The Notting Hill Mystery (British Library Crime Classics) - Softcover

"The book is both utterly of its time and utterly ahead of it."--Paul Collins, "New York"" Times Book Review"

--Paul Collins "New York Times Book Review "

"The book's premise is irresistible. A woman dies after apparently sleepwalking into her husband's laboratory and drinking from a bottle of acid. An insurance company investigator discovers that the husband had taken out no fewer than five policies on his wife. As in Columbo, we know the identity of the villain, but we must work out how the investigator will prove his case. All the paraphernalia of the 20th century detective novel is anticipated here: maps, marriage certificates, torn bits of letter, witness statements. Told in the form of a report by the investigator, it is as much dossier as novel. As the American academic has written, "the book is both utterly of its time and utterly ahead of it." 5 Star Review --Jake Kerridge, Daily Telegraph, March 10th 2012

In its new incarnation, The Notting Hill Mystery proves innovative and cheerfully demented, as it is presented in the form of diary entries, family letters, witness interviews, a chemical analysis report and a crime scene map. Its hero is an insurance investigator building a case against a sinister baron, and the case incorporates kidnapping, acid poisoning, three murders, a dodgy mesmerist and of course a rich uncle's will, all embellished with George Du Maurier's illustrations. Charles Warren Adams was a journalist and lawyer who wrote under a pseudonym, and it's good to have him back. --Christopher Fowler, The Independent 25 March 2012

The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams was first published in 1865, yet the way it tells its bizarre tale of murder is astonishingly modern. --Daily Telegraph, 22nd April 2012

Charles Warren Adams was a journalist, traveller, lawyer and sole proprietor of the firm Saunders, Otley & Co, which published Once a Week, the magazine in which The Notting Hill Mystery was first published.