Library of Congress Crime Classics

Hailed by critic Anthony Boucher as "one of the best detective stories of modern times," this classic tale by Grand Master Dorothy Salisbury Davis combines suspense and psychological insight as a priest and a police detective both race to find a self-confessed murderer before he is compelled to kill again. "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned …" Father Duffy has heard many confessions through the years, but none quite so disturbing as the one he's heard tonight. A young man enters the confessional just as the priest is readying to leave for the evening; he's distraught that he has killed a woman in a paroxysm of uncontrollable rage-and he's still wielding the hammer he used to do the deed. Father Duffy tries to convince the young man to turn himself in to the police, but he flees just as suddenly as he had appeared. When the priest learns the next day that an escort was found bludgeoned to death on the East Side, he sets out to search for the troubled confessor. Meanwhile, Sergeant Ben Goldsmith of the NYPD is drawn deep into the official investigation. Neither is aware that the other is searching for the murderer, and both hope against hope that they're able to find the killer before he strikes again. "A simmering tour de force of detection from both ends of the trail."- Kirkus Reviews

"You have one rare faculty, Jones. You can, when you choose, sharpen the pencil of your mind to a very fine point. Specialize, my boy, specialize." Adrian Van Reypen Egerton Jones -"Average," to his friends-has spent the five years since graduation from college "specializing in life," indulging his wanderlust and living comfortably on twenty-five thousand a year. In order to inherit the millions that his late uncle has bequeathed, Average must spend five continuous years as a resident of New York City. Already bored, he is advised by his friends Waldemar and Bertram to take up a hobby. Waldemar, a newspaper owner, suggests that he become an "Ad-Visor"-someone who investigates classified ads on behalf of clients to root out swindlers. As his college professor had opined, Jones possesses a particular singularity of focus, which allows him to notice details that others miss. In the process of investigating unusual and downright bizarre advertisements, he stumbles into solving actual crimes-and he finds he was born to it. Why would someone advertise for a musician to play a B-flat trombone in a certain street at a specific time of day? Or offer an unusually large reward for information about the death of a bulldog? What can be the meaning of a message written entirely in pinpricks? Who is the man who speaks only in Latin? These and other tantalizing puzzles will leave the reader eager to spend more time with the decidedly not-Average Jones.

When the prompter falls dead during the second act of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre during a matinee performance at the Metropolitan Opera, as one can imagine, it causes quite a stir, especially when it is discovered that the deceased, a one-time world-famous Heldentenor has been poisoned. The detective assigned to the case, Lt. Quentin, finds himself immersed in the backstage drama of professional opera. His task is made more difficult when he decides that it had really been the star soprano who had been the intended victim, and not the prompter. Will he be able to solve the case before there is another Metropolitan Opera Murder?

Twelve mysteries, dozens of clues, and two detectives matching wits. Detective Jack Barnes is good at his job-no nonsense and thorough, his dogged nature makes him the best at what he does. Mr. Robert Leroy Mitchel is entirely different: a gentleman and an amateur sleuth, Mitchel is confident in his ability to find answers where the professionals cannot. But by choice or circumstance the two are thrown together in pursuit of the truth. Sometimes partners, often competitors, these dueling detectives tackle a slew of unsolvable cases in Gilded Age New York: a body washed up in the river after its cremation, the disappearance of a priceless emerald that leaves a trail of death in its wake, and an IOU demanding a man's life, to name a few. A long-neglected master of detective stories, Rodrigues Ottolengui was a gifted dentist and lover of mysteries whose work established forensic dentistry as a science and emphasized the value of evidence. Through crisp prose, captivating plot twists, and charming characters, Ottolengui's collection of stories delves into the bizarre-sometimes dangerous, sometimes ridiculous-side of human nature.

Is this lawyer digging his way to the truth, or digging his own grave? Short, chubby, and awkward with members of the opposite sex, Gil Henry is the youngest partner in a small law firm, not a hard-boiled sleuth. So when an attractive young woman named Ruth McClure walks into his office and asks him to investigate the value of the stock she inherited from her father, he thinks nothing of it-until someone makes an attempt on his life. Soon Gil is inadvertently embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. He's beaten, shot, and stabbed, as his colleagues and enemies try to stop him from seeing the case through to the end. Surrounded by adversaries, he teams up with Ruth and her secretive brother to find answers to the questions someone desperately wants to keep him from asking. In this portrait of America on the eve of America's entry into World War II, C.W. Grafton-himself a lawyer and the father of prolific mystery writer Sue Grafton-pens an award-winning mystery that combines humor and the hard-boiled style and will keep readers guessing until its thrilling conclusion.

First published in 1918, this collection of tales of Abner's investigations, told by his nephew and chronicled by the prolific Melville Davisson Post, was hailed as the most important volume of American crime fiction since the work of Edgar Allan Poe. "It is a world…filled with the mysterious justice of God!" The titular Uncle Abner is a man with extraordinary powers of observation, a close reader of the Bible, and a towering code of morality, and he does not shy from taking matters into his own hands when the law is too slow or too blind to dispense justice. A landowner in nineteenth-century West Virginia, Abner is a fountainhead of God's wisdom and justice for the territory. Post's stories and novels were highly popular, appearing in national magazines and book form. Though the stories are little read today, there is nothing old-fashioned about the terrible crimes committed in the backwoods or Abner's extraordinary skills as an observer of men and evil.

