My second attempt at "getting into" Harry Stephen Keeler resulted in the same experience as I had reading "The Affair of the Bottled Duece," -- boredom. This is a disjointed story that only keeps your interest in case you want to learn the secret behind the seemingly blank, but very valuable, card everyone is after (and even then you'll feel cheated.) Most of the characters are unpleasant, there is no mystery to the murder (which is explained casually near the end, although by then, who cares?) I just don't get why some people think this writer deserves to be re-discovered as a mystery writer icon.
