Murder in a Library

Public libraries are not often thought of as the scene of serious crimes. That is why when the body of a librarian is found strangled in her office with over fifty people just outside in the adjacent reading room, the case attracts so much attention. Yet the crime seems to have no reason, no motive. After all, why would anyone want to kill a sixty year old spinster, particularly in such a public place. With the newspapers clamoring for action, the police chief finds himself turning to his old friend, Harley Manners, professor of abnormal psychology, with the hopes that he can shed light on the mystery of the . . . Murder in a Library!

Charles J. Dutton (1888-1964) was an American writer of mysteries. He was educated at Brown University and later studied at Albany Law School and the Defiance Theological Seminary. After graduation he worked for a while as a newspaper columnist. He wrote numerous works of fiction that were published in magazines both in the U.S. and Great Britain. In the early 1930's he moved to Des Moines, Iowa where he assumed the post of minister for the First Unitarian Church. He wrote some fifteen mystery novels. Appearing in nine of these was the private detective John Bartley. Bartley was followed by Professor Harley Manners, a criminal psychologist who was featured in six novels. The two characters overlap in the book Streaked With Crimson. One of the things that set Dutton apart from other mystery writers of the period was his interest in the psychology of the criminal mind. He was also fascinated by old books and ancient history, subjects which play parts in a number of his novels.