Harry Stephen Keeler – författare

A dash from an empty house at the sight of a murdered man with a dragon-topped hatpin protruding from one eye! An escape from the police on the back of a speeding roadster. The discovery that its driver, a curly-haired, beautiful girl, clutches in one hand the headless body of that same fatal dragon-topped hatpin! This is the first climax of breathless action that winds about the figure of Ford Harling, penniless derelict in Chicago, and plunges him into the heart of another famous web-work plot of Harry Stephen Keeler. He is caught in a maelstrom of circumstances that whirl about a stolen ruby, counterfeit bills, a nocturnal visit to a cemetery, and a peculiarly baffling murder involving a lovely heiress.It is the fastest-moving mystery ever written by Harry Stephen Keeler, expert in bafflement and tantalizing clues.

How the Trigger-Finger of a Man Long Dead Sent Another Man To His DeathIn this gigantic mystery story, Mr. Keeler has employed atavism in his plot, a thing that has probably never before been attempted in mystery fiction. Starting in pirate days with the bitter enmity between Captain Kidd and Captain Quarlbush whom Kidd marooned on a desert island for mutiny and thus deprived of a share in the spoils, Mr. Keeler conjures up in modern times a descendant of each of them and shows how in a mysterious way Quarlbush was finally avenged.Standing one day before a strange beautiful Chinese cabinet, in which he was seeking some priceless papers, Kidd''s descendant falls dead. With many dramatic suspenses, Mr. Keeler tells the story of how Captain Quarlbush, bent upon revenge, secretly built the beautiful Chinese cabinet, which he plotted to fall into Kidd''s hands. This is the basis of the primary plot to which are interlaced many other plots in this incomparable book.

Three men in Sing Sing - all writers - awaiting execution for the same crime. The body of the victim held only two bullets - one of the men is innocent. How can they find out before morning which one of them is to sign the pardon blank? Sing Sing Nights is a startling example of Mr. Keeler''s uncanny power to unravel the most involved plots and during the unraveling deepen the mystery until the very end of the story.

“The Thirteen Kings of Crooked Chicago Finance!” That’s what the terrorist calling himself THE STAR OF THE NIGHT called the thirteen richest moguls of Chicago when he sent them threatening letters which included decks of cards missing certain kings. Now it’s up to technical draftsman Jason Folwell to solve a most perplexing mystery, and only Harry Stephen Keeler could have imagined the webwork machinations behind this most unusual tale involving the machinations of big business and the heartless men who rule the game.

The First Mystery Novel MEGAPACK™ presents four classic mysteries by top crime writers. Here are:

The Red Bishop, by Howard Mason ... A wild chase through Europe...a castle on the Rhine...some very fancy corpses...a racing columnist who suddenly finds himself a Peer of the Realm... These are the unlikely ingredients that make this book at once hair-raising and light-hearted!Reclining Figure, by Marco Page ... Lucas Edgerton, arbitary and capricious eccentric, brings in Ellis Blaise, a young New York art dealer, to sell some of his art collection for tax purposes. Thefts from the collection, the sensational forgery of a priceless Renoir, and the puzzling murder of Lucas''s son force Blaise into a perilous investigation!The Case of the 16 Beans, by Harry Stephen Keeler ... Why did old Balhatchet Barkstone, on dying, leave his nephew 16 beans? And why did Boyce Barkstone, his heir, hold on to the beans? Why did Hu Fong, a Chinese detective, come to the conclusion that a poverty-stricken hermit was murdered for an article of great value, and what might that article be? These are only a few of the seemingly insoluble riddles which Keeler answers in his own inimitable manner!The Girl Who Had to Die, by By Elisabeth Sanxay Holding ... 19-year-old Jocelyn is convinced she''s going to be murdered, and accuses John Killian, a young man she met on a cruise ship, of throwing her overboard. But there are a lot of people who seem to hate Jocelyn...and Killian starts to wonder if he''ll be the next victim instead!

If you enjoy this ebook, don''t forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of the 250+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more!

Originally written in 1921 (but not published until 1927), this newspaper thriller pits a young Chicago reporter against the fiend known as the Blond Beast of Bremen.

From 1935 comes this thrilling novel about five odd people who happen to buy tiny jade figurines of a non-smiling Buddha. Only Harry Stephen Keeler could have come up with this plot!

