"I came here to make a dead man change his mind."
So begins a creepy and unusual mystery celebrated to this day as one of
the greatest "impossible crime" novels of all time. When a family's
promise to protect the beloved pine grove of their dead father creates a
financial strain, a seance is suggested to summon the ghost of the late
logger and ask its permission. A mixed group of skeptics and believers
convene at a snow-bound lodge to call the spirit with a group that
includes a gambler, a businessman, a clairvoyant, a professor, and a
refugee, among others. With so many diverse interests at the table, the
tensions run high -- but when one of the participants ends up dead,
there is reason to suspect that a nefarious spirit is to blame.
The body is discovered in a locked room, impenetrable from the outside
-- just one of many bizarre and inexplicable circumstances surrounding
the scene of the crime. There is also the trail of footprints in the
snow, beginning and ending amid a field of untouched powder; another on
the roof, with the tracks leading for a short distance before vanishing
into nothingness; and, there are fingerprints on a gun suspended at an
unreachable height...
Supernatural undertones and eerie atmosphere clear away in the third act
to present a logical conclusion to the case, teasing out the clues and
murder methods that unscrupulous readers may have missed. With its
off-beat exposition, puzzling plot and exceptional prose, The Rim of the
Pit is a cult classic of the Golden Age era deserving of a wide audience
today.
