<div>Twelve loving parodies of the great detective&mdash;each a masterpiece in its own right The world-famous amateur detective Schlock Homes is making his way through breakfast when a telegram arrives. It takes but a moment&rsquo;s deduction for the brilliant sleuth to determine that it was sent by a woman named Miss Wimpole, and that she is terribly upset. Homes knows this because the telegram reads, &ldquo;I am terribly upset,&rdquo; and is signed, &ldquo;Miss Wimpole.&rdquo; Miss Wimpole brings a case that stretches from the tombs of Egypt to the deserts of Mexico, with a stop at the racetrack in between, and it is but the first misadventure in this riotous collection of tales. Whether chasing a counterfeit sovereign or an &ldquo;Adam Bomb,&rdquo; Schlock Homes and Dr. Watney never fail to have a marvelous time&mdash;even if they don&rsquo;t quite catch their man.</div>

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The Incredible Schlock Homes

<div>A Sherlock Holmes script sparks controversy and murder in Hollywood in a &ldquo;most engrossing mystery&rdquo; from the author of Nine Times Nine (The New Yorker). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. When Metropolis Pictures announces plans to make a movie out of an Arthur Conan Doyle classic, it triggers outrage from a group of Sherlock Holmes fans called the Baker Street Irregulars. In hopes of calming their protest, the studio invites the five members to advise on the film, and even throws them a celebration in a house numbered 221B. Also on the guest list is Los Angeles police detective A. Jackson. He was hoping to spend his night off hanging out at a Hollywood party with his brother, Paul, the famous actor. Instead he finds himself in one of the most bizarre murder cases he&rsquo;s ever encountered, complete with cryptograms and a disappearing corpse, all of which results in a &ldquo;delightfully farcical narrative, which offers a surprise on nearly every page&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). </div>

The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars

<div>Sister Ursula, a Los Angeles nun who makes a habit of sleuthing, tackles a locked room murder in this &ldquo;delightful . . . original&rdquo; mystery classic (The New York Times Book Review). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. The guilty better say their prayers when Sister Ursula is on the case&mdash;in this acclaimed mystery novel, which remains &ldquo;as expert as a fencer&rsquo;s skill and as fresh as a daisy&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). The head of the Children of Light, cloaked in his yellow robe, has placed the ancient curse of the Nine Times Nine upon Wolfe Harrigan, the famed author and debunker of cults, who naturally scoffs. The next day, Wolfe&rsquo;s assistant, Matt Duncan, sees something in the window of Wolfe&rsquo;s study that throws him into a panic: a man in a yellow robe. When Wolfe is found alone and dead inside the study, the police are stumped. All the windows were locked, and Wolfe&rsquo;s sister, who was sitting right outside the door, claims she saw no one come out. The baffling case doesn&rsquo;t add up for family friend Sister Ursula. But she&rsquo;ll need a miracle if she hopes to divine the truth before the killer strikes again . . .</div>

Nine Times Nine

<div>Murder is nothing to sneeze at for Los Angeles private eye Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, in this whodunit from &ldquo;a fine craftsman&rdquo; (Ellery Queen). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. A mysterious stranger has requested Los Angeles private investigator Fergus O&rsquo;Breen investigate the twenty-five-year-old unsolved murder of a bridesmaid at a wedding. But since the man will not reveal his name or allow any new discoveries to be shared with the authorities, O&rsquo;Breen refuses to take the job. Fate, however, steps in, and the gumshoe is soon invited to the silver anniversary celebration of the same wedding on a secluded island just off the coast. The stranger being in attendance isn&rsquo;t the only surprise for Fergus. When all the guests are marooned, it becomes clear someone&rsquo;s out to spoil the party, and O&rsquo;Breen vows to find the culprit before history violently repeats itself . . .</div>

The Case of the Seven Sneezes

<div>A supremely entertaining selection of speculative short fiction from the author of Rocket to the Morgue and &ldquo;The Quest for Saint Aquin.&rdquo; Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. In &ldquo;The Anomaly of the Empty Man,&rdquo; a man seems to have vanished without ever exiting a room, leaving only his clothes behind. In &ldquo;Balaam,&rdquo; a priest and a rabbi go to Mars. Near the desert town of Oasis in the terrifying &ldquo;They Bite,&rdquo; you must be weary of what lurks in the corner of your eye. Private investigator Fergus O&rsquo;Breen has a case involving a time machine and a locked room murder in &ldquo;Elsewhen.&rdquo; And a history professor uses time travel to fiddle with a presidential election in &ldquo;The Other Inauguration.&rdquo; In these and half a dozen other mind-blowing short stories, Boucher deftly combines science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror.</div>

Far and Away

<div>&ldquo;An intricate puzzle cleverly constructed and neatly solved&rdquo; introducing Los Angeles private eye Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, by the author of Nine Times Nine (The New York Times). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. In this &ldquo;entertaining yarn,&rdquo; the first to feature Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, Col. Theodore Rand has received a strange telegram from his friend Humphrey Garnett (Kirkus Reviews). &ldquo;You may be invaluable witness at inquest on my body,&rdquo; it reads. A retired man of leisure, Rand opts to indulge what he thinks is his friend&rsquo;s whim, flying from New York to Garnett&rsquo;s home in Los Angeles&mdash;only to find Garnett dead upon his arrival. After the police arrest the wrong man, Garnett&rsquo;s family friend, rookie PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, is called in to help. An eccentric and unorthodox Irishman, O&rsquo;Breen is eager to take on his first murder case. But with a house full of suspects and a mystery steeped in playing card lore, the deck may be stacked against him. Now O&rsquo;Breen must quickly shuffle through the clues if he hopes to solve this one before the real killer deals another deadly hand . . . </div>

