Résumé
The story is a police procedural narrated by a friend of the protagonist, Joseph Rouletabille, a young reporter.
The author claims it to be the "most curious police story" of the last fifteen years.
It revolves around the attempted murder of Mlle Stangerson, who is found near death inside a locked room, the "Yellow Room," in a pavilion on her father's estate.
The room is locked from the inside and there is seemingly no way for the assailant to have entered or left, making it a classic "locked-room mystery".
Rouletabille, a young reporter, investigates the case and eventually finds a solution that explains the inexplicable.
The preface also mentions the work of Professor Stangerson and his daughter on "La Dissociation de la Matière" and radiography, which were on the verge of making a sensational discovery.