H. L. Gold 1 hr 28 min read

'You again, Weldon,' the Medical Examiner says wearily, another old woman dead in a shabby room, emaciated, alone, and (as always) with a fortune hidden somewhere among her flaking possessions.

H. L. Gold's 1953 story is a sharp, clever social-SF and time-travel mystery. Sharp, ingenious golden-age SF. Read it for a story where an investigator probes the recurring riddle of misers who starve to death surrounded by wealth, and uncovers a secret behind the deaths no reporter could ever cover.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

1 hr 28 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

William Ashman