Harry Stephen Keeler

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  • Bibliography:
    76 Books
  • First Book:
    April 2009
  • Latest Book:
    March 2022
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Book List in Order: 76 titles

  • Strands of the Web

    A collection of just about all of the existing short stories written by Harry Stephen Keeler back in the early 20th century. Edited by Fred Cleaver, the 22 short stories are followed by a complete bibliography of Keeler's short fiction....

  • The Case of the Transparent Nude

    Never published in English until the Ramble House edition, this 1958 case is about a murder without a body. A head and two feet, but no body. And an insecure inspector....

  • The Crimson Cube

    Harry Stephen Keeler worked in a steel mill and in 1954 wrote this novel of murder and intrigue....

  • Find the Clock

    Originally written in 1921 (but not published until 1927), this newspaper thriller pits a young Chicago reporter against the fiend known as the Blond Beast of Bremen....

  • The Man with the Wooden Spectacles

    The trial of the man apprehended with a crimson hatbox containing a skull continues with the shenanigans of the Moffit brothers, Silas and Saul, trying to thwart the efforts of Elsa Colby, the young defense lawyer who must win her first case -- or i...

  • The Riddle of the Travelling Skull

  • The Search for X-Y-Z

    Written in 1924, this large webwork mystery is laid in 'Wiscon City' and concerns a man searching for his brother in a strange land. It has a map on the back cover....

  • Sing Sing Nights

    A 1927 masterpiece of prison chicanery. Three men are on death row for the same crime. The warden knows one is innocent and drops off a pardon. The men decide who gets the pardon -- by telling stories....

  • The Skull of the Waltzing Clown

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may have been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him....



  • X. Jones of Scotland Yard

  • The Green Jade Hand

  • The Amazing Web

    How the Trigger-Finger of a Man Long Dead Sent Another Man To His DeathIn this gigantic mystery story, Mr. Keeler has employed atavism in his plot, a thing that has probably never before been attempted in mystery fiction. Starting in pirate days with...

  • The Bottle with the Green Wax Seal

    The poor souls who spent the first two books of the Big River Trilogy stranded on a small island waiting for the dam upriver to break are still there, but this time there are more than four. And you can bet that each man has a convincing story why he...

  • The Case of the 16 Beans

    “Beans to YOU, sonnyboy, as per my will!” So read the wishes of rich old Balhatchet Barkstone, uncle of young Boyce. Why would he deny Boyce his proper inheritance by leaving him a paltry 16 beans instead of millions of dollars? Could it have bee...

  • The Case of the Canny Killer

    This is one of the three Keeler novels that take place in a steel mill. Written in 1944, it also has a terrific mapback of the Tippingdale Steel mill as drawn by Gavin L. O'Keefe....

  • The Man with the Magic Eardrums

    A man standing in a darkened room notices that someone is breaking in via the window. He waits until the intruder is inside then holds him at gunpoint. The two then embark on the most audacious conversation any author has ever had the nerve to write....

  • The Murder of London Lew

    A 1951 murder mystery involving a tramp who is beheaded in the backwoods of Arkinsaw. One of the last novels to be published in English during Harry's lifetime....

  • The Murdered Mathematician

    This is a 1947 mystery starring the 7 1/2 foot mathematical detective, Quiribus Brown. The plot involves a teacher's dying scrawl on a blackboard....

  • The Mystery of the Fiddling Cracksman

    Wild, fantastic, yet overwhelmingly logical, this yarn could come only from Chicago's own Sherlock Holmes and that favorite of American mystery fans, Harry Stephen Keeler. Here he gives us a brand-new webwork of mysteries -- a cracksman who uses not ...



  • Photo of Lady X

    A short webwork mystery written in 1959 about 'Central City' where gangdom reigns....

  • The Portrait of Jirjohn Cobb

    The worst flood in decades has isolated an island in the middle of Big River and there’s no telling when the dam upriver is going to give. On the island are four men and three lifejackets. The sheriff’s got the rifle and knows one of the other th...

  • The Riddle of the Wooden Parrakeet

    The condemned man asked for three things before he climbed the thirteen steps to the gallows: a glass eye, a champagne cork and a wooden parrakeet. Can any mystery writer -- other than Chicago paper blackener Harry Stephen Keeler -- have proposed suc...

  • The Spectacles of Mr. Cagliostro

    This is one of Mr. Keeler's finest mystery novels, developing his 'Webwork plot' construction - an intricate edifice built up on one of the most startling and ingenious ideas in mystery literature.

    Through the diabolical scheme to separate a...

  • Three Novellos

    In 2006 Ramble House collected three of HSK's 'novellos' (Adventure in Milwaukee, The Blackmailer, and The Flyer Holdup HSK) and made this wonderful book. Intro s by Francis M. Nevins....

  • The Vanishing Gold Truck

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- ...

