Peter Godfrey (1917-1992), a South African journalist and short-story writer, created one of the most imaginative of modern sleuths, Rolf le Roux, called "Oom Rolf" by his nephew, Lieutenant Joubert of the Johannesburg police. In the ten stories in this collection, first published between 1948 and 1986, le Roux investigates such riddles as the man who can't remember 52 minutes of his life, an egg which becomes filled with poison before it is opened, letters addressed to the Johannesburg police threatening bomb blasts, the impossible murder in a cable car hanging many feet above ground, and an attempt by a racist politician to attack non-whites. Godfrey, who left South Africa because of his opposition to Apartheid has created not only wonderfully clever detective puzzles but has captured a world that has vanished.

The Newtonian Egg is the first volume in "Crippen & Landru Lost Classics," a series which will feature short-story volumes by authors of the past who wrote excellent detective and mystery stories. We are delighted to bring these previously uncollected, and in many cases nearly unknown, stories to a new generation of readers.