The Dead Man Laughs

The dead man laughs as a scientific sleuth tackles the riddle of a mysterious fire!

Excerpt

At the west edge of the village the Johnson Apartments stood in a big, somber, tree-shrouded garden—an old-fashioned dingy-looking frame building of three stories, divided now into half a dozen apartments. The fire engines already were there; the place was in a turmoil, with pedestrians and cars miraculously arriving.
“I guess they’ve got it out,” Dr. Feather observed. “We’ll stay here, Kit.”
Captain Allen had leaped out and run into the house. Smoke was pouring from some of the windows. On the dark front porch several of the partly clad tenants were gathered with their belongings around them. But quite evidently the fire was already under control.
Then suddenly Captain Allen came dashing from the house. His face was grim.
“The fire—” Dr. Feather began.
“It’s out,” Alien said. “Amounts to nothing now—one of the lodgers fortunately discovered it almost at once. But old Ezra Kaine—he’s dead!”
“Dead, Captain? Dear me—why—” He seized Allen and lowered his voice. “Not murder, by any chance?”
“Dead in his bed up there,” Alien said grimly. “I phoned for some of my men—for the Kaine’s family physician, and the medical examiner. You can’t tell—”