The Whispering Man

The Whispering Man (1908) is a novel by Henry Kitchell Webster. Written at the height of Websters career as a popular author of magazine serials, The Whispering Man is a story of romance, mystery, and murder. Filled with twists and complicated motives, The Whispering Man remains an underappreciated whodunnit over a century after it appeared in print. It is strange that we should have been talking about Dr. Marshall that very night, I and my new friend and neighbor, across our little table in the restaurant. Talking about him we were, and at considerable length, too, before I bought the paper that had the news of his death in it. Out to dinner with his friend Arthur Jeffrey, a painter, Drew learns of the death of Dr. Roscoe Marshall, a prominent alienist, from natural causes. Only moments before, they had been discussing Marshalls work in relation to Drews expertise in legal evidence, to which Jeffrey had responded by detailing his portrait work for Marshalls wife. As it turns out, Madeline Marshall, ne Cartwright, is a former love interest of Drews, and the discussion has loosened a painful memory within him. Shocked by the news of the doctors death, Drew looks across the dining room to find Marshalls son, who has come at his mothers request. In the cab back to their apartment, the young man has one word on his lips: murder. With a beautifully designed cover and a professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Henry Kitchell Websters The Whispering Man is a classic of American mystery fiction reimagined for modern readers.