Ingenious airborne murder mystery
DALY KING, C. Obelists Fly High. New York: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas. 1935.
8vo. Publisher's beige cloth, spine lettered in orange; in the original illustrated dust-wrapper (not price-clipped); pp. [xii], 11-343, [3]; slight sunning to spine; a few nicks to extremities of wrapper, with a small enclosed tear to spine; light even discoloration to wrapper; light spotting to edges, with minimal internal spotting; a good copy in the scarce wrapper.
First edition.
C. Daly King was an American author known for his detective fiction series featuring the character of Professor John Stubbs, an amateur mystery-solving detective. Known for its clever plotting and intriguing premise, Obelists Fly High is considered a standout work by Daly King, and is often praised as a classic of locked-room mystery fiction. As Professor Stubbs finds himself entangled in another complex mystery involving a murder that takes place during a flight, the circumstances of the crime make it appear highly unlikely that anyone on board could have committed the murder. Professor Stubbs, an obelist himself, being "one who views with suspicion," puts this suspicious and inquisitive nature to the test to unravel the mystery and uncover the truth behind the murder.
Though Daly King did not produce a large bibliography in his life, his contributions to the locked-room mystery genre are highly regarded, and his novels are exemplary of the classic and Golden Age of detective fiction.
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