Obelists En Route

First published in 1937, a Golden Age classic murder mystery set on a cross-country train. 
 
‘A highly ingenious, entertaining and unusual tale’ – Daily Herald 
 
The luxurious Transcontinental Express, a locomotive journeying coast-to-coast across the United States, is the height of 1930s technology and sophistication. Alongside carriages for dining, drinking and dancing, there’s even a swimming pool car. And it’s there, just one day into the journey, that the corpse of a banker is found. 
 
With a killer on the train, the passengers soon begin to turn on one another. It's up to the clever Dr Pons – with his sharp wit and knack for impossible puzzles – to get to the bottom of the case, even as every new piece of evidence seems to suggest more perplexing possibilities. 
 
‘Ingenious . . . A satisfyingly complex solution to both crimes’ – Booklist 
 
‘Extravagantly brainy, gloriously dated’ – Kirkus

A highly ingenious, entertaining and unusual tale.

Ingenious . . . A satisfyingly complex solution to both crimes.

Extravagantly brainy, gloriously dated.

C. Daly King (Author) 
C. Daly King (1895-1963) was an American psychologist and detective story writer. He was born in New York City and educated at Yale University. After fighting in World War I, he worked in textiles and in advertising before returning to school to study psychology, with a particular focus on sleep and consciousness. In the 1930s, King published nine books that quickly established him as a master of the Golden Age mystery, but ceased writing fiction with the advent of World War II. 
 
Otto Penzler (Introducer) 
Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year.

First published in 1937, a Golden Age classic murder mystery set on a cross-country train. 
 
‘A highly ingenious, entertaining and unusual tale’ – Daily Herald 
 
The luxurious Transcontinental Express, a locomotive journeying coast-to-coast across the United States, is the height of 1930s technology and sophistication. Alongside carriages for dining, drinking and dancing, there’s even a swimming pool car. And it’s there, just one day into the journey, that the corpse of a banker is found. 
 
With a killer on the train, the passengers soon begin to turn on one another. It's up to the clever Dr Pons – with his sharp wit and knack for impossible puzzles – to get to the bottom of the case, even as every new piece of evidence seems to suggest more perplexing possibilities. 
 
‘Ingenious . . . A satisfyingly complex solution to both crimes’ – Booklist 
 
‘Extravagantly brainy, gloriously dated’ – Kirkus

C. Daly King

Martin Edwards

‘Unusually puzzling … highly enthralling’

‘Ingenious . . . a delightful Golden Age return.’

A forgotten Golden Age classic, set aboard a luxury transatlantic cruise liner – the perfect holiday read! 
 
‘Unusually puzzling … highly enthralling’ – New York Times 
 
The lights go off aboard the luxury transatlantic cruise liner, Meganaut, as it makes its way from New York to Paris. In the darkness, a gunshot rings out. And when the light is restored, a man is found dead in the smoking room. 
 
But the situation becomes more complicated when the passengers realise that the deceased had apparently ingested cyanide just seconds before being shot. 
 
There are four psychiatrists aboard and they convince the captain to let them take a stab at solving the crime. Will their knowledge of the human psyche be a help or a hindrance? And can they figure out the puzzle’s solution before the killer strikes again? 
 
‘Ingenious . . . a delightful Golden Age return’ – Booklist

C. Daly King

Praise for Obelists At Sea

‘Unusually puzzling … highly enthralling’

‘Ingenious . . . a delightful Golden Age return.’

Books by C. Daly King

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