The Hand of Mary Constable

Alexander Hero knows a fake when he sees one. As the chief investigator for the British Society of Psychical Research and a private detective of the occult, being a professional skeptic of the paranormal is his job. Of course, he is just as eager to find proof of life after death as he is to expose scam artists and fraudulent ghosts. Unfortunately, that can mean occasionally placing his life in danger . . .

American professor Samuel Constable is the head of the Department of Cybernetics in the advanced engineering school at Columbia University. He is also the key scientist working on a top-secret government project known as Operation Foxglove. Its success is vital to the defense of the free world, which is why US authorities are concerned about a recent disruption in Constable's life and why they desperately need Hero's help.

For the past four months, Constable has been attending spiritualist séances on the Upper West Side. He believes he has not only seen and heard his dead ten-year-old daughter, Mary, but also now possesses physical proof of her return from the afterlife—a translucent, hollow, seamless wax hand, complete with Mary's fingerprints. It could be real . . . or just a ploy to brainwash Constable and ruin Operation Foxglove.

Now, Hero must go undercover to infiltrate the séance and decide for himself before the ghost persuades Constable to spill government secrets. But if Hero is exposed, he risks a fate worse than death . . .

"A good one . . . well-solved." — The New York Times

Originally published in 1964.