place within the confines of the hotel with one or two excursions to Lincoln Park for exterior color. Solution is not too much of a surprise until in the final chapter the killer's motive is revealed and then the story takes an huge leap out of the fair play detective novel into the realm of the absurd.
J F Norris, Feb 2011
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.