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.
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.
