圣诞前夜，英国一栋乡村别墅。大雪将别墅与外界的联系切断。第一件谋杀案就在此背景下展开，一位客人在密室遇害，开门时候有两人目击，找不到凶器，别墅里的主人和宾客都有犯罪嫌疑。别墅附近正好住着一位新近退休的苏格兰场警探，别墅众人急忙将这位老探长请到家里来。老探长在别墅办案时，却碰上一位劲敌——一位侦探小说女作家，大作热卖，但从不碰密室谋杀案。第二起谋杀发生了，侦探终于发觉了凶手的马脚，经过一番波折，找出凶手。

Published here with his essay "A Defence of Detective Stories," this witty and hugely enjoyable work was Chesterton's first foray into detective fiction. Set in late Victorian London, "The Club of Queer Trades" introduces us to would-be private detective Rupert Grant and his brother, the outlandish and seemingly insane retired judge, Basil, who is in fact by far the more astute of the two. They undertake a series of bizarre and improbable cases that see them dealing with various eccentric characters, including a Major receiving a very odd death threat and a trapped woman who refuses to be rescued. As their cases mount up, it becomes clear that all the investigations are linked to the enigmatic Club of Queer Trades.

我想要的，只是你的「眼睛」…
一個知名作家，曼布克獎得主保羅，在一次車禍後不僅毀容且雙目失明。有一天他貼出廣告，要尋找協助他寫作的人。三十開外的約翰，看到廣告前來應徵並錄取了。約翰的工作，是住在保羅家，並當他的「眼睛」，隨時為他描述周遭的景物以及動靜。保羅要寫一本回憶錄，因此自然由他口述，約翰幫他打字紀錄。
保羅的要求很嚴格，他希望約翰發揮功能，讓他感覺好像周遭場景歷歷在目，比如一起散步時，即使每天都走過一樣的路，還是要一一描述周邊的景物。在家裡也一樣，密切注意四週的環境。可是奇怪的是，保羅要求約翰，不能關燈。即使是失明，保羅也要開著燈，而且浴室的門總是要留一個縫不能完全關上，理由是保羅有幽閉恐懼症。但是失明的人，為什麼會怕黑呢？
怪異的事情，還不只這一樁。有一天，保羅身上的領帶沾上髒汙，約翰稱職地爲他描述這條領帶弄髒的狀況，但保羅却說，他根本沒有約翰所描述的那條領帶，而原本以為套在脖子上的那條領帶，却遍尋不著，好像從來不曾存在過一樣，這又是怎麼一回事？
故事全由對話構成。作者刻意營造特殊的氣氛，讓讀者也像書中盲人主人翁一樣，看不見畫面，只能靠這些對話，猜測事情發生的始末，可說是一本全憑「聽覺」的小說，別有一番閱讀樂趣。
※本書已由《情慾克林姆》導演改編成電影，2010年2月於英國上映。電影版中與盲眼作家演對手戲的從男人改成女人，由《追殺比爾》女星黛瑞漢娜（Daryl Hannah）擔綱。

What, I thought, was to prevent me from truly killing the author?
Part murder mystery and all jet-black satire, and based on a real life scandal, this edgy novella tells the story of Léopold Sfax, world-renowned as the creator of "The Theory"—a bizarre literary theory that grew from an intellectual folly to a dominant school of criticism that enslaved college campuses across the country.

However, The Theory, which holds that the text of any piece of writing tells us all that we need to know about its author (as if the author himself is "dead") takes on extra perversity when the revered—or is it feared?—Sfax is found to have once written something that seems...well, murderously revealing.

In the hands of Gilbert Adair, it's a dexterously wrought and hysterically devilish look at academic cultishness. It's also a taut metaphysical murder mystery that confounds the reader's expectations on almost every page and reserves its most stunning surprise—the ultimate whodunit twist—for the very last page.
The Contemporary Art of the Novella series is designed to highlight work by major authors from around the world. In most instances, as with Imre Kertész, it showcases work never before published; in others, books are reprised that should never have gone out of print. It is intended that the series feature many well-known authors and some exciting new discoveries. And as with the original series, The Art of the Novella, each book is a beautifully packaged and inexpensive volume meant to celebrate the form and its practitioners.