The Smiling Corpse

THE SMILING CORPSE is one of the most unusual books you'll read this year, and it's a pretty good bet you haven't read this since it came out in 1935. It's a mystery, but unlike any mystery you've ever read, because the "detectives" in this tale are quite recognizable -- as mystery writers of the Golden Age, such as S.S. Van Dine, G.K. Chesterton, Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, and Sax Rohmer. The book has an introduction, The Smiling Corpse-A Re-Introduction by J. Randolph Cox, as well as a Preface by John Graham Ballantine, and there's even a "Who's Who" in case you've forgotten some of the old masters of mystery who show up as characters in this crazy novel. There are also several beautiful illustrations by Georg Hartmann.