Madame R** is ill, been that way for a long time. Now she’s dead. Died after drinking something while sleep walking through her husband's laboratory. Turns out it was a poison . . . and her husband had recently taken out five insurance policies on his wife. Insurance investigator Ralph Henderson’s job is to review the case and the legitimacy of the claims.
And, during her illness, 3 more people have died, quite possibly by Baron R**’s hand.
The investigation is presented by Mr. Henderson as his report to the bosses (and to the reader). Page by page, report by report. No narrative. No description of surroundings, or feelings, or expectations, or evil plans. Every bit of information that the insurance company has on the case is in a file folder sitting on a table, in chronological order, and we are starting at page one.
Clever, huh? I thought so. Yes, it’s dry. It’s an insurance investigator’s report for crying out loud. What would you expect? And you know what makes it especially interesting?
It’s an 1865 copyright. Actually, the story was originally begun in 1862 as an eight part serial in a British magazine of the time called Once A Week, which had ties to Charles Dickens. The author was listed as a ‘Charles Felix,’ but subsequent research identified Adams, the sole proprietor of the publisher of this story, as the author.
And if the copyright date doesn’t catch your attention, consider that people who study this sort of thing have pinpointed The Notting Hill Mystery as the first mystery novel, ever . . . the index example of the genre. For no other reason, lovers of mysteries might consider trying to dig this up. And it’s not long at all. By today’s standards, this would be, at best, a novella. A Saturday morning on the deck.
The new edition is being released August 5, 2015.
East Coast Don
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