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JOHN DICKSON CARR

Carter Dickson was the pseudonym for the prolific mystery writer John Dickson Carr. Born in Pennsylvania, he married a British woman and lived in England where he wrote mysteries in the great British tradition and worked for the British Broadcasting Corp. during World War II. Author of over ninety mystery novels, Carr was the creator of the fictional detectives Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale. He was considered master of the "locked-room" crime puzzle but also tried his hand at the historical novel, and biography in The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. With Adrian Conan Doyle (Sir Arthur's youngest son), he wrote a series of stories continuing the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. the first of which was published in Life magazine. In 1948, Carr, his wife and their three children returned to the United States. In 1949 he was elected for a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America. He was the recipient of that organization's Edgar award in 1949 and 1962, and received the Ellery Queen prize twice for short stories. In 1951, he was the subject of a two-part New Yorker profile. John Dickson Carr died in 1977.

From: Death in Five Boxes, Bantam Books, Inc. 1982

Books by John Dickson Carr:

The Arabian Nights Murder (1936) What the sergeant saw in the dark street was a spectrally thin, tall old man in top hat, frock coat - and flowing white whiskers - seated atop the wall of the Wade Museum of Oriental Art off Pall Mall. If the sergeant was surprised to discover the whiskers were false, he was astounded when the apparent lunatic vanished into the night while in a state of unconsciousness. Faced with these unearthly goings-on, Dr. Gideon Fell plunges into one of the most perplexing and bizarre mysteries of his career - a potpourri in which murder, mummies, and museums are mixed in equal parts.

Below Suspicion (1949) A terrifying cult of devil-worshippers makes murder a part of its evil ritual. An arrogant lawyer cynically defends a woman he's sure is guilty and finds himself helpless to clear one he knows is innocent. Here is a chilling story of horror and brutality told in the heavy atmosphere of marijuana-filled chapels of the devil.

The Blind Barber (1934) The bunk's mattress was soaked with blood. The old-fashioned razor was folded shut. But it had been recently used. It was smeared with blood. A voice broke the terrible stillness in the stateroom: "The blind barber has been here tonight!" On an Atlantic crossing of the good ship Queen Victoria, a vicious killer is loose, and four high-living characters are hellbent to pin him down. Dr. Gideon Fell soon finds himself up to his chins in misadventures as he wades into a comedy of terrors that boasts a reel of compromising film, an emerald elephant, and a lethal razor for props, murder as the evil deed, and unmitigated mayhem as the comedy relief.

The Bride of Newgate (1950) "You are going to die", she said. "That is why I want you for my husband." He stared at her with hatred in his eyes, and slowly drew himself erect, refusing to say anything - but he looked at the revealed fullness of her bosom where the gown dipped revealingly low, and felt her nearness. Then suddenly she laughed, a cruel, harsh laugh that seemed strange coming from this magnificent beauty.

The Burning Court (1937) When the family found an odd piece of string, tied at equal intervals into nine knots, next to his pillow, they dismissed this trifle from their minds. But then the housekeeper, a normally sensible woman, told an incredible story of a beautiful woman in the old man's room - a woman who had "walked through the wall." And others began to recall seeing a mysterious woman near the house - a beautiful woman whose sultry eyes shone with evil and who floated through the mist to the nearby woods. Edward Stevens smiled at their fears of the supernatural - until curiosity made him consult an old volume on female murderers. The book contained a clear photograph of a woman. Under it, in small letters, had been printed: Marie D'Aubray Guillotined for Murder, 1861 Edward Stevens was looking at a photograph of his own wife.

Captain Cut-Throat (1955) Someone - an invisible someone - is murdering Napoleon's personal sentries - and spreading terror through the army poised to invade England. Alan Hepburn, a dashing Briton, is delivered into the hands of Fouche, Napoleon's wily and satanic police chief, by a beautiful French spy. Forced to ferret out the killer, Alan matches wits against a thrilling background of galloping action, swordplay, and flying bullets.

The Case of the Constant Suicides (1941) When the remnants of the proud Campbell clan summon him to Inverary, Dr. Gideon Fell isn't sure whether to investigate a case of suicide, murder, or ghostly possession. By the time Dr. Fell completes his inquiry, there have been three grisly deaths, and the Campbell family skeletons threaten to emerge from their closets and rattle their bones in public. But as the inimitable Dr. Fell weighs the conflicting evidence he sees that the case comes out right in the end by bringing the guilty to justice and preserving the family name.

