Nomination for 2025’s Dream Reprint

Kate Jackson, at Crossexaminingcrime, is calling for nominations for the next classic crime novel to be reprinted in 2026. The criteria are:

1. The blogger (in this case, me) read the title in 2025
2. Classic crime fiction, published before 1970
3. Currently out of print, has not been reprinted after 2015.

Therefore, The Mystillery in all humility, nominates:

The Man Who Didn't Exist by Geoffrey Homes (1937)

About the author: Geoffrey Homes was a pseudonym of Daniel Mainwaring (1902-1977), an American novelist and screenwriter. He was born in California, and attended Fresno University. He held various jobs, including migrant fruit picker, private investigator and reporter, before turning to writing in the thirties.  

Synopsis: Newspaper reporter Robin Bishop is taking in an evening's entertainment at a seashore casino with his wife, Mary. He steps out onto the beach and finds a jacket folded neatly, with a note pinned to it. The note is a suicide note, signed by Zenophen Zwick. If this is true, it will be a nationwide sensation. Zenophen Zwick is the country's foremost mystery writer. It is known to be a pseudonym, but no one knows his actual name. Bishop and City Editor George Clark begin putting together the story, although a bit suspicious that it could just be a publicity stunt. 

Although no one knows who Zwick is, there are five writers who are distinct possiibilities. Robin sets out to verify if any of the five writers are missing, while Mary searches for clues in books by the five to determine if one of them is really Zwick.  

Why I enjoyed it:  I always enjoy stories where the investigator is a newspaper reporter, and the story includes scenes inside the newspaper offices - back in the day when it was a frenzy as competing papers fought it out on the streets in alternate editions, and the chaotic buildup to deadline; when the presses begin rumbing in the basement. It is also fascinating as Mary searches other author's works to find similarities in writing styles.

Please check out this post on Cross Examining Crime if you have your own nomination, or leave it in the comments on that page by 14th February 2026.