Death from a Top Hat Author:Clayton Rawson "Death From a Top Hat" has been called a great first novel. The book features two locked-room murders and pays homage to the master of the impossible crime, John Dickson Carr, by containing a discussion of the sort found in Carr's "The Three Coffins." — The book, one of the "Golden Age" mysteries, features the Great Merlini as the man who solves ... more »the crimes. Merlini is a magician and Rawson's frequent protagonist. When a magician is found dead inside his locked and thoroughly sealed apartment, police call in Merlini to help explain the impossible. The suspects, however, are all magicians, and any one of them probably could have come up with several ways of achieving the effect. Before all is said and done, Rawson gives a fascinating look at the world of magic and misdirection.« less
1986 edition of this 1938 classic. If you've never read a Rawson mystery before you're in for a treat. In this story the magician/detective The Great Merlini takes on witchcraft, murder and mayhem, and making up crazy verses as he goes.