A Puzzle for Fools

Peter Duluth Mystery

A Puzzle for Fools
Otto Penzler, Patrick Quentin
RRP:
NZ$ 29.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 25.49
Paperback
h203 x 135mm - 264pg
25 Feb 2020 US
International import eta 10-30 days
9781613161258
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
Broadway producer Peter Duluth sought solace in a bottle after his wife' s death; now, two years later and desperate to dry out, he enters a sanitarium, hoping to break his dependence on drink-but the institution doesn' t quite offer the rest and relaxation he expected. Strange, malevolent occurrences plague the hospital; and among other inexplicable events, Peter hears his own voice with an ominous warning: "There will be murder. " It soon becomes clear that a homicidal maniac is on the loose, and, with a staff every bit as erratic as its idiosyncratic patients, it seems everyone is a suspect-even Duluth' s new romantic interest, Iris Pattison. Charged by the baffled head of the ward with solving the crimes, it' s up to Peter to clear her name before the killer strikes again. Reprinted for the first time in over thirty years, A Puzzle for Fools is the atmospheric and complex mystery that first introduced Peter Duluth; the character and his love interest Iris went on to star in eight more novels, two of which were adapted for film.
"Another absolute gem unearthed by Otto Penzler and included in his American Mystery Classics series. . . . What a find!" -- Booklist (Starred review) "Baffling crimes, brilliant writing. " -- Saturday Review "Mr. Quentin is a craftsman of the first class" -- The Times Literary Supplement "Good atmosphere and background" -- Kirkus
Patrick Quentin is one of the pseudonyms of Hugh Callingham Wheeler (1912-1987), who collaborated with several other authors on the books written as by Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge. Wheeler was born in London but moved to the United States in 1934 and became a U. S. citizen, as did one of his writing partners, Richard Wilson Webb; he also collaborated with Martha (Patsy) Mott Kelly. After producing more than 30 mystery novels, Wheeler gravitated to the stage and wrote the book for A Little Night Music, Candide, and Sweeney Todd, all of which earned him Tony awards. Two Peter Duluth novels inspired films: Homicide for Three (1948) and Black Widow (1954), which starred Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, Ginger Rogers and George Raft. Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of the Mysterious Press (1975), a literary crime imprint now associated with Grove/Atlantic; Mysterious Press. com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City' s Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, 1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from Noircon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781613161258
Published: 25 Feb 2020
Published In: United States
Imprint: Penzler Publishers
Publisher: Penzler Publishers
Format: Paperback
Height: 203mm
Width: 135mm
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 286g
Pages: 264

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