An heiress has been murdered, and only Fleming Stone can see the vital evidence Madeleine Van Norman is the most eligible young woman in the state, a beautiful young lady who is soon to come into her fortune. From her countless suitors, she makes a peculiar choice, agreeing to marry a stuffy man who loves someone else. On the eve of the wedding, Madeleine shuts herself away in a locked room to think about what she is about to do—and in the morning, she is found gruesomely murdered. Every member of the household is a suspect, but no one understands how the killer could have slipped through the locked doors of Madeleine’s bedroom. As the town whirls into a tailspin of suspicion and fear, it falls to the brilliant detective Fleming Stone to pick out the person who stabbed Madeleine to death—a baffling mystery that hinges on the discovery of a single, all-important clue. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

A detective investigating the murder of a millionaire teams up with master sleuth Fleming Stone in this clever mystery from a pioneer of American crime fiction Eager to prove himself as talented a crime-solver as his hero, the famous investigator Fleming Stone, young detective Herbert Burroughs takes on a puzzling case: the murder of wealthy businessman Joseph Crawford, who was killed in the study of his New Jersey home. With no shortage of suspects, the primary clue is a woman’s gold bag discovered at the scene of the crime. Burroughs believes the old man’s lovely niece is innocent, and he’s beginning to fall for her besides. But the young woman has a clear motive: She stands to inherit the bulk of Crawford’s fortune—and she admits to owning a gold purse! Her unscrupulous fiancé might be the real culprit, however, or it could be one of the millionaire victim’s several disloyal servants. No matter how hard he tries, Burroughs cannot make sense of the clues he unearths, and it soon becomes apparent that only a mind as perceptive as Fleming Stone’s can solve this impossible crime. So the student decides to turn to the master—even if it means seeing the object of his heart’s desire proven guilty once and for all. This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

A respectable young attorney in New York City, Otis Landon has barely settled into his new living quarters when an incident occurs in a neighboring apartment that he cannot, in good conscience, ignore. Robert Pembroke, a vicious, miserly man, has been murdered behind locked doors. The only people who had access to the victim were his servant and his niece. The latter, Miss Janet Pembroke, seems the suspect most likely to have eliminated her uncle with a hatpin, but her obvious distress and gentle demeanor convince Landon she is innocent. Besides, he may be falling in love with her. Obsessed with proving Miss Pembroke’s innocence, Landon follows a perplexing chain of evidence that includes a railroad schedule, a key to a safe deposit box, ticket stubs to a music hall performance, and a monogrammed handkerchief. But with time running out and no solution in sight, he must turn to Fleming Stone, the only detective smart enough to make sense of it all. This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

A high-class soiree turns deadly in this classic mystery featuring the ingenious investigator Fleming Stone Phillip Maxwell has a rare gift for hosting parties. He fills his spacious estate with a wide range of lively, personable, and attractive revelers, ever the guarantee of a fine time for all. But his latest fete is interrupted when a bullet abruptly and permanently curtails the festivities. The murder weapon is quickly located in the hand of an unconscious woman lying next to the corpse, and the victim is none other than the convivial host himself! Despite the damning evidence implicating the comatose woman, Maxwell’s friend Peter King realizes that virtually everyone on the guest list is a suspect. King came to the party hoping to spend time with the delightful Irene Gardner, but he now finds himself saddled with the unenviable task of having to ferret out a killer. His burden is considerably lightened, however, when master detective Fleming Stone arrives to investigate the perplexing crime. This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Eccentric millionaire David Van Wyck has decided to pledge all his money away, leaving his wife Anne nothing but her jewelry to survive on. When David sees Anne flirting with an old high school friend during a weekend party at his mansion, Buttonwood Terrace, he decides to include Anne’s gems in his giveaway. David Wyck is found murdered the next morning in a locked-room and while suspicion initially points to Anne, it becomes apparent that several of Wyck’s guests had a motive for the crime. The narrator of the story, the guest Ann is in love with, prays that the culprit is ‘Anybody but Anne.’ In a structural twist, Detective Fleming Stone appears in the preamble and returns in the third act, book-ending the mystery, rather than merely appearing in the denouement.

