The Great Merlini
| The Great Merlini | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Death from a Top Hat |
| Last appearance | No Coffin for the Corpse |
| Created by | Clayton Rawson |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Magician |
| Nationality | American |
The Great Merlini is a fictional detective created by Clayton Rawson. He is a professional magician and amateur detective, who appears in four locked room or impossible crime novels written in the late 1930s and early 1940s, as well as in a dozen short stories.
"His chronicler, free-lance writer Ross Harte, notes that Merlini hates the New York City Subway system, beer, inactivity, opera, golf, and sleep. He is, on the other hand, highly partial to surf bathing, table tennis, puzzles, circuses, and Times Square, where he operates a magic shop. Merlini's friendly rival is Inspector Homer Gavigan of Homicide, an intelligent man who is, nonetheless, amazed by the magician's feats."