Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) is best-known for his swashbuckling historical tales of adventure and derring-do. Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, and Scaramouche made his name world-famous. However, not as well-known is that Sabatini wrote a number of first-rate mystery stories, too.
Unlike today with its forensic evidence, DNA testing and other high-tech gadgetry, mysteries of past eras relied on logic and deduction to be solved. While this didn’t make the crime-solver’s job any easier, it makes the reader’s fun all the more enjoyable.
Included in this volume are thirteen short stories and two novelettes; only one of the stories has been reprinted since their early magazine appearances. The narrative skill, the color and drama, the twists and turns in the plot, the sheer ingenuity that Sabatini lavished on his historical fiction are equally evident in these suspenseful stories of spies, mysteries, murder, and morality; blackmail, justice, and revenge.
Match wits, then, with one of the great plotters of 20th century literature. Perhaps you will figure out the outcome of some of these tales; but you will be surprised more than once by others.
The Evidence of the Sword is the 19th in Crippen & Landru’s series of Lost Classics. The cover design is by Tom Roberts.
