Customer Reviews

Death from a Top Hat (Merlini Mystery)

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Rawson -- now pretty much forgotten -- was a magician and wrote 4 locked room mystery novels. The writing is par for the course with such things but the ingenuity matches John Dickson Carr's (OK, nothing matches Carr's story the House in Goblin Woood. But these come close).

"Death From a Top Hat" has been called a great first novel. For fans of locked-room mysteries, author Clayton Rawson does indeed offer a feast. The book features two locked-room murders and pays homage to the master of the impossible crime, John Dickson Carr, by containing a discussion of the sort found in Carr's "The Three Coffins."

The book, one of the "Golden Age" mysteries, features the Great Merlini as the man who solves the crimes. Merlini is a magician and Rawson's frequent protagonist. When a magician is found dead inside his locked and thoroughly sealed apartment, police call in Merlini to help explain the impossible. The suspects, however, are all magicians, and any one of them probably could have come up with several ways of achieving the effect. Before all is said and done, Rawson gives a fascinating look at the world of magic and misdirection. Fans of contemporary mysteries might not be happy with the lack of character development, of which there is almost none. But for those who like their mysteries to be baffling conundrums, this book is a must-read.

Written in the florid style of its time, this book is fun to read if you don't take it too seriously. A good introduction to the Great Merlini, who is featured in three other mysteries novels, the best of which is No Coffin for the Corpse.