"The magnificent Transcontinental Express, showcasing the cutting edge of mid-1930s luxury train travel, is making its first trip from New York to San Francisco. For its maiden voyage the Express carries only invited guests, among them renowned businessmen, physicians, psychologists, and even a high-ranking member of the NYPD. Among refined staterooms, an elegant dining car, and a 'recreation room' for bridge, ping-pong, and dancing, the vehicle's most lauded feature is the swimming pool car--which is precisely where the waterlogged corpse of a prominent banker is discovered just one day into the journey. Uncertain of the cause of death and fearing negative publicity, the conductor drives on for the West Coast, charging a select group of passengers, including the sharp-witted Dr. Pons, with the task of uncovering what has occurred. Hopelessly rare in first edition and never before published in the United States, Obelists en Route is a brilliantly complex Golden Age mystery"--