The Riddle of the Traveling Skull

The Riddle of the Traveling Skull by Harry Stephen Keeler (1934) This is the one book by this maniac, Keeler, that I could find in a local store—it’s a nice reprint—though it would be exciting to find an original copy of one of his many books, most of which were published in the Thirties and Forties. This is supposed to be one of the better ones, I guess. He’s famous for his bizarre storylines and ridiculously convoluted plots, and as far as that goes, I was not disappointed. And for as strange and outlandish as the story twists are, you can actually follow them, all the way around the Chicago locations to the reveal in the last sentence. The book is also very funny—the exception being, far too many jokes based on racial stereotypes and the main character’s derision of pretty much everyone who is not in his small circle. Looking over the book now, which I read very recently, I couldn’t begin to attempt to put the entire mess back together. The whole thing kind of resembles a house of cards which only held up due to the forward movement of the narrative, but if you go back and try to reconstruct it based on memory, watch out!