Free (nook/Kindle/Kobo/iTunes) Hollow Needle by George Harmon Coxe [Vintage Mystery]

[ATDrake]

The Hollow Needle by the late George Harmon Coxe (SYKM, Wikipedia), a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award recipient, is the 10th in his Kent Murdock series of vintage golden age pulp mystery/thrillers starring a crime photographer in Boston, this installment an adventure set amongst a mysterious and potentially murderous family, free courtesy of publisher Open Road Media's Mysterious Press imprint, who are e-printing it from its original 1948 Knopf edition.

This looks like it's one of ORM's very rare non-public domain freebies, since this doesn't seem to fall under the US' weird non-renewed copyright rules and be available elsewhere. Incidentally, there's a pretty nice-looking write-up about the author, his books, and this series of his in particular over at the GA Detection wiki, if you're interested.

Currently free, just for today (Feb 18th) @ B&N, Amazon & Kobo & iTunes (none available to Canadians), Google Play (available to Canadians)

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because it's always a rare but welcome treat to get one of ORM's infrequent non-public domain freebies, and to receive a probably rather hard to find vintage mystery one from a Grand Master Award recipient in his genre is a doubly welcome treat, especially for those Gentle Readers who happen to be golden age pulp mystery fans.

Enjoy!

Description
One of Kent’s pictures holds the secret to a wealthy man’s death

No one has seen titan of industry John Caldwell for nine years when he hires Kent Murdock to take his picture. Caldwell is preparing a landmark announcement, and wants Boston’s finest newspaper photographer there to document it. Murdock chafes at the stuffy environment of the Caldwell home—particularly when Caldwell’s heir instructs him to take only one picture. Using an infrared flash, Murdock sneaks a second shot. Less than an hour later, John Caldwell is dead.

Murdock makes a print of his second photo, hoping to find something that explains the strange ways of the Caldwell clan. Before he can examine it, the family’s thugs assault him in the dark room, destroying the picture. The photo is gone, but there’s no stopping Kent Murdock from learning what’s rotten in the Caldwell estate.

[Dr. Drib]

Having once been a professional photographer, I clicked on this one with relish.

Coxe is one of those old-timey mystery writers and a great read, although it's been forty years or so since I last read one of his books.


Thank you!

[alee]

@EarlyBirdBooks tweeted a link to their daily deals which included a different free ebook titled The Hollow Needle, this one by Maurice LeBlanc, which is/was free at the usual places except for B&N.