  • The Voice of the Seven Sparrows

  • The Washington Square Enigma

    A dash from an empty house at the sight of a murdered man with a dragon-topped hatpin protruding from one eye! An escape from the police on the back of a speeding roadster. The discovery that its driver, a curly-haired, beautiful girl, clutches in on...

  • When Thief Meets Thief

    One of the rarest of Keelers, due to a firebombing of the book warehouse by the Luftwaffe in 1942, this novel about a safecracking dentist was written in 1934....

  • The Wonderful Scheme of Mr. Christopher Thorne

    When Kwan Yung, Chinese inventor, gets cheated out of $32,000, it sets off a whirlwind set of circumstances that will affect financier Christopher Thorne, his beautiful daughter, Alicia, and his loyal employee, Philip Erskine -- for better or for wor...



  • The 4th King

    “The Thirteen Kings of Crooked Chicago Finance!” That’s what the terrorist calling himself THE STAR OF THE NIGHT called the thirteen richest moguls of Chicago when he sent them threatening letters which included decks of cards missing certain k...

  • The Ace of Spades Murder

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- ...

  • The Case of the Ivory Arrow

    Written in 1942, this was one of the dozen Keelers published by the notorious Phoenix Press, Keeler's last American hope for being published....

  • The Case of the Jewelled Ragpicker

    Yet another Screwball Circus novel about Angus WacWhorter and Old Twistibus, the windingest road in the world. Published in 1946 it has an updated introduction by Francis M. Nevins....

  • The Case of the Two Strange Ladies

    It's tough being a damn'd Yankee reporter in Southern City, but life just gets worse when the nude bodies of two women -- one white, one black -- are found dead in Cattail Swamp with their heads cut off and swapped. Of course the only way to identify...

  • Hangman's Nights

    Never published in English until now, this 1958 thriller of two condemned men (one a British dandy, the other a Chinese laundryman) will have you guessing along with the hapless governor who must pardon one of them....

  • The Iron Ring

    This 1942 potboiler about a woman due to be executed is the longer version of THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS MOLL. An incredible court case....

  • The Man With the Crimson Box

    A man stood on a street­corner with a crimson hatbox in his hand. An archbishop approached him and asked what was in the box."Wah Lee's skull. I cracked Vann's pete," is the enigmatic reply. From this simple encounter stems the trial of the century....

  • The Six from Nowhere

    Written in 1958, it is a quintessential Screwball Circus mystery....

  • Thieves' Nights



  • The White Circle

    This novel of time travel and romance was written in 1954. The tale continues in Strange Journey. Introduction by Richard Polt....

  • 10 Hours

  • The Book with the Orange Leaves

    What kind of book would be printed on orange leaves? It could only be the one book that contains all of the wisdom of the ancient Chinese, as told in hundreds of aphorisms -- The Way Out. Featured in a half dozen webwork mysteries by Harry Stephen K...

  • The Case of the Lavender Gripsack

    After a thousand pages and more sidetrips through the backwoods of Chicago than you can imagine, the story of the man standing on the corner with the crimson hatbox is completed. Finally we find out why the defendant, when asked by the archbishop wha...

  • The Case of the Mysterious Moll

    Margaret Annister is slated to die in Nevada City’s gas chamber but she’s not too worried. She’s been given a drug by the police matron that takes away all cares and concerns. Also, she knows that her good friend Yerxa Indergaard is due to appe...

  • The Five Silver Buddhas

    From 1935 comes this thrilling novel about five odd people who happen to buy tiny jade figurines of a non-smiling Buddha. Only Harry Stephen Keeler could have come up with this plot!...

  • The Gallows Waits, My Lord!

    This 1953 story of San Do Mar, a country with no extradition, has never been published in any language until now. It has an introduction by Fender Tucker about this remarkable Central American country....

  • The Man Who Changed His Skin

    It’s 1855, and with a war over slavery looming on the horizon all bachelor Clark Shellcross wants to do is get married. But when his hopes are dashed he succumbs to temptation and takes a weird drug that claims to change his life. And it does! He w...

  • The Matilda Hunter Murder

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- ...

  • The Mysterious Ivory Ball of Wong Shing Li

    This masterpiece of magical chicanery was written in 1958 and reveals many secrets of the legerdemain crowd....



  • The Peacock Fan

  • The Stolen Gravestone

    Never before published in any language, this exciting tale from 1958 has an introduction by Keeler scholar Francis M. Nevins....

  • The Mysterious Card

    This is a mapback book written in 1959 and never published in any language until the Ramble House edition. It's a classic mystery tale told in the Keeler style....

  • The Skull In the Box

    A man standing in a darkened room notices that someone is breaking in via the window. He waits until the intruder is inside then holds him at gunpoint. The two then embark on the most audacious conversation any author has ever had the nerve to write...

  • The Trap

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- ...

  • Behind that Mask

    This classic 1938 mystery could only have come from the fevered imagination of Harry Stephen Keeler! Behind That Mask is a direct sequel to his 1932 novel, Finger! Finger! -- and although it concludes successfully the story begun in volume one, reade...

