We were recently wandering through the largest second hand bookstore in the state of Washington – at least according to the sign out front. It was quite impressive. There were definitely lots of books. My OCD was triggered a little as the organization was not quite what I wanted.
While there were a few titles that caught my eye, the only purchase I made was for an August, 1969 copy of the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Clayton Rawson was the managing editor was the magazine’s managing editor between 1963 and his death in 1971.
It was Rawson’s name in the table of contents that caught my attention as the issue featured a short mystery with the Great Merlini.
The story was originally part of a jigsaw puzzle where the reader assembled the puzzle in order to solve the mystery. Since there was no puzzle included, the magazine had a reproduction of the completed picture. Since the magazine was published over 50 years ago and on rather cheap newsprint, the reproduction was a challenge to make out. I’m not sure that a clear picture would have helped me as it was a head scratcher. Fortunately the answer was included.
Coincidentally, Chicago magician, Neil Tobin is publishing an annotated collection of Rawson’s Merlini novels sometime in the next year or two.