The Case of the Crumpled Knave

<div>Ten otherworldly &ldquo;diabolical delights&rdquo; from the author of Rocket to the Morgue and &ldquo;The Quest for Saint Aquin&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. &ldquo;A fine volume of inventive entertainment&rdquo; (The Times, London), this collection features ten of Boucher&rsquo;s greatest stories of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror. A down on his luck college professor chats with a magician over cocktails, and a hairy situation ensues in &ldquo;The Compleat Werewolf.&rdquo; Private detective Fergus O&rsquo;Breen visits Mexico to investigate a peculiar case of a man with a skeleton in &ldquo;The Pink Caterpillar.&rdquo; Meet androids and aliens in &ldquo;Q.U.R.&rdquo; and &ldquo;Robinc.&rdquo; A terrifying&mdash;but tiny&mdash;demon is summoned in &ldquo;Snulbug.&rdquo; And a man discovers true terror lingering in the corner of his eye in the California desert in &ldquo;They Bite.&rdquo;</div>

The Compleat Werewolf

<div>A professor and a graduate student search for a campus killer in this Golden Age mystery from the author of Nine Times Nine and &ldquo;a fine craftsman&rdquo; (Ellery Queen). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. On the quiet Berkeley campus, a visiting professor has been murdered. Someone stabbed Dr. Hugo Schaedel through the heart with an ice pick, and the only clue found on the scene is a strange symbol scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper. Research fellow Martin Lamb is intrigued by the case and mentions it to his Sanskrit professor, John Ashwin. Together they hope to deduce who did the deed, but with no clear motive, it won&rsquo;t be easy. They&rsquo;ll need to quickly comb the campus for clues and hit the books&mdash;before the killer hits again . . .</div>

The Seven of Calvary

<div>A collection of puzzling whodunits featuring Sister Ursula and Nick Noble, from the author of Nine Times Nine and &ldquo;a fine craftsman&rdquo; (Ellery Queen). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. This anthology features some of Boucher&rsquo;s most beloved characters as well as some less common&mdash;but equally fascinating&mdash;narrators. In part one, &ldquo;An Ennead of Nobles,&rdquo; retired detective Nick Noble, who was asked to leave the force due to his problems with alcohol, is determined to redeem himself by solving the toughest cases. Part two, &ldquo;Conundrums for the Cloister,&rdquo; features the wise and empathetic Sister Ursula, the daughter of a cop who once aspired to work in law and order until health issues caused her to rethink her life&rsquo;s direction and take up holy orders instead. But she still can&rsquo;t give up the habit of sleuthing. Part three, &ldquo;Jeux de Meurtre,&rdquo; offers an assortment of nonseries mystery stories narrated by cops and amateurs detectives&mdash;and occasionally by the murderers themselves.</div>

Exeunt Murderers

<div>When it&rsquo;s curtains for a theater director, Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen takes center stage in this locked room mystery from the author of Nine Times Nine. Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award&ndash;winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O&rsquo;Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. Working undercover for an insurance company, Fergus O&rsquo;Breen finds himself part of the cast rehearsing the latest production at the Carruthers Little Theater. He&rsquo;s been asked to keep an eye on playwright Lewis Jordan, who has taken out a joint policy with the director, Rupert Carruthers. If something should happen to one before the play opens, the other is set to collect a fortune. When Carruthers meets an explosive end behind a locked door, O&rsquo;Breen has his work cut out for him. With a theater full of secrets, it&rsquo;s clear everyone in this troupe is putting on a show of their own. Now, aided by the struggling writer, O&rsquo;Breen must determine who&rsquo;s telling the truth and who&rsquo;s acting&mdash;before someone else meets an untimely end . . .</div>

The Case of the Solid Key

<div>&ldquo;A locked-room mystery preoccupies Boucher&rsquo;s brilliant clerical sleuth, Sister Ursula, in this stellar entry . . . a witty satire of SF and fantasy authors.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly (starred review) Legendary science fiction author Fowler Foulkes may be dead, but his creation, the iconic Dr. Derringer, lives on in popular culture. Or, at least, the character would live on if not for Foulkes&rsquo;s predatory and greedy heir Hilary, who, during his time as the inflexible guardian of the estate, has created countless enemies in the relatively small community of writers of the genre. So when he is stabbed nearly to death in a room with only one door, which nobody was seen entering or exiting, Foulkes suspects a writer. Fearing that the assailant will return, he asks for police protection, and when more potentially-fatal encounters follow, it becomes clear to Detective Terry Marshall and his assistant, the inquisitive nun, Sister Ursula, that death awaits Mr. Foulkes around every corner. Now, they&rsquo;ll have to work overtime to thwart the would-be murderer&#8213;a task that requires a deep dive into the strange, idiosyncratic world of science fiction in its early days. With characters based heavily on Anthony Boucher&rsquo;s friends at the Manana Literary Society, including Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and Jack Parsons, Rocket to the Morgue is both a classic locked room mystery and an enduring portrait of a real-life writing community. Reprinted for the first time in over thirty years, the book is a must-read for fans of mysteries and science fiction alike. &ldquo;A privileged and unusual glimpse into a specific time and place concerning the formation of the Golden Age of American science fiction.&rdquo; &mdash;MysteryTribune<ul></ul></div>

Anthony Boucher
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Books By Anthony Boucher (10 Books)

The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars

Nine Times Nine

The Case of the Seven Sneezes

Far and Away

The Case of the Crumpled Knave

The Compleat Werewolf

The Seven of Calvary

Exeunt Murderers

The Case of the Solid Key

Rocket to the Morgue

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Anthony BoucherFollow this author