The Crime of the Century - Softcover

Amis, Kingsley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0445403454 ISBN 13: 9780445403451

Publisher: Mysterious Pr, 1990

Synopsis

When a series of murders performed by a killer with a peculiarly thin blade take place in London, Detective Superintendent Bill Barry is recalled from retirement. Doctors, psychologists, lawyers and politicians join in the hunt, but the biggest crime is yet to come. First published as a six-part serial in "The Sunday Times" newspaper in 1975, readers were encouraged to send in their own solutions to the mystery after episode five. For the first time, the winning entry is published here in book form, together with Amis' own denouement. Kingsley Amis is also the author of "Jake's Thing", "Stanley and the Woman", "The Old Devils" and "Difficulties with Girls".

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Serialized in a British newspaper in 1975, this edition of Amis's whodunit benefits from an introduction by the master satirist himself. The plot involves the murders of young women in London and the special committee set up to coordinate investigations with the police, when even Scotland Yard's most famous detectives fail to catch the killer. The professional sleuths, therefore, consult with an odd assortment of amateurs: Chris Dane, crime novelist; Benedict Royal, an intellectual rock star; Sir Neil Costello, QC; members of Parliament; and psychiatrists, including Marcus Varga, who's flakier than his patients. As the murders continue, so does Amis keep adding ingenious red herrings while playing fair by planting clues for readers sharp enough to spot them. The solution, however, will strike most mystery buffs as tops in the art of literary legerdemain. An alternate denouement, submitted by one of the newspaper's subscribers, closes the book and emphasizes just how foxy the author is.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Published serially in The Sunday Times in 1975, this overpopulated and talky puzzler-for-the-public contributes nothing to an otherwise lofty reputation. A criminal inquiry established to investigate a series of stabbings in London parks includes (among others) a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a surgeon, a rock star, a member of Parliament, a retired Scotland Yard man, and a mystery writer. A few of these, working together, believe the murderer sits at the inquiry table: Amis provides his own conclusion, as well as that which won the newspaper contest. Literate style, but very dry and too obviously a mere conglomeration of clues.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mysterious Pr
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0445403454
• ISBN 13: 9780445403451
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176