The Problem of Cell 13

Professor Augustus Van Dusen—nicknamed ‘The Thinking Machine’ for his belief that pure logic can solve anything—wagers that he can escape from a condemned prison cell using only his intellect, in the most famous of all locked-room puzzles. Around this dazzling centerpiece gather other cases in which the irascible genius applies relentless reasoning to seemingly impossible crimes. Futrelle’s stories rival Sherlock Holmes for ingenuity and remain landmarks of the detective genre. Sharp, clever, and endlessly entertaining, they showcase one of early crime fiction’s most brilliant sleuths. Futrelle himself died aboard the Titanic, cutting short a remarkable talent.