Characters dressed in the garb of 17th century plague doctors roaming alleyways haunted by Jack the Ripper… A plague victim vanishing off a stretcher under the noses of witnesses a few feet away… The corpse of the same victim reappearing under the nose of a police officer half a mile away. How are such things possible in the London of 1938? Are the events connected to a conversation overheard between a celebrated writer of mystery plays and his principal actor, where each accepts a challenge to commit a murder and pin it on the other? And what is the connection to a replica of Maelzelā€™s chess-playing robot? The famous criminologist Dr. Alan Twist and Inspector Archibald Hurst of Scotland Yard face one of the most diabolically clever criminals in their long collaboration.

Originally Published Original Language Translated
1991 French 2012 by John Pugmire

 

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