Cardula and the Locked Rooms

In the dispatch box of Crippen & Landru, we keep a list of lost classics our readers would like to see.

We've had many requests for the works of Jack Ritchie, a mystery writer from the last century, who wowed people with his imagination and prose. While many of his stories were available in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, readers would have to find and read nine different issues to enjoy all of the exploits of Cardula. Crippen & Landru made that pleasure easier.

Cardula is perhaps the most popular of Ritchie's series characters. If you can solve an anagram, you have a hunt on the type of person Cardula is. Ritchie never spells out the character's background explicitly, though many hints are thrown in the reader's way.

We've also rounded out the book with some long-lost locked room stories by Ritchie. Our editor and introducer for this collection is Brian Skupin, who is a fan who worked with International Locked Room publications.

So, sit down, grab some garlic, a mirror, and a hefty stake, not the delicious kind! And enjoy the first collection of all of Cardula's stories.