The Roman hat mystery A problem in deduction

About the book

Monte Field is found dead during a performance at the Roman Theatre, placing a serious investigation inside a public entertainment whose audience has seen different pieces of the evening. Inspector Richard Queen and his son Ellery examine the victim's connections, the movements of possible suspects, and the significance of a top hat that cannot be accounted for. The puzzle gradually gives that missing object more weight than its ordinary appearance would suggest. Father and son contribute different habits of attention, combining police inquiry with a sustained effort to make the facts fit together. This 1929 novel explicitly presents itself as a problem in deduction and includes an invitation for the reader to consider the evidence before the final explanation is supplied.

• Deduction and absence
• Theater and concealment
• Evidence and reconstruction

Why read it

The insistence on explaining a missing everyday object gives the investigation a clear and memorable intellectual focus.

English text of the 1929 Frederick A. Stokes edition