The French Powder Mystery: A Problem in Deduction

New York, NY: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1930 Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. 1930. Hardcover. Stated 5th Printing. Book is tight, has slight spine roll, and unmarked but for a small bookseller sticker on the rear pastdown for Lamar Book Store, Houston, TX. Book Condition: Good; shelfwear through fabric at head, tail, and lower tips; small spotty stains on textblock fore edge and bottom edge; small moisture pots to tinted textblock top; light soiling to front board. No DJ. Red cloth boards and spine with black lettering on the spine and red lettering in a black shadowbox on the front board. Clean internals. Interior hinges are sound and not split. 316 pp 12mo. This is the second book published in the Ellery Queen Series. The windows of French’s department store are one of New York’s great attractions. Year-round, their displays show off the finest in fashion, art, and home décor, and tourists and locals alike make a point of stopping to see what’s on offer. One afternoon, as the board debates a merger upstairs, a salesgirl begins a demonstration in one of the windows, showing off French’s new Murphy bed. A crowd gathers to watch the bed lower from the wall after a single touch of a button. But as the bed opens, people run screaming. Out tumbles a woman—crumpled, bloody, and dead. The victim was Mrs. French, wife of the company president, and finding her killer will turn this esteemed store upside down. Only one detective has the soft touch necessary—debonair intellectual Ellery Queen. As Queen and his police inspector father dig into French’s secrets, they find their killer is more serious than any window shopper. A clean very presentable copy.