Voodoo'd by Kenneth Perkins

The sleuth suspects himself!

This atmospheric gem is a 1931 Harper Sealed Mystery—an unusual concept where the last section of the book was sealed off, and if you were unsatisfied, you could have a full refund if the seal was unbroken.

The vicious murder of Bertram Juvenal was the talk of New Orleans. A worker at the Juvenal mansion lacerated the man's throat with fingers tainted in virulent poison, but once convicted, he shocked the courtroom by dashing out the window into a rain of police bullets.

New Orleans aristocrat and criminologist Basil Boyean returns from treatment by renowned Dr. Polti - a revitalizing gland transplant. Friends at the Bourbon Club debate whether accepting the glands of another man also transfers personality, or such psychological effects as habits and hates. Boyean soon learns the man whose glands he received was a notorious fiend and feels compelled to visit the scene of the crime, the family home, now a boarding house. He meets Bertram's brother Amos, Bertram's son Lucien, and Amos' ward, the beautiful young French girl, Ninon. Boyean stays the night - but despite locked windows and doors, there is another poisoned strangulation murder! Boyean fears he was overtaken by the fiend who possesses him, as if returned from the dead, for the only fingerprints found were of the gland donor! Detective Donnelly, munching his cigars, works with Boyean, who as a Creole understands voodooism. From the south, Bertram's other son Jacques arrives, and under the frenzied dancing and rhythmic conga drums of a distant voodoo gathering, Ninon watches as Jacques is attacked by a disembodied hand! It will not be the last attack in the house. Yes, there are trap doors and secret panels hidden in the house, African witch amulets tied with human hair, and the butler discovered to have the unmistakable sign of a papaloi voudoux priest - a sixth toe.

The killing continues and ramps up into a chase through the culverts of the Mississippi swamp. Can a man become possessed by the spirit of another, or is it merely psychological? Within a dark menace, there is also New Orleans flavor, as they feast on crawfish, iced river shrimp, and Creole beer laced with pineapple, ginger, cinnamon, and sugar. A note: being written in 1931, there are nine different names for the black characters, none used today. This mystery, including the pseudo-spirituality and transplant hokum, delivers the Creole atmosphere I hoped for.

1930 / Hardcover / 308 pages