Harry Stephen Keeler

Harry Stephen Keeler built mystery novels around what he called the “webwork plot,” a mesh of coincidence, nested stories, odd evidence, and connections revealed near the end. Chicago supplied the setting for much of his fiction, while his training in electrical engineering encouraged an appetite for elaborate construction. When Thief Meets Thief appeared from Ward, Lock in 1938. The Man Who Changed His Skin was written in 1959 but did not appear in English during Keeler’s lifetime. His first novel, The Voice of the Seven Sparrows, had launched his book career in 1924, and he continued producing manuscripts after his regular US and British publishers dropped his work. The Harry Stephen Keeler Society has since made rare and previously unpublished texts available for study. Columbia University preserves his papers, including manuscripts, correspondence, contracts, photographs, and material connected to his publishing career.