Castle Skull (1931) The great and powerful Maleger wished to have a home that would be "appropriate" for his needs. So he bought the famous Schloss Schadel, Castle Skull, on the Rhine, and transformed the ruin into a nightmare ... The castle had a terrifying history, including scenes of torture, insanity, suicide, but when Maleger brought in his own brew of 20th century magic, the dark Rhine witnessed a flaming spectacle of murder ... The world famous detective, Bencolin, and the grand master of mystery, John Dickson Carr, must do some very fancy concocting of their own before this mixture becomes clear.

The Corpse in the Waxworks (1932) Monsieur Bencolin was most assuredly not looking for murder in the sepulchral gloom of Augustin's famous was musee. His surprise, then, was formidable when he discovered the body of a young girl, stabbed in the back, lying grotesquely in the wax arms of the Satyr of the Seine. From the eerie green light of Augustin's, the peer of French detectives is led across the Paris night to the notorious club of the Silver Key, whose masked members revel in carefully planned orgies. In the connection between the musty wax museum and these nocturnal debauches lies an astounding and terror-filled revelation.

The Crooked Hinge (1938) The equal of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Father Brown, he has been called one of the greatest of fictional criminologists. Yet even a master must meet his match - as Dr. Fell does in THE CROOKED HINGE. Two men make equally convincing claims to a single, wealthy estate, and there is only one person who holds the key to the identity of the true heir - an obvious candidate for death. Yet when death strikes, it comes not to the man but -- The murder of an illogical candidate for death is but the first puzzle in a murky labyrinth where even Dr. Fell must, finally, lose his way ...

Dark of the Moon (1967) When Dr. Gideon Fell, that most eminent of eccentric sleuths, finds himself at a party whose guests are in a state of deep agitation, all the faculties of his detective genius are called into play. Why is the host of the party - Henry Maynard, a Southern Aristocrat - so cryptic about the strange goings-on in the stately mansion? And how is the theft of the scarecrow linked to a diabolical and ingenious murder? Fe;;'s cunning proceeds to uncover the dastardly motives to the deeds that have been taking place in the dark of the moon.

The Dead Man's Knock (1958)

Deadly Hall (1971)

Death Turns the Tables (1942) Mr. Justice Ireton was a pillar of moral rectitude. Unemotional, he sat godlike upon his bench and mercilessly handed down the strictest sentences the law allowed. But then the Judge's future son-in-law was found dead, and although there were plenty of other suspects, even Dr. Fell had to ask: "Did Mr. Justice Ireton commit murder?"

Death-Watch (1935) A policeman is found dead in the dark hallway of a clockmaker's shop with a thin, gilded object embedded in his neck - the minute hand of a clock. Dr. Gideon Fell, visiting with his good friend Professor Melson next door at the time of the murder, is on hand to discover a young man standing over the body with a gun. But the gun has not been fired, and to help the C.I.D. Dr. Fell begins an investigation into the lives of Johannus Carver, the clockmaker, Eleanor Smith, of whom Carver is guardian, and the large number of other individuals who reside in their building and whose movements must be accounted for. To prove his theory about this enigmatic crime, Dr. Fell must use a madman to capture a murderer.

The Demoniacs (1962)

The Devil in Velvet (1951) Can a Cambridge don outwit the devil himself? In The Devil In Velvet, a pact with Satan sends Professor Nicholas Fenton back in time to bawdy, turbulent Restoration London to solve a murder that is about to take place. But he falls in love with the intended victim and resolves to alter the course of history - by preventing the murder. Entangled with the spirit of a boisterous, quick-tempered swordsman extraordinaire, fought over by three alluring women, Nick Fenton is caught up in a race against time, when every answer spins a new question in this supremely puzzling and romantic mystery.

The Door to Doom and Other Detections (1980) Short Stories

Dr. Fell, Detective, and Other Stories (1947)

The Eight of Swords (1934)

The Emperor's Snuff Box (1942) Beside the dead body of Sir Maurice Lawes are the shattered fragments of a snuff-box that once belonged to Napoleon. These fragments tell a tale, or rather two tales, one true and one false. How an English expert in criminology forces the evidence to "tell" the truth about what happened and to point out the real murderer makes for what TIME called "a brilliant exercise in detecting and a chilling adventure in villainy."

