Book Overview
A very thrilling story ... with] a real surprise midway in the book, and a double-barreled shock at the end ... the reader's interest is never allowed to flag. ― The New York Times.
Captain Michael Lord of the New York City Police is the target of desperate shots fired on board a twin-engine plane, where a premeditated murder has already taken place. Will the dashing detective survive the assault? Will anyone emerge alive from the now-plummeting aircraft? And who killed the famous surgeon that the captain was guarding?
This ingeniously constructed novel begins with an epilogue, concludes with a prologue, and offers a Clue Finder that reveals forty hints even the sharpest armchair detective may have missed. Originally published in 1935, this long-unavailable thriller dates from the Golden Age of detective fiction, when mysteries were judged by the cleverness of their crimes and the resourcefulness of their sleuths. The twisting plot, impossible murder, locked-room setting, and remarkable surprises elevate Obelists Fly High to the level of the best of Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie.
Captain Michael Lord of the New York City Police is the target of desperate shots fired on board a twin-engine plane, where a premeditated murder has already taken place. Will the dashing detective survive the assault? Will anyone emerge alive from the now-plummeting aircraft? And who killed the famous surgeon that the captain was guarding?
This ingeniously constructed novel begins with an epilogue, concludes with a prologue, and offers a Clue Finder that reveals forty hints even the sharpest armchair detective may have missed. Originally published in 1935, this long-unavailable thriller dates from the Golden Age of detective fiction, when mysteries were judged by the cleverness of their crimes and the resourcefulness of their sleuths. The twisting plot, impossible murder, locked-room setting, and remarkable surprises elevate Obelists Fly High to the level of the best of Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0486250369
ISBN13:9780486250366
Release Date:March 2015
Publisher:Dover Publications
Length:280 Pages
Weight:0.60 lbs.
Dimensions:0.6" x 6.3" x 8.3"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
Great fun
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
Entertaining for the story and characters, but especially charming as a portrait of a cross-country commercial airline flight in the 1930s. Have times ever changed since a 10-passenger plane was considered large! The story has some far-fetched aspects, but was great fun nonetheless. The author has even provided a list of clues, with page and line references, at the end of the book. Nice touch.
C. Daly King Flies High
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
An excellent book, with a smash-finish. The author, a psychologist as was his detective's Watson (Capt. Michael Lord's Dr. Love Rees Pons, to be precise), has devised a murder tale of immense complexity, dealing with the murder of a sexually possessive physician (and brother to an important American politician) on board a plane after receiving death-threats. The characterisation is good, if not excellent, but the dialogue is apposite to the characters, and the theories concerning the impossible murder on the part of an English novelist are good. Despite an alibi business which would have made Freeman Wills Crofts drool with envy (though it's not that dull,) the book must be one of the masterpieces of the Van Dine school - and, taking into consideration the fact that the Van Dine school included such people as S. S. Van Dine and Ellery Queen, as well as the awful Rex Stout, it must therefore be excellent. Read it!
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