©2025 Fable Group Inc.
4.0 

The Red Right Hand

By Joel Townsley Rogers & Joe R. Lansdale
The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers & Joe R. Lansdale digital book - Fable

Why read on Fable?

Discover social reading

Chat inside the ebook with emojis, comments and more

Annotate with notes, tabs, and highlights

Share or keep your notes private with our annotation features

Support the World Literacy Foundation

We donate 20% of every book sale to help children learn to read

Publisher Description

“When the full story is finally revealed in this disturbing nightmare of a whodunnit, it will well leave readers reeling. A must-read masterpiece.” —Booklist (starred review) 
 
After the death of Inis St. Erme, Dr. Henry Riddle retraces the man’s final moments, searching for the moment of his fatal misstep. Was it when he and his bride-to-be first set out to elope in Vermont? Or did his deadly error occur later—perhaps when they picked up the terrifying sharp-toothed hitchhiker, or when the three stopped at “Dead Bridegroom’s Pond” for a picnic? 
 
As he searches for answers, Riddle discovers a series of bizarre coincidences that leave him questioning his sanity and his innocence. After all, he too walked those wild, deserted roads the night of the murder, stranded and struggling to get home to New York City. The more he reflects, his own memories become increasingly uncertain, arresting him with nightmarish intensity and veering into the irrational territory of pure terror—that is until an utterly satisfying solution emerges from the depths, logical enough to send the reader back through the narrative to see the clues they missed.
 
An extraordinary whodunnit that is as puzzling as it is terrifying, Joel Townsley Rogers’s The Red Right Hand is a surreal masterpiece that defies classification. It was identified by crime fiction scholar Jack Adrian as “one of the dozen or so finest mystery novels of the 20th century.”
 
“It is a strange and terrifying story, and the solution of the mystery, while perfectly logical, is not at all what one is led to suspect.” —The New York Times

8 Reviews

4.0
Thumbs Up“Mind-boggling, but in a natural kind of way. Skillfully written and the narration flowed at a pace fast enough to be gripping but with a flair that elevated it above fast-food thrillers so common nowadays. Red herrings done right! Would make a cool classic film too.”
“The Red Right Hand takes its readers on a long, strange journey, very aptly described as a stream of consciousness story. A highly original mystery, it is recommended that you read it in one sitting. As there are no chapters, and the narrative is told in a non-linear fashion, I can concur that this was an ideal way to consume this book. We follow Dr. Henry Riddle Jr., perhaps one of the first unreliable narrators in detective fiction, as he tries to organize his disheveled thoughts around the kidnapping and possible murder of Inis St. Erme. Red herrings abound, but the reader is given all of the clues necessary to solve the crime(s), (at least in retrospect in my case.) Rogers is a writer who is largely forgotten to modern audiences, but he was a highly prolific writer, particularly of short stories published in pulp magazines in the 40s and 50s. The Red Right Hand is considered his masterpiece, and without having read any of his other works, I can at least confirm that this very well could be, its that good. I would give the book 5 stars for sheer enjoyment of the read, but feel like I must deduct one star for the reliance of far too many coincidences to be wholly believable. But I would still highly recommend this book.”

About Joel Townsley Rogers

Joel Townsley Rogers (1896-1984) was a hugely prolific writer of short stories and novellas across several genres, including mystery, adventure, and science fiction, most of which were published in pulp magazines. He also wrote several novels, of which The Red Right Hand is by far his most well-known; it was adapted from a story published in New Detective.

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Error Icon
Save to a list
0
/
30
0
/
100
Private List
Private lists are not visible to other Fable users on your public profile.
Notification Icon
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB