—This is a guest post by Zach Klitzman, a writer-editor in the Publishing Office. It will also appear in the January-February issue of the Library of Congress Magazine.
A poisoned opera prompter. A conjure-man bludgeoned with a bone. A hat-pin used as a murder weapon. A cat burglar jumping across the roof of a chateau. A police chief draining a lake to look for a missing girl.
These characters and hundreds more can be found in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series. Launched in April 2020, the critically acclaimed series features some of the finest American crime writing from the 1860s to the 1960s. Drawn from the Library’s collections, each volume includes the original text, an introduction, author bio, notes, recommendations for further reading and suggested discussion questions from mystery expert Leslie S. Klinger.
This past summer, the Library published the 20th title in the series “Uncle Abner”; the most recent one, “The Cannibal Who Overate,” hit shelves Dec. 9.
“Cannibal,” first published in 1962 by Hugh Pentecost (the pen name of the wildly prolific Judson Philips), marks the debut of Pierre Chambrun, hotel manager and amateur sleuth extraordinaire. He’ll go to any lengths necessary to protect the reputation of his beloved Beaumont Hotel, New York City’s finest. In this, his first adventure, his wealthiest and most obnoxious guest, Aubrey Moon, is so loathed that a club has formed to kill him before his over-the-top birthday party at the Beaumont, which means Chambrun has work to do.
Chambrun and his fictional hotel were a hit, continuing for more than 20 books over the next 26 years.
Many of the Crime Classics books in the series, such as this one, also focus on New York City. But mysteries also abound in a Massachusetts women’s college; the backwoods of West Virginia; a small town in Ohio; Los Angeles and Boston; the Mexican desert; the gorgeous French Riviera; the fog-filled streets of Victorian London; and even the Metropolitan Opera’s backstage.
Historic firsts are presented: the first full-length American detective novel (“The Dead Letter,” from 1866); the first female sleuth to appear in a crime novel series (Amelia Butterworth in “That Affair Next Door,” from 1897); the first novel to feature a Black detective and all Black characters (“The Conjure-Man Dies,” from 1933); and the first police procedural (“V as in Victim,” from 1945).
Whether you enjoy witty short stories, longer complex novels, detectives who use scientific instruments or sleuths who crack cases using their fists, there’s something for all mystery lovers in the series — and all of them are avaiable in the Library of Congress Store and from booksellers worldwide.
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