The Mystery of the "Yellow Room"

Gaston Leroux

• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781513287959
• eBook ISBN: 9781513287959
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: World Literature
• Index: Literature

The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1908) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. Originally serialized in L'Illustration from September to November 1907, The Mystery of the Yellow Room marked the first appearance of popular character Joseph Rouletabille, a reporter and part-time sleuth who features in several of Leroux's novels. Originally a journalist, Leroux turned to fiction after reading the works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe. Often considered one of the best locked-room mysteries of all time, the novel has been adapted several times for film and television. Joseph Rouletabille is more than meets the eye. A reporter by profession, he spends his free time working as an amateur detective, using his journalistic talents to compile facts and track down leads. When the young daughter of a prominent professor is found badly beaten in a locked room at the Château du Glandier, Roulebatille sets out to investigate with his trusted assistant Sainclair. After conducting interviews with several members of the castle staff, he is told that France's top detective Frédéric Larsan has been assigned to the case. Larsan soon names Robert Darzac, Ms. Stangerson's fiancé, as his primary suspect. Having already ruled Darzac out, Roulebatille begins to grow suspicious when the man is arrested and seems hesitant to defend himself. Working behind the scenes, the unassuming sleuth must race against time to prove Darzac's innocence and stop Ms. Stangerson's attacker from finishing what he started. The Mystery of the Yellow Room is a story of danger and suspense from one of history's finest detective novelists. Joseph Rouletabille is without a doubt France's answer to Sherlock Holmes. This edition of Gaston Leroux's The Mystery of the Yellow Room is a classic of French literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• I. In Which We Begin Not to Understand
• II. In Which Joseph Rouletabille Appears for the First Time
• III. “A Man Has Passed Like a Shadow Through the Blinds”
• IV. “In the Bosom of Wild Nature”
• V. In Which Joseph Rouletabille Makes a Remark to Monsieur Robert Darzac Which Produces Its Little Effect
• VI. In the Heart of the Oak Grove
• VII. In Which Rouletabille Sets Out on an Expedition Under the Bed
• VIII. The Examining Magistrate Questions Mademoiselle Stangerson
• IX. Reporter and Detective
• X. “We Shall Have to Eat Red Meat—Now”
• XI. In Which Frederic Larsan Explains How the Murderer Was Able to Get Out of the “Yellow Room”
• XII. Frederic Larsan’s Cane
• XIII. “The Presbytery Has Lost Nothing of Its Charm, Nor the Garden Its Brightness”
• XIV. “I Expect the Assassin This Evening”
• XV. The Trap
• XVI. Strange Phenomenon of the Dissociation of Matter
• XVII. The Inexplicable Gallery
• XVIII. Rouletabille Has Drawn a Circle Between the Two Bumps on His Forehead
• XIX. Rouletabille Invites Me to Breakfast at the Donjon Inn
• XX. An Act of Mademoiselle Stangerson
• XXI. On the Watch
• XXII. The Incredible Body
• XXIII. The Double Scent
• XXIV. Rouletabille Knows the Two Halves of the Murderer
• XXV. Rouletabille Goes on a Journey
• XXVI. In Which Joseph Rouletabille Is Awaited with Impatience
• XXVII. In Which Joseph Rouletabille Appears in All His Glory
• XXVIII. In Which It Is Proved That One Does Not Always Think of Everything
• XXIX. The Mystery of Mademoiselle Stangerson
• A Note About the Author
• A Note from the Publisher