Title: Spider house
Subtitle: a mystery novel
Description: From The Mystery League blog:

> Eccentric Ezra Boonton, "Spider of the Street", is a retired financier who has swindled many to build his fortune, and now lives on the second floor of a house fortified with various gadgets to protect him from his supposed enemies. Captain Janos Catlin of the State Police has gone to see him on a request for protection. 
> While Catlin is there, butler/bodyguard Terence Kelly is shot when no one is looking. During the night, Catlin winds up locked in a closet, and when he gets out finds that (Ezra) Boonton has been killed upstairs as well; and no weapon can be found....

*Note: the text uses stereotypes and pejorative terms for various nationalities, common in writing of the time, that are unacceptable today.*