Rim of the Pit

"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 the late logger and ask its permission. A mixed group of sceptics and believers convene at a snow-bound lodge to call the spirit with a group that includes a gambler, a businessman, a clairvoyant, a professor, and a refugee, among others. With so many diverse interests at the table, the tensions run high— but when one of the participants ends up dead, there is reason to suspect that a nefarious spirit is to blame.

The body is discovered in a locked room, impenetrable from the outside— just one of many bizarre and inexplicable circumstances surrounding the scene of the crime. There is also the trail of footprints in the snow, beginning and ending amid a field of untouched powder; another on the roof, with the tracks leading for a short distance before vanishing into nothingness; and, there are fingerprints on a gun suspended at an unreachable height…

Supernatural undertones and eerie atmosphere clear away in the third act to present a logical conclusion to the case, teasing out the clues and murder methods that unscrupulous readers may have missed. With its off-beat exposition, puzzling plot and exceptional prose, Rim of the Pit is a cult classic of the Golden Age era deserving of a wide audience today.