The Book of the Dead

A copy of Shakespeare's The Tempest pulls a bookseller into a murder case in this mystery by Agatha Christie's favorite American author.


The hospital sees nothing to question about the death of the reclusive Mr. Crenshaw, and it's not as though he had any friends to press the issue. He did, though, have one casual acquaintance, who happens to pick up Mr. Crenshaw's battered old edition of The Tempest—and happens to pass that book on to Henry Gamadge. Gamadge, of course, is not only an expert in solving pesky problems but also an expert in rare books, and his two sets of expertise combine to uncover the extraordinary puzzle of Mr. Crenshaw, which began in California and ended on the other side of the country, at a chilly New England rendezvous.


"An absorbing yarn that holds up to the end." —New York Times

"Beautifully plotted, with believable characters and ample thrills" —Saturday Review of Books