Adam Merriweather was considered one of America's foremost authorities of Tibetan history and art. In his Chicago home he had an room dedicated to Tibetan artifacts including an ancient eighth century Tibetan Manuscript that he had recently come by, by what many would consider dishonest means. A gentle Tibetan Lama from whom the manuscript had been stolen had come a great distance to reclaim the sacred object and was now a visitor in the home of Mr. Merriweather.
In the Tibetan room there are images of the four most powerful Tibetan gods as well as of Buddha. The Tibetan god of death has a fiercesome aspect with a third eye and a coronet of skulls, a gaping mouth and large earrings. In this room Merriweather is found death and the initial verdict is that of a heart attack, but he was heard to be chanting a secret spell supposedly Tibetan. Was this magic?Amateur Sleuth Theocritus Lucius Westborough is convinced that his death is anything but natural and that it is connected to another death, that of the death of the thief of the sacred documents from Tibet in the first place.
This book was published in 1938 and contains a great deal of fascinating history about the time when Tibet was a country with borders closed to all foreigners, before the days of Chinese occupation. It is a classic of the locked room mystery, with excellent clues, fair play and a well done murder.
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