Part of Keeler’s unique genius, I’d argue, was his ability to switch and/or combine genres and yet always end up with something indisputably Keelerian. Likewise the mind-boggling epic THE BOX FROM JAPAN, a 1932 mystery set in the future year 1942 (in which Mexico is embroiled in a revolution, 3-D television is a reality and guillotines have been installed in place of electric chairs). An entire essay can be (and has been) written about Keeler’s flirtation with SF, with his most famous story “John Jones’s Dollar” (in which a one dollar bank account is increased by compound interest to the point that it becomes the greatest fortune in the universe) falling into that category. In fact, the first two of these books can be classified as science fiction, of which Keeler had something of a history. The creator of this abode was the incomparable Harry Stephen Keeler, the most bizarre mystery writer who ever lived, although as we’ll see, the three books under discussion, THE WHITE CIRCLE, STRANGE JOUREY and I KILLED LINCOLN AT 10:13!, aren’t mysteries. residence where three sets of characters get caught up in outrageous tales that involve insanity, séances and time travel. Ramble House is a most unique Washington, D.C.
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