Page: Fool's Gold

A prospector raising funds for an expedition to an Alaskan gold mine is found dead—but the body vanishes before the police arrive. Criminologist Christopher Page and his assistant (and narrator) Ralph Page are called in to investigate. The prospector’s partner is also missing, with foul play suspected. Members of a local congregation have invested money (again, missing), so there are plenty of suspects. Fool's Gold was published in 1933.

Reviews

“The incidents seem rather too gruesome for timorous readers but the stout-hearted will thrill to the ingenious methods involved. While written in the first person, most of the events are related through introspective remarks which do not include the fictitious narrator, so that there is no tone of egotism. Christopher Page is becoming popular as an independent sleuth and the scientific slat from which he reviews weird circumstances in Fool’s Gold will add to his fiction fame among those deft enough to follow the intricate plot. The financial complications make the story timely and the characterization is unique.” (1933 review)