Death at the theatre

By Franz H. Gravenhold

The story of "Death at the theatre" deserves to be told.

This tale first appeared in instalments in the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung in the autumn of 1868, gathering a considerable following of readers. When the time came for the final chapter, the publication was interrupted and the newspaper's editorial office was flooded with letters of protest demanding the publication of the last chapter, which was supposed to contain the solution to the mystery.

The editors, however, responded by saying that unfortunately the parts of the story they had received were anonymous and even they had not received the final chapter. The newspaper also assured that they had tried to engage some journalists to discover who the author was, but without success. The story thus seemed destined to remain unfinished. For five years, readers continued to speculate about the solution to the mystery, until in the spring of 1873, during the Vienna World Exhibition, a pamphlet entitled Death at the theatre - ein Detektivgeschichte appeared among the pavilions dedicated to mechanical innovations.

The work, published in just a few hundred numbered copies, was signed "Franz H. Gravenhold" and contained the final chapter. Although various journalists and writers of the time tried to trace this name - probably a pseudonym - no one succeeded in the endeavour. Even today, the origins of "Death at the Theatre" remain a small mystery in detective literature. It is considered among the finest detective stories of all time. The complete text is published here.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F5WVWB9P
• ISBN13: 9798280918580
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 98 Pages
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"