Book excerpt: What seems like an unfortunate fall turns out to be far more disturbing, as a blind detective discovers, in this mystery from the author of The Last Express. Following the loss of his sight in World War I, ex–intelligence officer Capt. Duncan Maclain honed his other senses and became one of the most successful and well-known private investigators in New York City . . . Wealthy businessman Dryden Winslow spent over twenty years self-exiled in Australia, but he’s recently returned to the United States. He’s staying at Doncaster House, a luxury hotel in Manhattan, where he’s rented out six suites for himself and his estranged family. Given Winslow’s weakened heart has him on the verge of death, the hotel staff are on high alert, knowing he could drop at any moment. Of course, no one expects him to drop from his balcony . . . Captain Maclain is playing chess with the hotel manager when a startled housekeeper reports her account of Winslow’s accident, claiming she heard whistling before the fall. Stranger yet, when Maclain examines the body, he declares Winslow was hanged. Now, with his seeing eye dog at his side and a hotel full of secrets, Maclain sets out to prove his case. It’s a lofty goal and, with a lunatic killer still roaming the hotel, a dangerous one too. Baynard Kendrick was the first American to enlist in the Canadian Army during World War I. While in London, he met a blind English soldier whose observational skills inspired the character of Capt. Duncan Maclain. Kendrick was also a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America and winner of the organization’s Grand Master Award.