When a necromancer is murdered, a magician takes the caseFreelance scribe Ross Harte is working on an essay about the sad state of the modern mystery novel when a scream comes from the hallway: “There is death in that room!” Harte finds a trio of conjurers trying to get into the apartment of his neighbor, the mysterious Dr. Cesare Sabbat, famed occultist and, for the past few minutes, a corpse. They break down the door to find Sabbat lying in a pentagram, face twisted from the agonies of strangulation, but with no bruises on his neck. All the doors were locked, and the windows drop straight down to the river below. Only an escape artist could get out of that room, and Sabbat knew quite a few. To make sense of this misdirected muddle, the police bring in the Great Merlini, an illusionist whose specialty is making mysteries disappear.

Death from a Top Hat (The Great Merlini, 1)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Clayton Rawson

Mystery

Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio

A dozen compact puzzles from a master of the locked-room mystery The Great Merlini waits impatiently at the door of the Hotel Astor. Inspector Church is late for his meeting with the famed magician, with whom he consults when homicide cases venture outside the realm of the possible. A ventriloquist has attempted suicide in the wake of his wife’s mysterious strangulation. Among the suspects are a snake charmer, a nine-foot giant, a tattooed man, and a gaggle of crap players - and this is one of Merlini’s simple cases. He will pick out the killer, with no more effort than he might a rabbit in a top hat. In these 12 short stories, all originally published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Clayton Rawson’s greatest detective confronts puzzles that would leave a lesser magician’s head spinning. From vanishing blackmailers to murderous mediums, no cosmic crime can baffle the Great Merlini.

Great Merlini, The

A circus owner’s murder produces a roster of bizarre suspects Summer heat is choking New York, and the Great Merlini - conjurer, sleuth, and godson of P. T. Barnum - offers his friend Ross Harte a chance to get out of town. Before they can depart for the annual convention of the Society of American Magicians, a nervous woman enters Merlini’s shop, begging to purchase his most popular illusion: the headless lady. When the magician refuses to sell his last copy, she steals it. She is the daughter of Major Hannum, a recently deceased circus magnate whose death may not have been an accident. Somewhere among the carnies, barkers, and freaks lurks a killer, and only Merlini can save the carnival from further bloodshed. The killer’s plot is as sly as a funhouse mirror, but no detective is more at home in a world where nothing is what it seems.

Headless Lady, The (The Great Merlini, 3)

A murdered blackmailer haunts a captain of industry.When Ross Harte gets into a screaming match with his fiance's father, millionaire Dudley Wolff, the old man cuts Harte's beloved out of his will. As far as Wolff is concerned, this is an empty threat, because he plans to live forever. He has a team of scientists working to extend his life as long as possible, and should they fail, a renowned psychic will contact him after his death. Wolff is obsessed with death's mysteries, and he is about to get a first-hand look.When a detective attempts to blackmail him, Wolff punches him in the jaw so hard that it stops the crook's heart. Fearing scandal, Wolff and his staff bury the body in the woods. When the dead blackmailer comes back to haunt him, the millionaire is forced to call on Harte and his friend the Great Merlini, conjurer and sleuth, to banish the spirits that have brought death to his door.

No Coffin for the Corpse (The Great Merlini, 4)

Contents:\n　Ghost of the Undead 
　Death Out of Thin Air 
　Claws of Satan 
　The Enchanted Dagger 
　Stand-In for a Kill 
　Mr. Mystery 
　The Man with the Radio Mind 
　Ace of Death 
　The Man with X-Ray Eyes 
　Out of the Hat

The Magical Mysteries of Don Diavolo

Battered Silicon

This collection of criminal conundrums are more than whodunits, they're howdunits and are intended to stretch your powers of deduction to the limits.

Mammoth Book of Locked Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes

Politics & Social Sciences

Amy Myers

Lois H. Gresh

JOHN DICKSON CARR

Margaret Frazer

Edward D. Hoch

Robert Weinberg

Michael Kurland

Kate Ellis

Melville Davisson Post

Lawrence, Block

michael-collins

Martin, Edwards

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Lynne Wood Block

Social Sciences

Robinson Publishing

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Books by Clayton Rawson