I just recently discovered that the books by Clayton Rawson has been re-published, both as e-books and print books after too long time out of print.
Clayton Rawson was a successful mystery writer of the first part of the 20th century. He was also an amateur magician, just as his most famous sleuth, The Great Merlini; in most of his books, the Great Merlini is the only one capable of outwitting the murderer. Another of Rawsons creations are Don Diavolo. Most of his stories are of the classical type, where the reader is provided with all the clues needed to solve the crime and should try to do so before the sleuth reveals the truth at the end of the book.
He wrote stories of the "fantastic" kind, and was fond of the locked room mystery and of the impossible crime. He was also a friend of John Dickson Carr, and Rawson and Carr challenged each other several times on which one of them could solve an impossible problem in the most elegant way. This makes some of Rawsons stories very interesting for those who are great fans of John Dickson Carr, amongst them yours truly.
Some of these challenges:
How could a murderer strike his victim when the latter was inside a room that was sealed with tape?
Carr wrote the novel "He Wouldn't kill Patience", featuring H.M., and Rawson wrote "From another World", a short story featuring
The Great Merlini
How can a man disappear without a trace from a phone booth
Rawson wrote "Off the Face of the Earth", in the same books as the previous challenge, while Carr wrote "Scotland Yard’s Christmas/Detective's Day Off" (which, from what I have read is not his finest work, although I cannot tell since this Carr short story is unavailable to me. Can someone confirm this?)
Of course, Rawsons stories are interesting in their own accord, and they are by no means reduced to curiosities in Carrs shadow. These challenges just illustrate that there are interesting stories behind Rowsons fascinating puzzles.
Books by Rowson:
Mystery novels
Collections of short stories
Other books- Scarne on Dice (1945) (with John Scarne)
- Al Baker's Pet Secrets (1951) (with Albert Baker)
- How to Entertain Children with Magic You Can Do (1963), (as The Great Merlini)
- The Golden Book of Magic: Amazing Tricks for Young Magicians (1964) (as The Great Merlini)
Source