The worst flood in decades has isolated an island in the middle of Big River and there’s no telling when the dam upriver is going to give. On the island are four men and three lifejackets. The sheriff’s got the rifle and knows one of the other three men is a brutal and ruthless killer. Each man has his own story and if you don’t think this is a situation ripe for the webwork machinations of Harry Stephen Keeler, you haven’t been reading one of the most original mystery writers of the 20th century. Told in outrageous dialect, this book will have you guessing from the first page to the last.

Several men find themselves stranded by a flooding river on Bleeker’s Island. The jewels known as Cleopatra’s Tears are missing, and one of the men is believed to be Actor Hart, notorious killer and thief -- maybe even the one who stole the jewels. Can the sheriff figure out which one is Hart -- and make sure he’s the one without a life jacket when the dam upriver gives way?

In the open market in Chicago, a tiger snake could have been bought by a circus for $10. But the particular snake for which Jake Jennings was willing to pay a small fortune was the key to a great mystery. The grand climax is an absolute surprise, and no reader will be able to say, "I knew it from the beginning."

Here is fiction that is stranger than truth. It contains one of the most perplexing and labyrinthine mysteries ever conceived by the human mind.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

What would you do if you were Angus MacWhorter, owner of the Biggest Little Circus on Earth, and you’d been offered $3000 for just ten minutes alone with the two-headed child who at one time was the star feature of the circus? Why, you''d send your right hand man, Brock Colburn, to Chicago to check up on the offering party. The trouble is, Brock is wanted in Chitown for an old felony he didn''t commit, and any sleuthing he does is going to have to be under deep cover. If only Brock could meet some sympathetic person who could help him, someone like Ardis Waring -- Mrs. Ardis Waring. And let''s not even mention the Chinese laundryman known as Ah Hell. Yes, Ah Hell. Let’s don''t mention him.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

When the Cedarville bank is robbed of a gold shipment, Sheriff Bucyrus Duckhouse of Willis Creek was just where he wants to be -- waiting at the end of the Smoky Ridge Tunnel where any minute the robbers have just got to emerge. But meanwhile, carny Jim Craney has a truckful of trouble as he scrambles to catch up with the rest of his circus. A truck full of lioness and five newborn kittens! The only way he can make it in time to marry the circus woman he loves is if the Sheriff will let him take the Straightaway through the tunnel. Otherwise he''ll have to take Old Twistibus, the road so crooked they gave it a name.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

It all started with a murder 20 years earlier. A ragpicker was found in a closet, stabbed in the back with a jewelled dagger—through an ace of spades! There’s a reward for the solution to this old murder and Bill Chattuck, driver for MacWhorter’s Motorized Circus, must get that reward—and prove the legitimacy of his girl, Melody—or they’ll never get married! But first, there’s the matter of that rare copy of Beowulf with a secret coded message in it, and the windingest road in the world, Old Twistibus, standing between Bill and happiness. It’s a crazy contretemps only Harry Stephen Keeler could unravel.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

In December of 1946 Harry Stephen Keeler wrote a huge novel he called THE ACE OF SPADES MURDER. No publisher would tackle a novel so big so he split it up, eventually making five new novels from it. THE CASE OF THE JEWELED RAGPICKER was the one first published, in 1948 by Phoenix Press. In it, circus driver Bill Chattuck must make his way across Idiots'' Valley via Old Twistibus in time to prevent something horrible from happening. You know the story -- but this time the notorious Phoenix Press seems to have added its own brand of wackiness to Harry''s and produced the wildest Old Twistibus saga yet.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

An unholy love! That''s what young Erlys Janway found herself in the throes of as she awaits word from her brother, Pell Barneyfield, as to whether they are truly blood-related. If he can come up with the proof they''re not related -- and then make it to Foleysburg, where MacWhorter''s traveling circus is camped -- then Erlys won''t be compelled to marry Golden-Tongue, the circus barker. But first Pell''ll have to traverse Old Twistibus, a road so crooked they gave it a name. In the meantime, Angus MacWhorter, kindly owner of the circus, is offered $1000 for a $10 diorama of a hanged fish with a crown. What''s with that? Only the answer to all of the riddles of this classic 1953 tale, the last Keeler published in English during his lifetime.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

Ho hum. Another day; another corpse dredged up from the depths of Lake Michigan. This time it’s a body having the bottom half of a negro man and the top half of a Chinese woman joined together at the waist by some kind of greenish glue. But we don’t linger long at this unpleasant scene because Angus MacWhorter and his Mammoth Motorized Show are in another pickle. If Angus can’t pay back $3000 -- in $100 bills whose serial numbers must be evenly divisible by 13! -- he’ll lose the circus to the dastardly Geispitz Gmohling. But the needed bills are on the other side of Old Twistibus, the windingest road in the world, and Giff O’Dell, who has the bills, is obsessed with solving the Crazy Corpse murder. Now that is a pickle!