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1937) Co-authored by Adrian Conan Doyle

Fatal Descent (1939)

Fire, Burn! (1957) London was wrapped in fog when Inspector John Cheviot got into the twentieth-century taxi. The city was still fogbound when he got out - but the cab was a hackney coach, the year was 1829, and murder was a safe and profitable business. There were things Cheviot remembered but couldn't use - like how to analyze fingerprints; and things he didn't know that he could have used - like his romance with the luscious Lady Flora. And there wasn't any time to learn, because Cheviot suddenly found himself pitted against the cleverest killer of his career ...

The Four False Weapons (1937) Marked with a peculiarly horrible wound, Rose Klonec's corpse is discovered by her former sweetheart, Ralph Douglas, in a villa near Paris. All the evidence seems to incriminate Ralph; the maid even swears he stayed with Rose on the night of her murder. Then the famous French Sleuth, Bencolin, emerges from retirement to handle the case. He soon complicates matters further by saying he can prove who the killer is - but that he doesn't believe it! The trail of confusing clues finally leads to a meeting of the card-playing Corpses' Club and "when the corpses get jolly well under way they play games that would make your hair curl."

The Ghost's High Noon (1969) Jim Blake, journalist and successful spy novelist, is sent to New Orleans to do a story on James Claiborne Blake, a congressional hopeful in the 1912 election. But even from New York he senses following eyes. James Blake, it seems, is threatened by sexual indescretions. Both Blakes become involved in politics and intrigue - and then impossible murder - among the atmospheric byways of New Orleans.

Hag's Nook (1933)

He Who Whispers (1946) At the edge of the woods by the river stands the tower. Once part of a chateau since burnt down, only the tower remains. The inside is but a shell with a stone staircase climbing spirally up the wall to a flat stone roof with a parapet. On the parapet the body of Howard Brooke lay bleeding. The murderer, when Brooke's back was turned, must have drawn the sword-cane from its sheath and run him through the body. And this must have occurred between ten minutes to four and five minutes past four, when the two children discovered him dying. Yet the evidence showed conclusively that during this time not a living soul came near him!

The House at Satan's Elbow (1965)

The Hungry Goblin (1972)

In Spite of Thunder (1960) Brian Innes had been asked to see young Audrey Page when she arrived in Geneva and to detain her from joining the strangely temperamental group of people at the Villa Rosalind. With characteristic stubbornness, if not trusting naiveté, she goes and is immediately encircled by terror, while the jaws of a murder trap swing closed. Fortunately, Dr. Gideon Fell is on hand, and when the murderer strikes with an invisible weapon, Fell accepts the challenge with brilliance and wit.

It Walks by Night (1930) Ten minutes after the Duc de Saligny entered the card room of the elegant Parisian gambling house, the police burst in - and found the Duc's severed head, standing upright on the stump of its neck, staring at them from the center of the room. Both doors to the card room had been watched and guarded, yet the murderer had gone in and out without having been seen by anyone! But the flamboyant prefect of police, Henri Bencolin, was willing to bet if the Duc had lost his head over a losing hand, the killer was ready to deal another game of death. And the wily detective had an ace up his sleeve that might - with luck - provide the winning combination for bringing the headstrong killer to justice.

The Lost Gallows (1931) A young British aviator has been murdered. But the murderer has made it appear that he died in a crooked duel. It is only when the French "man hunter" M. Bencolin discovers a model of a gallows in a London gentlemen's club that he makes the connection with the Egyptian and his giant black servant. Then the pieces of a most unusual puzzle begin to fall into place.

The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933) The newspapers dubbed the thief the "Mad Hatter," and his outrageous pranks amused all London. But the laughter turned to horror when a corpse with a crossbow bolt through the heart was found at the Tower of London. As Dr. Gideon Fell was to discover, the whole case turned on the matter of hats - in fact, threatened to become a nightmare of hats. For the victim was none other than Sir William Bitton's nephew, dressed in a golfing suit and wearing Sir William's stolen opera hat. And tying Sir William ti his murdered nephew with a scarlet thread was the stolen manuscript of a completely unknown story said to be the handiwork of Edgar Allan Poe.

