The Portrait of Jirjohn Cobb is the first book of the Big River Trilogy which continues with Cleopatra's Tears and the Bottle with the Green Wax seal. Written in 1939 it is one of the most bewildering mystery stories ever. It all takes place on an island in Big River that is threatened to be flooded in a few hours. On it are four desperate characters, one of whom is a fiendish murderer. No one but Harry Stephen Keeler could keep the ghastly conversation going for a whole book -- much less three of them.