The Purple Parrot

THE author of the very successful THE DEATH ANGEL tells in this book the amazing story of the murder of Hezekiah Morse; a murder motivated by the clause in his will which left to his granddaughter only his purple parrot. As a result of the will, the murder, and the fact that the parrot had vanished, Sylvia Morse went to jail. Little Professor Westborough, as usual meddling in murder, felt that an injustice had been done and preferred his own unorthodox methods of investigating to the police's routine conduct of the case. He first discovered that the purple parrot was in reality a kakapo and a native of New Zealand, and after he learned of the stolen bottle of Est, Est, Est, and of the bookies, Lucius turned to the Law of Sufficient Reason for further aid. This, he felt, about settled the case, since, as he afterwards pointed out, the will named the murderer. But even this would not have sufficed had it not been for the little professor's acquaintance with Samuel Johnson's definition of "postern."

Here is a remarkable mystery story with excellent characterization and great suspense. It marks Clyde Clason as one of the outstanding authors of the murder mystery genre and further establishes the professor as one of the most delightful and lovable sleuths in the field of detective fiction.