 

The Man Who Could Not Shudder (1940) Three guests at Martin Clarke's weekend party swore they saw a pistol lifted from the wall, leveled, and shot. Yet no hand held it. It couldn't have happened - but there was a dead body on the floor to prove that it had! For the victim, it was far too late for a doctor. For the clever murderer, however, a house visit by the famed crime-solver Dr. Gideon Fell was just what the constable ordered. But the killer still somehow avoided taking his medicine - until Dr. Gideon Fell vowed to prescribe his own remedy for bringing the murderer to justice!

The Men Who Explained Miracles (1964) Short stories

Most Secret (1964) Young Roderick Kinsmere was a well-born country bumpkin when he strolled casually into the Great Court of Charles II's Whitehall Palace. Three days later he had lost his fortune, gained a wife,fought for - and been outwitted by - his king, and no one would ever call Rowdy Kinsmere a bumpkin again. It was 1670 and London was a teeming, filthy dangerous, and splendiferous place. The king was in trouble and Roderick was in the middle of the plots and counterplots. Somehow everything centered on the beautiful blue ring he had inherited from his father.

The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey (1936)

The Nine Wrong Answers (1952) This elaborate puzzle from the master of bafflement concerns a large inheritance and a man with an extraordinary skill at vocal mimicry, among other elements, in one of Carr's patented duels of wit that pits character against author against reader. The story is set in London with scenes at the BBC and Sherlock Holmes' rooms on Baker Street.

Panic in Box C (1966)

Papa La-Bas (1968)

Patrick Butler for the Defense (1956) Respectable was the word for Prentice and Vaughan, solicitors to the best of families. And the body of a weird little man who called himself Abu of Ispahan lying with a dagger in his heart on the waiting room floor was embarrassing to say the least. The whole incredible thing had happened right before their eyes. Prentice and Vaughan knew that they hadn't done it ... BUT NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE. It was obviously a case for Patrick Butler, the only man who might discover the flaw in the "perfect crime".

Poison in Jest (1932) Jeffrey Marle arrives at the troubled household of old family friends. He has been summoned there by Judge Quayle to help him complete his memoirs, and Marle is struck at once by the almost palpable tension in the air. When the Judge falls gasping to the floor after a single sip of poisoned brandy, the question that arises is not who would do such a thing, but which member of the Quayle household is responsible. Everyone in the unhappy family - from the Judge's frail, invalid wife to his embittered children - has a reason to wish him ill. And as Marle soon discovers, no one is above suspicion.

The Problem of the Green Capsule (1939)

The Problem of the Wire Cage (1939) DEATH AT CENTER COURT After a heavy rain shower, the body of Frank Dorrance was found near the center of a clay tennis court - strangled! Yet there was only one set of footsteps in the soft clay surface - and those footsteps belonged to the victim. Despite six suspects who had motive and opportunity, the authorities were stumped; it seemed impossible to prove that anyone could have killed Frank Dorrance ... ENTER DR. GIDEON FELL It was "advantage, the murderer," but the famed Dr. Gideon Fell would not be aced so easily. If he could discover how the murder was committed, he'd have his killer ... unless the murderer made a backhand shot and killed the good doctor first. Before match-point was reached, Dr. Fell would either net himself a killer - or court the end of his own illustrious career!

Scandal at High Chimneys (1959) Matthew Damon was a loving father and a figure of stern moral rectitude. Why, then, has a rumor of scandal followed him, denying him the knighthood he thought he had earned? Why had he, long ago, repeatedly and alone visited the cells of condemned young women? Behind the discreetly drawn curtains at High Chimneys something sinister lurked. Black-haired, fiery Kate and demure, blonde Celia were suspect. Brother Victor was distraught. The second Mrs. Damon was indiscreet. And murder was done. John Dickson Carr explores the bawdy other side of Victorian propriety, with real-life detective Jonathan Wicher, private investigator and ex-inspector of Scotland Yard, in this historical mystery of the sort he does so well. His picture of Victorian England is superb - carefully researched and great fun.

The Sleeping Sphinx (1947) It started as an innocent game. Each guest wore the death mask of a famous murderer. The host wore the green mask of the executioner. The doors were locked. A bowl of burning alcohol wavered with a bluish flame. Faces moved and dodged in the dark. Suddenly a cold chill swept over the room. A woman screamed. In a sealed vault nearby, ancient coffins moved, and murder and nightmare evil walked abroad.

