The Mystery of the Yellow Room. John Curran

      

      ‘THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB is a clearing house for the best detective and mystery stories chosen for you by a select committee of experts. Only the most ingenious crime stories will be published under the THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB imprint. A special distinguishing stamp appears on the wrapper and title page of every THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB book—the Man with the Gun. Always look for the Man with the Gun when buying a Crime book.’

       Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1929

      Now the Man with the Gun is back in this series of COLLINS CRIME CLUB reprints, and with him the chance to experience the classic books that influenced the Golden Age of crime fiction.

       Copyright

      COLLINS CRIME CLUB

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by Edward Arnold 1909

      Originally published in French as Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune 1907

      Introduction © John Curran 2018

      Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008167035

      Ebook Edition © August 2018 ISBN: 9780008167042

      Version: 2018-03-14

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

I. IN WHICH WE BEGIN NOT TO UNDERSTAND

II. IN WHICH JOSEPH ROULETABILLE APPEARS FOR THE FIRST TIME

III. ‘A MAN HAS PASSED LIKE A SHADOW THROUGH THE BLINDS’

IV. ‘IN THE BOSOM OF WILD NATURE’

V. IN WHICH JOSEPH ROULETABILLE MAKES A REMARK TO MONSIEUR ROBERT DARZAC WHICH PRODUCES ITS LITTLE EFFECT

VI. IN THE HEART OF THE OAK GROVE

VII. IN WHICH ROULETABILLE SETS OUT ON AN EXPEDITION UNDER THE BED

       VIII. THE EXAMINING MAGISTRATE QUESTIONS MADEMOISELLE STANGERSON

       IX. REPORTER AND DETECTIVE

       X. ‘WE SHALL HAVE TO EAT RED MEAT—NOW’

       XI. IN WHICH FRÉDÉRIC LARSAN EXPLAINS HOW THE MURDERER WAS ABLE TO GET OUT OF THE YELLOW ROOM

       XII. FRÉDÉRIC LARSAN’S CANE

       XIII. ‘THE PRESBYTERY HAS LOST NOTHING OF ITS CHARM, NOR THE GARDEN ITS BRIGHTNESS’

       XIV. ‘I EXPECT THE ASSASSIN THIS EVENING’

       XV. THE TRAP

       XVI. STRANGE PHENOMENON OF THE DISSOCIATION OF MATTER

       XVII. THE INEXPLICABLE GALLERY

       XVIII. ROULETABILLE HAS DRAWN A CIRCLE BETWEEN THE TWO BUMPS ON HIS FOREHEAD

       XIX. ROULETABILLE INVITES ME TO BREAKFAST AT THE DONJON INN

       XX. AN ACT OF MADEMOISELLE STANGERSON

       XXI. ON THE WATCH

       XXII. THE INCREDIBLE BODY

       XXIII. THE DOUBLE SCENT

       XXIV. ROULETABILLE KNOWS THE TWO HALVES OF THE MURDERER

       XXV. ROULETABILLE GOES ON A JOURNEY

       XXVI. IN WHICH JOSEPH ROULETABILLE IS AWAITED WITH IMPATIENCE

       XXVII. IN WHICH JOSEPH ROULETABILLE APPEARS IN ALL HIS GLORY

       XXVIII. IN WHICH IT IS PROVED THAT ONE DOES NOT ALWAYS THINK OF EVERYTHING

       XXIX. THE MYSTERY OF MADEMOISELLE STANGERSON

       Footnote

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