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The Birthday Murder
Series: An American Mystery Classic
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Format: Hardback
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When her husband is murdered using a method from one of her books, a screenwriter becomes the main suspect
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
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Description
A successful writer and a B-movie director seem like the perfect match in the Hollywood Hills. With him working to produce her novel for an upcoming film, the pair's recent marriage isn't the only way that they're connected. When the husband is found murdered on the wife's birthday, using a method of poisoning described in one of her books, Victoria suddenly becomes the main suspect as her new happy life comes crashing down around her.
The case appears straightforward from the outside, but the LAPD investigator on the scene finds the truth to be anything but. Though all the signs point to Victoria, there's no motive to be found. To solve the mystery of whodunnit, he must dig beneath the veneer of the household to reveal its inner workings and understand the deadly drama that unfolded just beneath the surface.
Reprinted for the first time in over half a century, The Birthday Murder is a beautifully written and psychologically astute Golden Age mystery set in old Los Angeles. It will appeal to fans of vintage whodunnits and standout domestic suspense authors from the era, such as Dorothy B. Hughes, Charlotte Armstrong, and Margaret Millar.
Series: An American Mystery Classic
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The Birthday Murder
A successful writer and a B-movie director seem like the perfect match in the Hollywood Hills. With him working to produce her novel for an upcoming film, the pair's recent marriage isn't the only way that they're connected. When the husband is found murdered on the wife's birthday, using a method of poisoning described in one of her books, Victoria...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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"I came here to make a dead man change his mind." So begins a creepy and unusual mystery celebrated to this day as one of the greatest "impossible crime" novels of all time. When a family's promise to protect the beloved pine grove of their dead father creates a financial strain, a séance is suggested to summon the ghost of...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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For Ellery Queen, there is no puzzle that reason cannot solve. In his time, he has faced down killers, thugs, and thieves, protected only by the might of his brain—and the odd bit of timely intervention by his father, a burly New York police inspector. But when a university professor asks Queen to teach a class, the detective finds there...Hardback$6400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Golden Age Bibliomysteries
Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is so reflexive and intriguing as the "bibliomystery": stories that involve crimes set, somehow, in the world of books. In Vincent Starrett's A Volume of Poe, a bookseller is murdered; in Ellery Queen's The Adventure of the Three R's, the detective tracks the disappearance of a local Missouri author; and a killer stalks the...Paperback$5100Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Great Mistake
In an elaborate house known as the Cloisters, Maud Wainwright rules supreme. The queen of society in the small town of Beverly, she has a table long enough to seat one hundred, and she keeps an iron grip on the guest list. Her right-hand woman is Pat Abbott, a local girl who is beautiful, innocent, and kind. Pat has no...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Headed for a Hearse
Robert Westland's date with the executioner is just around the corner when he finally decides to fight the murder rap sending him to the electric chair. Framed for his wife's grisly demise, Westland is in a bind, and his last hope is Bill Crane, a booze-soaked detective who's as ruthless with a quip as he is when trawling the streets...Paperback$4500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Alarm of the Black Cat
A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks elderly detective fiction fan Rachel Murdock's obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realises they've landed right in the middle of a deadly love...Paperback$4700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Widening Stain
For the staff of the library at the centre of The Widening Stain, it's easy enough to dismiss the death of a woman who fell from a rolling ladder as nothing more than an unfortunate accident. It's more difficult, however, to explain away the strangled corpse of a man found inside a locked room, surrounded by rare and obscure erotica....Paperback$4700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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The journey of the Mexico City-bound Pullman seems ill-fated from the outset, with engine troubles and the threat of an impending railway strike. However, no one aboard expects the terror that will descend upon the luxury train between Laredo and its destination. First, a man dies as the vehicle passes through a dark tunnel, and then, just as United States...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Golden Age Bibliomysteries
Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is so reflexive and intriguing as the "bibliomystery": stories that involve crimes set, somehow, in the world of books. In Vincent Starrett's A Volume of Poe, a bookseller is murdered; in Ellery Queen's The Adventure of the Three R's, the detective tracks the disappearance of a local Missouri author; and a killer stalks the...HardbackSold Out -
Golden Age Detective Stories
Sometimes, the police aren't the best suited to solve a crime. Depending on the case, you may find that a retired magician, a schoolteacher, a Broadway producer, or a nun have the necessary skills to suss out a killer. Or, in other cases, a blind veteran, or a publisher, or a hard-drinking attorney, or a mostly-sober attorney… or, indeed, any...PaperbackSold Out
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781613164310
Publisher: Penzler Publishers
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 01 August 2023
Country: United States
Imprint: American Mystery Classics
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 23.0mm
Width: 145.0mm
Height: 213.0mm
Weight: 380g
Pages: 264
About the Author
Lange Lewis was the pseudonym of Los Angeles-based writer Jane Lewis Brandt (1915-2003). She also wrote as Jane Beynon and under her own name.
Also by Lange Lewis
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The Birthday Murder
A successful writer and a B-movie director seem like the perfect match in the Hollywood Hills. With him working to produce her novel for an upcoming film, the pair's recent marriage isn't the only way that they're connected. When the husband is found murdered on the wife's birthday, using a method of poisoning described in one of her books, Victoria...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
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