  • Finger! Finger!

  • The Box from Japan

    This 548-page juggernaut of a mystery was written in 1932 and takes place in a future of 1942 when the US was at war with Japan and Germany. 'The longest mystery ever written.'...

  • The Riddle of the Yellow Zuri

    In the open market in Chicago, a tiger snake could have been bought by a circus for $10. But the particular snake for which Jake Jennings was willing to pay a small fortune was the key to a great mystery. The grand climax is an absolute surprise, and...

  • The Fourth King

    “The Thirteen Kings of Crooked Chicago Finance!” That’s what the terrorist calling himself THE STAR OF THE NIGHT called the thirteen richest moguls of Chicago when he sent them threatening letters which included decks of cards missing certain k...

  • John Jones's Dollar

  • The Case of the Barking Clock

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- ...

  • The Case of the Jeweled Ragpicker

    "My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." -- ...

  • The Riddle of the Traveling Skull

    "I knew full well, when the Chinaman stopped me in the street that night and coolly asked me for a light for his cigarette, that a light for his cigarette was the last thing in the world that he really wanted I knew, in short, that he was up to s...

  • The Affair of the Bottled Deuce

    Lousy Lou Ousley, the detective, has been given another impossible case: the murder or suicide of a crackpot novelist in a locked room. Everything points to suicide but there’s the sticky point of the gun being made of wax. And what’s with the bo...

  • The Box from Japan

    At the time of its publication, 1932, this was the longest mystery ever written. Would you believe, 313,000 words -- many of them in a strange Hispano-German dialect. It's a simple story about world war in 1942 between an alliance between Germany, Ja...

  • Finger, Finger!

    If only Japan could lay her hands on the Thirteenth Coin of Confuscius, which was floating around somewhere in the United States, she could thwart a certain Chinese ambition. The Japanese Secret Service in New York had a clue and immediately a Japane...

  • The Marceau Case

    "The Babe from Hell!" gasped Andre Marceau just as the wire rightened around his neck. A second later he lay sprawled on the ground -- dead. Close by his body were the tracks of tiny footsteps, beginning nowhere and leading nowhere...the only clues t...

  • Cleopatra's Tears

    Several men find themselves stranded by a flooding river on Bleeker’s Island. The jewels known as Cleopatra’s Tears are missing, and one of the men is believed to be Actor Hart, notorious killer and thief -- maybe even the one who stole the jewel...

  • Y. Cheung, Business Detective

    Young Y. Cheung is in a pickle! In order to receive a $100,000 inheritance from his grand­father’s estate, he must get his name mentioned in 1000 U.S. newspapers, “in an honorable fashion” before midnight of the day before the estate is settle...

  • The Street of One Thousand Eyes

    Joseph Fairweather languishes in a mental institution because he has a theory about time and space that’s just plain crazy. Across the ocean in an abandoned warehouse by the River Thames, Eadgyth Whit­church lies bound hand and foot, soon to be th...

  • X. Jones--Of Scotland Yard

    One of Keeler's best, this is the second half of the notorious Marceau case, where a strangler baby dangling from an autogyro may have done the deed. Written in 1935 at the peak of Keeler's powers. Xenius Jones, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, ga...

  • I, Chameleon

    In 1936 Harry Stephen Keeler wrote a huge novel featuring the most unreliable narrator in literary history. His publishers forced him to split the books into two volumes, The Mysterious Mr. I and The Chameleon.Now, Ramble House has put the two novels...

  • The Case of the Murdered Mathematician

    Quiribus Brown, probably the only 7-and-a-half-foot-tall mathematical detective in the Midwest, has got to solve the mystery of who killed Professor Munstergale, or he’ll never get his rightful inheritance. Luckily, Munstergale lived long enough to...

  • The Straw Hat Murders

    It’s tough being being Chief of Homicide when there have been four murders of piano students -- all in the same studio apartment! So Huntoon Cambourne knows his job is on the line as he tries to prevent a fifth murder. He’s not lacking for clues ...

  • The Case of the Transposed Legs

    Here is another thrilling novel related by that ingenious mystery writer Harry Stephen Keeler in collaboration with his wife Hazel Goodwin. The story fairly bristles with excitement and suspense throughout. Why did the murderer of Nels Pederson amput...

  • The Face of the Man From Saturn

    Jimmie Kentland, reporter on the Chicago Sun, was not too happy even though he saw subbing for the Night City Editor. Things hadn't been breaking right. Suddenly his eye lighted on an illiterate note lying on the desk. He read it, then dashed out--Nu...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Harry Stephen Keeler has published 76 books.

Harry Stephen Keeler does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Face of the Man From Saturn, was published in March 2022.

The first book by Harry Stephen Keeler, Strands of the Web, was published in April 2009.

No. Harry Stephen Keeler does not write books in series.
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