No one saw her leave, and no one knows where she went... It's a perfectly typical day for Lowell Mitchell at her perfectly ordinary university in Massachusetts. She goes to class, chats with friends, and retires to her dorm room. Everything is normal until suddenly it's not-in the blink of an eye, Lowell is gone. Facts are everything for Police Chief Frank Ford. He's a small-town cop, and he knows only hard evidence and thorough procedure will lead him to the truth. Together with the wise-cracking officer Burt Cameron, the grizzled chief will deal with the distraught family, chase dead-end leads, interrogate shady witnesses, and spend late nights ruminating over black coffee and cigars. Everyone tells him what a good, responsible girl Lowell is. But Ford believes that Lowell had a secret and that if he can discover it, this case will crack wide open. Considered one of the first-ever police procedurals and hailed as a milestone, Last Seen Wearing-based on a true story-is riveting in its accurate portrayal of an official police investigation. Hillary Waugh, who earned the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America, went on to create several memorable series, but this early novel ranks among his finest work. This next installment in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series will keep readers in suspense until the final page.

As manager of New York City's finest luxury hotel The Beaumont, Pierre Chambrun is well acquainted with unreasonable requests from its patrons. When one of the rich rooftop suite owners demands the impossible for his annual birthday bash, Chambrun is unflustered; of course he can have exotic foods and flora flown in from all corners of the globe! No problem procuring the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera to sing "Happy Birthday!" No matter that birthday boy is the obnoxious and well-hated Aubrey Moon-a man who loves nothing better than destroying the lives of those who annoy him. Pierre is more than equal to the task. But when a high-society call girl commits suicide in one of the Beaumont's suites, Pierre learns she'd been under pressure to murder Moon. He also discovers that there is a "Moon Club" made up of people with good reasons to wish the man dead. When an anonymous big spender offers $10,000 to any club member able to exterminate the menace, Chambrun works with his chief of security and the NYPD to catch the mastermind before the plot-and Moon-are executed.

An undelivered letter with a cryptic message holds the key to an unsolved murder When Henry Moreland is found dead on a lonely New York road after a violent storm, it seems he died of natural causes while walking to the home of his betrothed, Eleanor Argyll. An examination of the corpse reveals, however, that he was killed by a single, powerful stab wound. His wallet was untouched, eliminating robbery as the motive-but who would want to murder the well-liked and respected man? Richard Redfield, an old family friend who harbors a secret love for Eleanor, vows to bring Henry's killer to justice. Richard soon finds himself out of his element. Together with a legendary detective named Mr. Burton, he embarks on an unsuccessful mission to find the murderer. When suspicion turns to Richard himself, he leaves the family behind and goes to work in the "Dead Letter" office in Washington. Then a mysterious letter from the past turns up, and a new hunt begins...

It takes a thief… "Le Chat" ("The Cat"), an infamous thief, has come out of retirement and is again liberating expensive jewelry from wealthy tourists on the FreRch Riviera. Or is it a "copycat" who is stealing fortunes? John Robie thought he had left his larcenous past behind. Once responsible for a string of daring thefts and escapes, he was caught and sent to prison just before the outbreak of World War II. Freed during the German occupation of France, Robie joined the French Resistance and received unofficial amnesty after the war ended. He retired to a simple life in the country where he befriended the local commissaire, Oriol, and tended his gardens. Now it's 1951, and someone has been at work using his old MO. When the police come to arrest him, Robie escapes to Cannes. There, he reconnects with his former comrade Bellini, who convinces Robie to help catch the copycat. Disguised as a pudgy, middle-aged American businessman, Robie scouts the local nightclubs and casinos and tries to outthink the new thief. When he meets Francie Stevens, the daughter of a wealthy tourist, she becomes Robie's unwelcome ally, and together they hatch a dangerous plan to catch the thief at a gala party. But soon they both realize that Robie really is a thief at heart. With Oriol and the police on his trail, will he escape capture? Will the real thief be caught? And will Robie give up the thief?

First published in 1923, Jim Hanvey, Detective is a collection of seven stories that originally appeared in The Saturday Evening Post and features private eye Jim Hanvey in classic whodunit style mysteries. Described as the "backwoods Nero Wolfe," the genial Hanvey befriends "good guys" and criminals alike to get the job done. Bank robberies, jewel heists, and all-purposes cons-none are a match for Octavus Roy Cohen's waddling sleuth.

An unmissable entry in the esteemed Library of Congress Crime Classics, an exciting new classic mystery series created in exclusive partnership with the Library of Congress to highlight the best of American crime fiction When the body of N'Gana Frimbo, the African conjure-man, is discovered in his consultation room, Perry Dart, one of Harlem's ten Black police detectives, is called in to investigate. Together with Dr. Archer, a physician from across the street, Dart is determined to solve the baffling mystery, helped and hindered by Bubber Brown and Jinx Jenkins, local boys keen to clear themselves of suspicion of murder and undertake their own investigations. This groundbreaking mystery is the first ever to feature a Black detective and all Black characters, written by Black author Rudolph Fisher, who was a principal writer of the Harlem Renaissance.

"In this exemplary Library of Congress Crime Classics reissue…those seeking quality Sherlock Holmes pastiches in a humorous vein will be well rewarded."- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Packed with two dozen stories, The Master of Mysteries offers a twentieth-century, mystical twist on the classic consulting detective genre made popular by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. With Astro, the self-proclaimed "seer of secrets," author Gelett Burgess gives us a detective just as observant and brilliant as Sherlock Holmes-but with feelings. Astro, the Seer of Secrets, and his lovely assistant, Valeska, sound more like a magic act than a private detection team. Astro hides his powers of observation and reasoning beneath a turban and a cape, pretending to read palms and consult crystals while in fact keenly observing details that most people-police included-miss. Valeska, his beautiful blonde protégé, assists Astro with his investigations, all the while honing her own skills. Called upon by believers and skeptics both, they adeptly recover what is missing-a rare Shakespeare folio, a missing husband, a kidnapped child-while also solving actual murders. But it is their burgeoning romance, and their mutual zeal to work pro bono where matters of the heart are at stake, that set this crime-solving duo apart.