The Crimson Fog

#2 in Publisher's Weekly Top Mysteries of 2013http: //best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2013/mystery.In this fascinating novel, one of the masters of impossible crime fiction takes on one of the greatest criminals of all time. Sticking scrupulously to the facts, Paul Halter explores the Jack the Ripper murders and offers his own theories about the identity of the monster, what drove him, and how he was able to vanish under the noses of the police during the spree of escalating horror which sent the citizens of fog-ridden London into paroxysms of fear in the autumn of 1888..But the year before "Saucy Jacky" began his reign of terror, someone started to investigate an astonishing impossible murder committed in the country village of Blackfield nine years earlier. That, too, involved a monstrous murderer who slaughtered witnesses and vanished under the noses of his pursuers. Is there a connection with the Ripper cases which followed?Publisher's Weekly named The Crimson Fog as one of the Top Mysteries of 2013, awarding it a starred review on October 4, 2013: 'First published in France in 1988, this brilliant fair-play mystery from impossible crime master Halter (The Seventh Hypothesis) showcases his ingenuity at misdirecting the reader and his unique approach to the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888. In the first part, set in 1887, an openly unreliable narrator, Sidney Miles, returns to his hometown of Blackfield in disguise to solve a murder that "no one, absolutely no one, could have committed." The stabbing death of Richard Morstan as he was preparing a magic trick behind a curtain has spawned legends of a phantom killer. Miles's inquiries stir the pot, and other baffling murders follow. This section sets the stage for a suspenseful and historically accurate retelling of the Whitechapel slayings that focuses on the killer's seemingly supernatural ability to disappear after committing his butcheries. As in the best whodunits, the solution is both logical and surprising. Golden Age fans encountering Halter for the first time will want to seek out his other, equally artful puzzles.'Paul Halter, who has been fascinated by Jack the Ripper from a tender age, won the coveted French Prix du Roman d'Aventures in 1988 and the prestigious Japanese Hunkaku Mystery Award 2005 for Le Brouillard Rouge (The Crimson Fog).For further information about Paul Halter books, other locked room mysteries and signed- and- lettered copies, please visit our website and blog at: www.lockedroominternational.co

Paul Halter was born in Hagenau, Alsace, in 1956. He pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world. Disappointed with the lack of travel, he left the military and, for a while, sold life insurance while augmenting his income playing the guitar in the local dance orchestra. Upon discovering the writings of John Dickson Carr, he gave up the guitar for the pen. He has since written over 30 novels, almost all ＂locked room,＂ including La Quatrieme Porte (The Fourth Door, ) which won the Prix du Roman Policier in 1987, and Le Brouillard Rouge (The Crimson Fog, ) which won the coveted French Prix du Roman d’Aventures in 1988, the prestigious Japanese Hunkaku Mystery Award in 2005, and was named as one of the Publisher’s Weekly Top Mysteries of 2013. The Fourth Door and The Crimson Fog are both available in English, as are The Lord of Misrule, The Seven Wonders of Crime, The Demon of Dartmoor, The Seventh Hypothesis and The Tiger’s Head. M. Halter is a frequent contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: The Call of the Lorelei, The Tunnel of Death, The Night of the Wolf, The Robber’s Grave, Nausicaa’s Ball, The Gong of Doom, The Man With the Face of Clay and Jacob’s Ladder and more to come. In 2006 his collection of short stories ’The Night of the Wolf’ appeared in English, to critical acclaim. For more information and articles about Paul Halter, please go to: http: //lockedroominternational.com/