The Scarlet Circle

A Golden Age mystery featuring a sleuthing small-town doctor who’s out of his depth as a killer haunts a waning New England summer.

On vacation with his daughter on the New England coast, Dr. Hugh Westlake is enjoying the sun, the sea, and the fishing. It being September, the inn where they’re staying is almost empty, except for a few other guests. But the peace is shattered when a woman’s body is found strangled on the beach, with a red circle drawn around a mole on her face.

The morbid scene becomes more so when she’s identified as the governess of a family staying at the inn. Hugh gets drafted by local law enforcement to help with the investigation. He uncovers dysfunctional parents, a creepy mortician, a handsome lifeguard, and a woman painter—all with secrets to hide. Not to mention local legends. When another woman is murdered, with another mole circled, Hugh realizes there’s a madman on the loose. And he must tie up the loose ends of crimes past and present to net a most diabolical killer.

Stagge has packed some excellent reading between the opening and closing chapters.”
—Chicago Sun

An exciting and grisly yarn.”
—New York Herald Tribune

A fine entry in one of the better American amateur detective novel series.”
—Pretty Sinister Books

One of the year’s supreme morsels. It has everything the exemplary detective story should possess.”
—Worcester Telegram

Jonathan Stagge was one of the pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (1912–1987), Richard Wilson Webb (1901–1966), Martha Mott Kelley (1906–2005), and Mary Louise White Aswell (1902–1984) wrote detective fiction. Most of the stories were written together by Webb and Wheeler, or by Wheeler alone. Their best-known creation is amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. In 1963, the story collection The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Introduction by Otto Penzler