Case of the Jeweled Ragpicker : The Screwball Circus Mysteries, Vol. 3

"e;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."e; -- Neil GaimanIn December of 1946 Harry Stephen Keeler wrote a huge novel he called THE ACE OF SPADES MURDER. No publisher would tackle a novel so big so he split it up, eventually making five new novels from it. THE CASE OF THE JEWELED RAGPICKER was the one first published, in 1948 by Phoenix Press. In it, circus driver Bill Chattuck must make his way across Idiots' Valley via Old Twistibus in time to prevent something horrible from happening. You know the story -- but this time the notorious Phoenix Press seems to have added its own brand of wackiness to Harry's and produced the wildest Old Twistibus saga yet.