A first-rate detective novel that explores media's manipulation of a gullible public.


A cult leader announces a miracle will take place and she will rise to heaven. A medium prophesies the date, publicity gets to work, and all of America hums with anticipation. On the appointed day, she disappears and scientist Mortimer Hood, there to verify the miracle, must investigate how—and whether—the whole thing is a hoax, or if the priestess has been murdered.


Originally published in 1936, this edition features a new introduction by poet and academic Gregory Betts (editor of The Wrong World: Bertram Brooker's Stories and Essays).

Introduction by: Gregory Betts