Rim of the Pit

By Hake Talbot

Book Overview

The cult classic mystery that John Dickson Carr hailed as "a marvel of ingenuity."

"I came here to make a dead man change his mind." So begins a creepy and unusual mystery celebrated to this day as one of the greatest "impossible crime" novels of all time. When a family's promise to protect the beloved pine grove of their dead father creates a financial strain, a seance is suggested to summon the ghost of the late logger and ask its permission. A mixed group of skeptics and believers convene at a snow-bound lodge to call the spirit with a group that includes a gambler, a businessman, a clairvoyant, a professor and a refugee, amongst others. With so many diverse interests at the table, the tensions run high--but when one of the participants ends up dead, there is reason to suspect that a nefarious spirit is to blame.

The body is discovered in a locked room, impenetrable from the outside--just one of many bizarre and inexplicable circumstances surrounding the scene of the crime. There is also the trail of footprints in the snow, beginning and ending amid a field of untouched powder; another on the roof, with the tracks leading for a short distance before vanishing into nothingness; and, there are fingerprints on a gun suspended at an unreachable height...

Supernatural undertones and eerie atmosphere clear away in the third act to present a logical conclusion to the case, teasing out the clues and murder methods that unscrupulous readers may have missed. With its off-beat exposition, puzzling plot and exceptional prose, The Rim of the Pit is a cult classic of the Golden Age era deserving of a wide audience today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1613164653
• ISBN13: 9781613164655
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: American Mystery Classics
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.1"