The purpose, the illusion, the spirit of a waxworks. It is an
atmosphere of death. It is soundless and motionless... Do you see?
Last night Mademoiselle Duchêne was seen heading into the Gallery of
Horrors at the Musée Augustin waxworks, alive. Today she was found in
the Seine, murdered. The museum's proprietor, long perturbed by the
unnatural vitality of his figures, claims that he saw one of them
following the victim into the dark--a lead that Henri Bencolin, head of
the Paris police and expert of 'impossible' crimes, cannot possibly
resist.
Surrounded by the eerie noises of the night, Bencolin prepares to enter
the ill-fated waxworks, his associate Jeff Marle and the victim's fiancé
in tow. Waiting within, beneath the glass-eyed gaze of a leering waxen
satyr, is a gruesome discovery and the first clues of a twisted and
ingenious mystery.
First published in 1932 at the height of crime fiction's Golden Age,
this macabre and atmospheric dive into the murky underground of Parisian
society presents an intelligent puzzle delivered at a stunning pace.
This new edition also includes the rare Inspector Bencolin short story
The Murder in Number Four by John Dickson Carr, and an Introduction by
CWA Diamond Dagger-Award winning author Martin Edwards.