Obelists Fly High

"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 elevateObelists Fly High to the level of the best of Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie.

American author and psychologist C. Daly King (1895–1963) was educated at Newark University, Yale, and Columbia. In addition to several psychology texts, he published seven mysteries at the height of the golden age of detective fiction. King coined the term "obelist" and uses it in this novel to characterize someone who harbors suspicions.