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

There''s nothing new under the sun in Idiots'' Valley, home of Harry Stephen Keeler''s Screwball Circus. Angus MacWhorter''s circus has made it across Old Twistibus -- the windingest road in the world -- but there''s still an important wagon that Rance Holly has to drive to catch up with the rest of the circus in Foleysburg, or the circus will be lost to rival entrepreneur, Wolf Gladish. There''s no nuttier place in the country than Idiots'' Valley, with its pack of illiterate bumpkins, and Harry and Hazel milk it for all it''s worth in this first English-language edition of a Keeler classic!

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

You know the locale: Idiot''s Valley USA; you know the circus: MacWhorter''s Mammoth Traveling Circus; and you''ll never forget the road: Ol'' Twistibus! But this time Brock Lindo, the circus driver who''s madly in love with the spot-girl, Melodee Ashbrooke, is the poor soul who must cross Ol'' Twistibus in record time or Melodee will marry Jules DiValo, the silver-tongued barker! Not only that, he has to somehow prove to Melodee that she''s not the product of an illegitimate marriage -- and the proof is in far-off England. The Screwball Circus Saga continues to roll out of the fecund typewriter of Harry and Hazel Keeler and now, for the first time you can immerse yourself in it in the English language!

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

Noah Quindry is worried. An arsonist is striking the towns that his travelling circus visits and it may be one of his employees! On top of that, some madman -- perhaps the arsonist? -- is stealing instances of the letter "U" from signs, billboards, letters, even the tattooed chest of Screamo the Clown. It''s one of Harry and Hazel Keeler''s wackiest mysteries ever.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

Who are those six mysterious figures that are looming outside the owner''s trailer of Angus MacWhorter''s Mammoth Motorized Shows? And why would they want the copy of a pulp magazine that he bought for ten cents? The answers have something to do with a gangster, the tong of the Lean Grey Rats, and a group calling itself the Society of Retired Clergymen.

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

It all began with a mysterious black satchel stitched closed with silver wire. Mrs. Matilda Hunter, Jerry Evans’ landlady, finds the satchel and leaves it in his room -- and then is heinously murdered. Before long, Jerry finds out about the contents of the satchel -- a device known as the Michaux Death Ray -- and he''s off on an odyssey!

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

It wasn’t fair! Just because Joe "Zicky" Czeszczicki had the misfortune to hire as his lawyer, ''Golden-Tongue'' Winfrock, who died right before the trial, Joe was slated to die in 48 hours! There''s no way a man accused of murdering a State''s Attorney could beat those kinds of odds. But Joe didn''t know about Crystal Armswayne of London and how she would figure into his life -- and he knew even less about Tuddleton T. Trotter, ingenious author of Mathematics versus Crime. All of these threads -- and more -- come together in a masterwork of webworkian logic! [Note: This is the longer, British version of the book.]

"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- Neil Gaiman

Sheriff Lafe Whitecotton has a problem: sleepwalking Whisperwell Jenkins has stolen and burned some important evidence -- as well as $500 in cold cash! -- from his office and now everyone blames him for just about everything. Throw in a mysterious letter that claims that a book called THE CHINESE CHARACTER holds the clue to a murder and a doddering old detective named Tuddleton Trotter and you have the makings of one of the goldangdest Keeler novels that never made it to print! How Lafe and Tuddleton band together to solve this case is a tale only webworking Harry Stephen Keeler could have devised.

"The Babe from Hell!" gasped Andre Marceau just as the wire rightened around his neck. A second later he lay sprawled on the ground -- dead. Close by his body were the tracks of tiny footsteps, beginning nowhere and leading nowhere...the only clues to one of the most shocking crimes of the Twentieth Century!

That was the beginning of a mystery that Scotland Yark sleuths worked on frantically for two years and then abandoned in despair, without a solution. Yet it was to be solved, not by a detective, but by a resourceful and imaginative American newspaper man, who tracked down an overlooked clue and reopened the case. The thread of Destiny which brought a horrible death to Andre Marceau stretched through Europe to Japan and Australia and even America!

A man standing in a darkened room notices that someone is breaking in via the window. He waits until the intruder is inside then holds him at gunpoint. The two then embark on the most audacious conversation any author has ever had the nerve to write. By the end of the book you''ll be exhausted by the tales each man tells, each more unbelievable than the last. The climax will leave you gasping!