Seven Keys to Baldpate (Annotated)

Earl Derr Biggers's *Seven Keys to Baldpate* (1913) is a deftly constructed mystery-comedy in which William Magee, a writer seeking solitude at a remote mountain inn, discovers that the supposedly exclusive retreat has seven keys—and that each key brings a new claimant, deception, and threat. Its snowbound setting, rapidly shifting identities, theatrical entrances, and ingenious reversals unite th...