Guests gather for the weekend at White Birches, the upper New York mansion of millionaire scion Justin Arnold. Festivities are cut short when the host inexplicably goes missing, presumed to be hiding or unwell somewhere within the grounds of his heavily protected, fortress-like estate. With amateur sleuths and the local police unable to solve the mystery, they call in Detective Fleming Stone and what starts as a missing person thriller becomes a murder mystery in this clever locked-room puzzler from Carolyn Wells, author of The Clue .

When wealthy heiress Lucy Carrington is found murdered in the bedroom of her Long Island estate, suspects abound: the rich woman’s pretty niece, the social secretary, the cousin who managed her finances, the suspicious maid, a mysterious “count” and even the strange neighbor. With police baffled, master criminologist Fleming Stone is called in. But in a romantic twist, the great detective loses his heart to the primary suspect. Will she reciprocate? Will he get too close to her to solve the mystery of… The Curved Blades ... Curl up with this classic cozy whodunit from Carolyn Wells, author of The Clue.

Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original hardcover edition for enjoyable reading. \\\* A young heiress learns of the death of her uncle and is determined to find out who is the murderer. Carolyn Wells inspires and entertains with her classical mystery masterpiece, the Mark of Cain, guaranteed to feed the mystery monster that craves suspense!

Chester Calhoun lives with his sister and his aunt in a house on the upper east side, and across the street lives beautiful and mysterious society hostess Victoria Van Allen, known to her friends as Vicky Van. Vicky is a an enigma. She lives in a stunningly appointed house with a servant but no one really knows anything about her. She’s vivacious and a little bit Bohemian, but entirely respectable. Vicky often hosts bridge parties for well-heeled New York socialites. One night, a wealthy millionaire is stabbed to death at one of these salons, and Vicky Van disappears before the police can be summoned. Chester is convinced that Vicky didn’t do it, despite the circumstances. The police discover that the millionaire was not merely a random millionaire, but a well-known businessman with ties to Vicky’s past. Fleming Stone is summoned and for once he has an assistant. Fibsy is one of the rare sidekicks who is actually allowed to figure out the solution to the mystery. The surprise twist ending is one of Carolyn Wells’ best.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Raspberry Jam is a classic locked-room whodunit featuring Detective Fleming Stone and is widely considered to be one of the best of the Fleming Stone Mysteries. Millionaire Sanford Embury is found dead in bed, alone, with the door of his second-story bedroom bolted shut from the inside. He was known to be a controlling husband, refusing to give his pretty young wife an allowance of cash or her own checking account. Was his wife a party to the murder, or perhaps did she commit the murder in a fit of rage? Who else had a motive? And how does a clue of raspberry jam point to the killer? Curl up with the classic cozy locked-room mystery from the author of The Clue.

Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVIII A FINAL CONFESSION Inquiry for Keefe brought the information that he had gone to a nearby town, but would be back at dinner-time. Mr. Appleby was also expected to arrive for dinner, coming from home in his motor car. But in the late afternoon a severe storm set in. The wind rose rapidly and gained great velocity while the rain fell steadily and hard. Curtis Keefe arrived, very wet indeed, though he had protecting clothing. But a telephone message from Sam Appleby said that he was obliged to give up all idea of reaching Sycamore Ridge that night. He had stopped at a roadhouse, and owing to the gale he dared not venture forth again until the storm was over. He would therefore not arrive until next day. "Lucky we got his word," said Mr. Wheeler. "This storm will soon put many telephone wires out of commission." When Keefe came down at the dinner hour, he found Maida alone in the living-room, evidently awaiting him. "My darling! " he exclaimed, going quickly to her side, "my own little girl! Are you here to greet me?" "Yes," she said, and suffered rather than welcomed his caressing hand on her shoulder. "Curtis, I told them you would tell them who killed Mr. Appleby." "So I will, dearest, after dinner. Let's not have unpleasant subjects discussed at table. I've been to Rushfield and I've found out all the particulars that I hadn't already learned, and—I've got actual proofs! Now, who's a cleverer detective than the professionals?" "Then that's all right . Now, are you sure you can also get father freed?" "I hope to, dear. That's all I can say at present. Do you take me for a magician? I assure you I'm only an ordinary citizen. But I" "But you promised" "Yes, my little love, I did, and I well know that you promised because I did! Well, I fancy I shall keep every promise I ...

