The Scarlet Macaw

The case is assigned to Inspector Burton of Scotland Yard, whose sharp eyes and sharper tongue rattle the elegant walls of the Tressady home. His questions cut deep, and the cracks in the household’s carefully arranged facade widen. Why does Genevra’s secretary, Jasmine Holland, grow pale at the parrot’s cries? What happened to the missing manuscript she was working on? And who—or what—is Elfinella?

First published in 1923, Gladys Edson Locke’s dazzling locked-room mystery blends psychology, illusion, and the shadowy traces of the past.