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Start giftingThe Mystery of the Yellow Room
The Mystery of the Yellow Room is Gaston Leroux's masterpiece, and it turned out to be his most successful book during his lifetime. It is one of the classics of early-twentieth-century detective fiction.
At the heart of the novel is this enigma: how could a murder take place inside a locked room that shows no sign of being entered? The novel is also about the rivalry between the detective Frederick Larson and a young investigative journalist, Rouletabille, to solve the case. Larson finds a suspect who is put on trial, only to have him cleared by Rouletabille, who reveals in the most dramatic fashion the identity of the real murderer.
This atmospheric thriller is still a favorite of whodunit fans everywhere.
Gaston Leroux was a French mystery novelist, playwright, and journalist, who was perhaps best known for writing The Phantom of the Opera. Leroux's narratives were fast moving, and he often used complicated plots. In his youth, he wrote stories inspired by Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. His later works showed the influence of Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe. Leroux was born on May 6, 1868, in Paris to a wealthy store owner. He attended school in Normandy and obtained his law degree in Paris in 1889. When his father died, Leroux inherited nearly a million francs, and he spent most of his time drinking and gambling. Eventually, finding his money gone, Leroux started to work as a theater critic and reporter for L'รcho de Paris. By 1890, Leroux had become a full-time journalist. Between 1894 and 1906, Leroux traveled to different countries throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia as a correspondent. He wrote for the daily newspaper Le Matlin in addition to L'รcho de Paris and covered the Russian Revolution of 1905. In 1909, Leroux devoted himself entirely to writing, focusing on plays and popular novels of mystery and detection. Leroux established his own film company called Cineromans in 1919. He died in Nice on April 16, 1927.
Simon Vance, a former BBC Radio presenter and newsreader, is a full-time actor who has appeared on both stage and television. He has recorded over eight hundred audiobooks and has earned fifty-seven Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, including one for his narration of Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. A multiple Audie finalist, Simon has won Audie Awards for The King's Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan, and The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Winner of the 2008 Booklist Voice of Choice Award, Simon has also been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.