The Invisible Circle

The Invisible CircleSeven people receive invitations to a 'singular experience' during a weekend in Cornwall in a castle reputedly built on the site of King Arthur's, and situated on an island tenuously connected to the mainland. The sinister host announces that a murder will be committed that night, shows them a sword embedded in a stone (which none of them is able to pull out) and a golden chalice which he claims is the Holy Grail sought by the Knights of the Round Table. Thus begins a nightmarish series of events including impossible murders, the disappearance of the Grail, and communication with the mainland cut off. Has the vengeful king indeed returned? And is there any connection to the recent release of the host's homicidal half-brother? The plot, one of Paul Halter's most convoluted, is great fun.'The Invisible Circle' is the eighth Paul Halter novel to be published in English by Locked Room International. His previous novel 'The Crimson Fog' was named one of Publisher's Weekly's Top Mysteries of 2013. The author, a best-selling novelist in his native France, has written over thirty novels, almost all 'locked room' or 'impossible crime, ' and is widely regarded as the successor to John Dickson Carr. He appeared on BBC Radio 4's program 'Miles Jupp in a Locked Room, ' broadcast on May 21, 2012.. A ninth novel 'The Riddle of Monte Verita' by Jean-Paul Torok ("wonderfully captures and evokes the glory days of the detective story") was published in 2012. For information about signed and lettered editions of all nine novels, limited edition hardcover editions of Paul Halter's award-winning short story collection 'The Night of the Wolf, ' and future publication plans, please contact pugmire1@yahoo.com or go to www.lockedroominternational.com

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/