The Notting Hill mystery

"The Notting Hill mystery" is a detective novel written by Charles Warren Adams under the pseudonym of Charles Felix in 1863. Having enjoyed some critical success at the time of its publication, it was totally forgotten and then rediscovered in 2012, when the identity of its author was finally uncovered. Preceding works by Wilkie Collins or Émile Gaboriau, "The Notting Hill mystery" is now considered to be the first ever crime novel. This debate about who was first hides the true value of the book. It was astonishingly ahead of its time. It is a crime case presented as a collection of investigative, criminal, forensic documents and multiple depositions. It is also the first example of a “perfect crime” novel as at the end of the book the investigator has probably understood the truth but has no evidence to support his conclusions. Discover this first digital edition with original preface and biography by Les Éditions de Londres.