The Third Bullet and Other Stories (1954) John Dickson Carr tells about ... A female columnist, found dead on a park bench - her clothes folded neatly beside her, in THE CLUE OF THE RED WIG A judge, shot to death while the police look on, in THE THIRD BULLET A woman who disappears into thin air, in THE HOUSE IN GOBLIN WOOD   And other startling and incredible happenings in these incomparable stories starring such masters of detection as Gideon Fell and Henry Merrivale.

The Three Coffins (1935) Many of the Golden Age masters of mystery had their own hallmarks. For Christie, it was the least likely suspect; for Gardner, the switched weapon; for Queen, the dying man's message; and for John Dickson Carr, the locked room. A puzzle that has challenged and fascinated both writers and readers since Poe. A body is found, murdered, in a hermetically sealed chamber, a room, the doors and windows to which are locked from the inside. An impossible crime? Not in the hands of a master, and no writer before or since Carr has better explained such miracles. The Three Coffins is a landmark in the locked room novel. In Chapter 17 the author halts the action to have Dr. Gideon Fell deliver the now famous "locked room lecture," cataloging the various ways to construct a locked room problem. Implicit is the author's challenge to the reader: here's how it could have been done ... which method did I use?

Til Death Do Us Part (1944) Six months after she arrived in Six Ashes, half the men were in love with beautiful Lesley Grant - and one of them was going to marry her - until Sir Harvey Gilman, London murder expert, told him" "That lovely young girl is forty-one years old. She poisoned two husbands and one lover. And no one knows how." A few hours later Sir Harvey was dead - poisoned - in a sealed room.

To Wake the Dead (1938) "First it was a dark mass; then it had a leg in a grey silk stocking; then a hand. It was a woman's body lying on its side with the head between the leaves of the trunk." Poor and hungry, but determined to win a wager made months earlier and half a world away, mystery writer Christopher Kent swindles breakfast at London's Royal Scarlet Hotel - and unexpectedly finds himself fleeing a darkened suite occupied by the corpse of a brutally murdered woman. Enlisting the aid of the celebrated Dr. Gideon Fell, Kent discovers, to his horror, that the corpse is the wife of his cousin Rodney, who was murdered in identical fashion two weeks earlier at a country estate miles away. Tracing clues from Sussex to South Africa and back, Dr. Fell and the police follow a trail of madness and mayhem to a resolution unexpectedly, and dangerously, close to home.

 

The Witch of the Low Tide (1961)

Books by CARTER DICKSON (JOHN DICKSON CARR):

 

And So To Murder (1940) LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! DEATH! Film fan Monica Stanton, demi-demure daughter of a village vicar, wrote an X-rated bestselling novel and became a hot movie property herself. When she was offered a screening stint, she happily zoomed in on the scene at Pineham Studios. What she hadn't figured on was starring in somebody else's sinister scenario - as the victim! ENTER SIR HENRY MERRIVALE Sir Henry likes the movies, too - but the shrewd supersleuth definitely does not applaud the double feature of poison and pistol-shots produced by an unknown villain. He's going to take real pleasure in unreeling the deadly plot on the studio lot!

Behind the Crimson Blind (1952) They called him "Iron Chest," this bold-as-brass, worldclass burglar who always carried an ornate iron chest while doing his stealing. He'd eluded coppers all over Europe, and now he was in Tangier, ready to forge ahead with new crimes. Ironically, though he'd been seen, no one knew what he really looked like, or how he always managed to vanish without a trace. ENTER SIR HENRY MERRIVALE The world-famous supersleuth was supposed to be on vacation, getting bronzed by the sun. But once he smelled a challenge, he couldn't pass up this golden opportunity to prove he was more than a tin hero, and to refine his crook-catching techniques even more!

The Bowstring Murders (1933)

The Cavalier's Cup (1953) It had to be the spectre of the long-dead Cavalier Sir Byng Rawdon who ghosted into the Oak Room at Telford Old Hall one night, spirited the bejeweled Cavalier's Cup from the locked safe ... and left it standing on a nearby table. The room's windows had been firmly latched, the heavy doors double-bolted from the inside - and a live witness had spent the entire night there and seen nothing! But the famous detective Sir Henry Merrivale wasn't spooked by ghost stories - in fact, impossible crimes always put him in high spirits. A very live intruder was haunting the Hall, and it was up to the redoubtable Sir Henry to unmask the ubiquitous bugbear before his deviltries materialized into a more murderous form of mischief!

