Download The Thirteenth Chair by Bayard Veiller. A tense 1916 mystery play of séance suspense, murder, suspects, deception, and theatrical detection. Available in PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and AZW3 formats.
About The Thirteenth Chair
The Thirteenth Chair by Bayard Veiller is a 1916 mystery play set around a séance arranged to expose a murderer. When Edward Wales gathers thirteen suspects in the hope of discovering who killed his friend, darkness, suspicion, spiritualism, and a second death turn the drawing room into a tense theatrical puzzle of guilt, deception, and revelation.
Why Read The Thirteenth Chair?
In a fashionable New York home, thirteen people gather for a séance — but when the lights go out, the attempt to uncover one murder leads to another.
The Thirteenth Chair is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy classic mystery drama, locked-room tension, séance plots, and early twentieth-century theatrical suspense. Bayard Veiller builds the play around a deliberately charged situation: a group of suspects is brought together under the pressure of hidden guilt, social unease, and the promise that supernatural means may reveal the truth.
The story begins with the aftermath of a murder and the determination of Edward Wales to expose his friend’s killer. His plan is to gather those connected with the crime and use a séance as a trap. The setting gives the play much of its force: polite society, family feeling, romantic tension, servants, guests, secrets, and suspicion all occupy the same room before darkness turns atmosphere into danger.
Veiller uses the conventions of spiritualism and stage mystery to strong dramatic effect. The séance is not simply decoration; it creates uncertainty about what is seen, heard, believed, and concealed. The audience is invited to weigh rational detection against apparent supernatural insight, while every character’s reaction becomes potentially important evidence.
The play’s appeal lies in its mixture of theatrical immediacy and crime puzzle. It is designed for suspense: drawn blinds, sudden interruption, emotional confrontation, hidden motives, and the fear that a murderer may be sitting in the room. The title itself turns the gathering into an image of menace, with the thirteenth chair suggesting both fatality and revelation.
Readers interested in classic crime fiction, mystery theatre, spiritualist-era suspense, and dramatic murder investigations will find The Thirteenth Chair a compact and atmospheric work. Those who enjoy Veiller’s Within the Law will also appreciate its blend of social drama, criminal intrigue, and carefully staged tension.
