Three Sevens: A Detective Story by Perley Poore Sheehan

Description

Perley Poore Sheehan’s detective novel opens where the genre rarely dares — in a prison ‘cooler’, with a man named Craig who has still a good term to serve and has long since done the arithmetic of his life. It matters nothing to him, he reflects, that ten more years stretch ahead, nor that a month of it must pass in solitary; he has considered such facts until they are as unproductive as stones. But the cat is a brand-new fact. What Craig does with that fact carries the reader out of the cell and into the city, and the number 777 — the three sevens — begins to mark the pattern of a crime that was built to escape detection.

Sheehan was a writer with real sympathy for the outcast and the underdog, and his city is a tough, vivid place of crooks, justice, and second chances. The detective story here is a chase with a conscience — the puzzle is honestly laid, the twist is earned, and the ending won’t let you forget the man in the cooler.

Why readers still come back to it

• A crime novel with a genuinely unusual opening — in a prison cell
• An earned twist revolving around the number 777
• Darker, more humane crime fiction than the golden-age average

About this DodaBooks edition

This edition gives you the complete text with clean, professional typesetting, a working table of contents, and careful chapter navigation — designed for comfortable reading on phones, tablets, and e-readers. Instant download after purchase.