COPYRIGHT, 1932, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM

The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

TO
MY MOTHER

FOREWORD

The solution of criminal mysteries constitutesone of the most absorbing, possibly the mostintriguing forms of mental activity existent.It calls for something more than mere cold intelligenceand reasoning ability, requiring inaddition native perception, intuition, and anatural understanding of human behaviorunder stress of emotion and passion. Furthermore,some knowledge of pathological or abnormalbehaviorism is a requisite.

Mr. Ripley’s excellently thought-out seriesof mysteries might be said to represent a veryadequate cross-section of the problems perenniallyconfronting the law-enforcers and officialcrime-solvers of the nation. The points ofevidence are cleverly assembled and thenuances of incrimination are very subtlyshaded.

It would be well for the reader interested insuccessfully solving these problems to endeavorto think, not as a detective, but as thecriminal in the case would think, in order toarrive at a correct solution. I have found thatviiito deal adequately with the criminal afterconviction, and while in confinement, it isnecessary to understand his personal problems.To accomplish this, one must first think as doesthe criminal, discover the sequent conclusionsupon which he based his anti-social activities,and thereupon make use of these findings toassist him toward rehabilitation.

In this novel challenge to amateur criminologists,who suffer from a dearth of laboratoryspecimens upon which to experiment, Mr.Ripley offers an excellent opportunity—thatof examining and forming conclusions upon themore elemental, vital, and dramatic aspects ofvarious typical criminal situations, withoutthe drawback of fantasy and concocted sordidness,which, for the practical criminologist,takes the glamour and color out of this thingcalled—Crime.

Lewis E. Lawes

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Chief Inspector Kelley, that grizzled veteranof the Detective Bureau, was talking tohis nephew, Jim Barry, who had indicated adesire to enter the uncrowded field of criminology.

‘The average policeman,’ he said, ‘looksupon the lay criminologist in much the samemanner as the professional in any field regardsthe amateur. Generally speaking, that attitudeis justified.

‘In thirty years of police work, however, Ihave met no one in detective circles, in or outof the force, who so effectively combines theoreticalknowledge with practical applicationas Professor Fordney.

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