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The Widening Stain
Series: An American Mystery Classic
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 399 ratings, 109 reviews)
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The Widening Stain
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See moreMurders plague a university library—and only an intrepid book cataloger can solve them.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
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. And that's not all—a valuable manuscript has vanished from the stacks, which means that both a killer and a thief are loose in the facility's hallowed halls.
It's up to chief cataloguer Gilda Gorham to solve the crimes but, unless she's careful, the next death in the library might just be her own...
A humorous and literary Golden Age mystery, The Widening Stain is adorned with as many playful limericks as it is with bibliographic details. The book, which offers a satirical glimpse of academic life at an institution strongly resembling Cornell University, is one of the most beloved bibliomysteries (mysteries involving books) of all time.
Series: An American Mystery Classic
View all-
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 -
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 -
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$4800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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In the rough edges of 1940s Chicago, the discovery of a corpse in an alleyway isn't always enough to cause a big stir—especially when the victim is killed in the midst of a night-long bender, caught between barrooms in what appears to be a mugging gone awry. Which is why the police don't take a huge interest in finding the...Paperback$4700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Waltz into Darkness
When New Orleans coffee merchant Louis Durand first meets his bride-to-be after a months-long courtship by mail, he's shocked that she doesn't match the photographs sent with her correspondence. But Durand has told his own fibs, concealing from her the details of his wealth, and so he mostly feels fortunate to find her so much more beautiful than expected. Soon...Hardback$6600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The American Gun Mystery
When a washed-up Hollywood cowboy-turned-circus rodeo actor is shot dead in the midst of his performance at a New York sports-palace, in front of thousands of onlookers, it seems obvious that someone would have seen the perpetrator of the crime—or at the very least, recovered the gun. But when the ensuing investigation fails to turn up any evidence, even after...Hardback$6500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Spanish Cape Mystery
The Godfrey family is vacationing among the picturesque rocky cliffs of the North Atlantic seaboard, expecting peace, quiet, and perhaps a bit of golf or tennis. But one dusky evening, in an isolated spot on the grounds of Spanish Cape, Rosa and her uncle David get into an argument about her secretive romance with one of their guests, the roguish...Hardback$6500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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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...PaperbackSold 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 -
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...PaperbackSold Out -
Waltz into Darkness
When New Orleans coffee merchant Louis Durand first meets his bride-to-be after a months-long courtship by mail, he's shocked that she doesn't match the photographs sent with her correspondence. But Durand has told his own fibs, concealing from her the details of his wealth, and so he mostly feels fortunate to find her so much more beautiful than expected. Soon...PaperbackSold Out
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The Widening Stain is praised for its clever blend of humour and mystery, creating a smart and entertaining classic. Reviews highlight its intriguing and perplexing plot set in an academic environment, delivering a captivating story.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781613161715
Publisher: Penzler Publishers
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 04 August 2020
Country: United States
Imprint: American Mystery Classics
Contributors:
- Introduction by Nicholas A. Basbanes
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 135.0mm
Height: 206.0mm
Weight: 280g
Pages: 288
About the Author
W. Bolingbroke Johnson was the pseudonym of Morris Bishop (1893-1973), an American scholar, historian, essayist, translator, and versifier. While best known for his writings on the Middle Ages and his work with light verse, he was an authority on many subjects, including the history of Cornell University, where he taught and served as the university historian. The Widening Stain is his only work of fiction. Nicholas A. Basbanes is the author of nine works of cultural history, with a particular emphasis on various aspects of books, book history, and book culture. In addition to his books, Basbanes has written for numerous newspapers, magazines, and journals, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, and lectures widely on a variety of cultural subjects. Among his most well-known titles are A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books and On Paper: The Everything of Its Two Thousand Year History.
Also by W. Bolingbroke Johnson
View all-
The Widening Stain
For the staff of the library at the center 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....HardbackSold Out
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