Mystery of the Yellow Room (Dedalus European Classics)

Dedalus Ltd. Very Good. 2020. Soft Cover. 1873982380 Unread paperback. Uncreased spine. No ownership marks. Clean and tight. My favourite of all locked-room novels has at last been reissued. The Mystery of the Yellow Room was written in 1908 by Gaston Leroux, better known for The Phantom of the Opera, and has never been bettered. The first in a series of novels to feature the intrepid if naive young reporter and sleuth, Rouletabille, it pits him against the dark soul of the detective Frederick Larsan and the murky secrets of the Stangerson family. Considering when the book was written, it remains remarkably modern, a page-turner whose exploration of the dark side can still send shivers up your back. Naturally, the solution to the central crime is a twist within a tortuous twist for which even a Mensa reader will be quite unprepared. A masterpiece. Maxim Jakubowski in Time Out Leroux's biggest hit in his lifetime was this ingenious 1908 detective story. The victim is the daughter of a scientist working on the dissociation of matter, she's left for dead in a room locked from the inside, and a Holmesian investigative journalist named Rouletabille steps in to find the rational solution. Leroux's style is appropriately sensational, his plot convoluted and for the aficionados of the genre it makes an enjoyable intricate puzzle. Scotland on Sunday .