Murder with a Past

A man must hunt for a burglar’s killer in order to save his wife in this classic from a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.

“Ellery Queen clearly is, after Poe, the most important American in mystery fiction.” —Otto Penzler, editor of The Best American Mystery Stories

It’s been three days since David Tully has seen his wife, and there’s a homicide cop waiting at his front door. Someone has been murdered, but it’s not Ruth Tully. The dead man is Crandall Cox. The name is unfamiliar, but he was killed with Tully’s gun. At the time of the murder, Tully was hard at work at the state capital. His alibi may be airtight, but his wife’s is not. There’s a warrant out for Ruth’s arrest, and if the cops find her before Tully can uncover the truth, she’ll get the chair.

Nobody is sorry to see Crandall Cox dead. He was a crook, with dirt on every man in town and an eye on every woman. Finding his killer will drag Tully into the mud, but he’ll brave anything to keep his beloved alive.