The Cuckoo Clock

Professor Caldwel Mystery #1

by Milton K. Ozaki

Police Lieutenant Phelan, Professor Caldwell, and Bendy Brinks tackle a real puzzle in this, Ozaki's first novel. Their only apparent clues are a dead man, a knife wound, and a knife. Murder? All the doors and windows are locked from the inside. Suicide? The knife wound is in the victim's back. Some sharp thinking is required to solve this one. The scene is Chicago.

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Aka Robert O. Saber.

Milton K. Ozaki, born in Racine, Wisconsin from a Japanese father (Jingaro Ozaki, who later changed his name to Frank) and an American mother, Augusta Rathbun, was a journalist, a reporter and a beauty parlor operator (the Monsieur Meltoine beauty salon, in the Gold Coast section of Chicago). He is the author of approximately two dozen popular mid-20th Century detective novels under both his given name and the pseudonym Robert O. Saber, and is considered one of the first American mystery writers of Japanese descent. He died in Sparks, Nevada.

Reviews

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would say 3. 5 stars. I liked the first Ozaki book with Professor Caldwell and his assistant “Bendy.” This is the second one, this time it is a “locked room” murder of sorts. The a man is caught stabbed to death and the knife beside him, wiped clean, and all the doors and windows are locked. He was very much a player in terms of women so there are a lot of attractive women that Bendy has to find and talk with. Which is the finding the clue part. The cuckoo clock is mentioned at the start and has a part at the end.

Hope to find more of these books but they aren’t easy to find. It’s an enjoyable series.