Corinth is a small, New England college town. The biggest concern is the recent selection of a new president of the university and his upcoming nuptials. With the exception of a few grumblings of the selection process, everything is going fine. That is until a strange new woman comes in to town. Who is she? Why is she there? And when murder strikes the quiet little town, everyone wonders what role was played by . . .The Mystery Girl

Feathers Left Around, by Carolyn Wells is a Fleming Stone Detective novel. A dreadful crime so veiled in mystery as to baffle the efforts of the cleverest of detectives. Fleming Stone, a quiet scholarly type, fond of good books and better manners, is called in to solve an "impossible" crime when all the resources of local law enforcement have failed.

A popular playwright is found stabbed with his own pen, made from a medieval dagger. Unconscious on the floor of a telephone booth lies Mrs. Guy Thorndike, wife of a prominent actor. On the handle of the weapon, the door of the booth, and the cover of the telephone book, are prints of small bloody fingers which experts identify as hers. Why should Prilligirl kill Mallory Vane when he had just completed the play which is to crown her husband’s triumphs? And why does Thorndike confess to the murder? In the room, unheeded by police and sleuths, is a clue upon which Fleming Stone constructs a daring solution. The yarn is skillfully woven and splendidly told. Prillilgirl, by Carolyn Wells is a Fleming Stone Detective novel. Fleming Stone, a quiet scholarly type, fond of good books and better manners, is called in to solve an "impossible" crime when all the resources of local law enforcement have failed.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

The villagers of New Warwick are familiar with the 'dark time' - a short nightly blackout which occurs as the settlement's electricity supply switches between generators. But for the guests gathered at Twin Towers, the country home of Gaylord Homer, this is a dark time indeed. For when the lights come on again, they discover that someone has taken the opportunity to murder their host under cover of the temporary darkness. Who could have committed this terrible deed? Could it be pretty young Diana Kittredge, whom Homer intended to marry? Could it be Diana's rival Marita Moore? Or Homer's friends Rollin Dare, or Ted Bingham? His secretary Cale Harrison? Or even young flapper Polly Opdyke? Only Fleming Stone can say for sure...

Millionaire Nathaniel Bancroft is going to sit for his portrait, and a committee has been formed to select a painter for the lucrative commission. The committee consists of Nathaniel's daughter Eleanor Bancroft, lawyer Justin Leonard, and art critic Mark Mason. The painters being considered are traditionalist Ellis Kane, modernist Ann Murdock, and bohemian "Pinky" St. Clair. At a gathering at Kane's studio, the principals are seated (mostly) at a round table, looking over Kane's collection of miniature paintings: Suddenly Mason cries out that someone has stepped on his foot, although no one saw this happen. He turns ill immediately and soon is dead. There is no apparent cause, but an autopsy shows poisoning by strophanthin, a cardiac stimulant.

A Fleming Stone Detective novel.

Murder, stalking among the rare and valuable volumes of a bookshop, provides Fleming Stone with one of his most dangerous and stirring cases. Keith Ramsay decided he would have to give up his job as Philip Balfour's librarian because he was falling in love with his employer's wife, alli. But before he could act on his decision, Philip is found murdered in the backroom of Sewall's bookstore—and Keith is suspect number one. However, when police discover that a rare volume, worth one hundred thousand dollars, is missing, other people and varying motives add to the complexity of the case.

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

THE FLEMING STONE MYSTERIES include five full-length mystery novels featuring young sleuth Fleming Stone and his associate, Fibsy. Stone is noted for his ability to solve the most baffled, convoluted locked-room mysteries. Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation. • The Gold Bag • Vicky Van • Raspberry Jam • The Mystery of the Sycamore • The Diamond Pin Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was an American poet and author. Born in New Jersey, Wells married an heir to the Houghton-Mifflin publishing empire and worked as a librarian in Rahway. In the early years of her career she published poetry, verse, and children's works before turning to mystery writing in 1911. Among her more memorable detective characters were Fleming Stone and Pennington Wise.