The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (1945)

Death in Five Boxes (1938) A cozy late evening party, a cocktail or two ... and a nasty murder. So begins the baffling case of the killing of Felix Haye. Five people had a motive, but not one had the opportunity to poison the drinks - and poisoned they were. Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters clamors for clues from Egyptian mummies and clever clerks while Sir Henry Merrivale silently spots the legerdemain, and it's sure to be old Sir Henry who pulls out the missing pieces from this puzzling package of death in five boxes.

The Department of Queer Complaints (1940) Short Stories

Fear Is The Same (1956)

The Gilded Man (1942)

A Graveyard To Let (1949) When a man vanishes into thin air before his very eyes, Sir Henry Merrivale, the expert "miracle debunker," sets out to expose the trick. Sir Henry is a master of hocus-pocus, but he has to prove to himself - and to the police - that such a thing can't be done, although he doesn't expect, before he's through, to see mystery turn into murder.

He Wouldn't Kill Patience (1944)

The Judas Window (1938) The door was locked. The room was sealed. The murderer got out through the Judas Window!

My Late Wives (1946) British stage star Bruce Ransom was thrilled with the anonymously authored script sent to him concerning the grisly exploits of accused multiple wife-murderer Roger Bewlay. But a very nasty homicide occurring in the small town of Aldebridge soon after the illustrious actor's incognito arrival could mean only one of two things: either the real Bewlay had decided to play the provinces after an eleven-year hiatus ... or Ransom's private rehearsals for his upcoming theatrical triumph had gotten somewhat out of hand! ENTER SIR HENRY MERRIVALE This latest murder seems to closely follow the plot of Ransom's newly acquired star vehicle, so famed sleuth Sir Henry Merrivale quickly gets into the act. It appears an elusive psychopath is about to open a deadly extended engagement. But the great detective is determined to stop the show and bring down the final curtain on the notorious lady-killer's gruesome comeback!

Night at the Mocking Widow (1950)

Nine - and Death Makes Ten (1940) January, 1940. The early days of the war. The liner Edwardic sets sail from New York to a "British port," its name withheld for security, on the other side of the submarine infested Atlantic. Formerly a luxury ship, the Edwardic has been converted into a munitions carrier. Because of the inherent danger with such cargo, the vessel - although fully staffed - carries only nine passengers. One passenger is a victim. A second is a murderer whose bloody fingerprints are found at the scene of the crime. The solution should be simple, opines a traveling criminologist. Fingerprint everyone on board and see whose prints match those in the bloodstained cabin. Not so simple. Each person's prints are taken; none matches those found. Nine passengers and death makes ten! Fortunately, the ninth passenger is none other than Sir Henry Merrivale.

The Peacock Feather Murders (1937) A man's body sprawled at full length on the floor. He had been shot twice (once in the back of the head; once in the back) at close range with a revolver which lay beside him. The murderer must still be in the room. Detective-Sergeant Pollard had been guarding the only door and knew no one had gone through it. And the one window was forty feet above the street. Pollard looked around the room; but he found nobody because nobody was there. In the thick pile of the black carpet were only two sets of dusty footprints - Pollard's own and those of the victim. Pollard ran to the window. "He got out the window!" he shouted to Sergeant Hollis who had been watching across the street. "No, he didn't," came Hollis's voice in a faint yell. "Nobody got out that window."

The Plague Court Murders (1934) They hired psychic Roger Darworth to exorcise the Plague Court ghost. The ghost of Plague Court was no ordinary ghost. Hardly. Reportedly a malevolent soul on the lower plane, it was always watchful, always cunning, always waiting to possess a living body and to exchange that body's weak brain for its own just as it had done since its first appearance in 1665. The exorcist, Roger Darworth, was no ordinary exorcist. Of course not. Actually, he was a first-rate fraud who had been under police surveillance for months. It follows then that the exorcism of Plague Court was no ordinary exorcism. Naturally - or perhaps supernaturally - not after the exorcist was found brutally murdered in a small stone house with its door both padlocked and bolted, its windows barred, and with no secret entrances. And the murder weapon? Far, far from ordinary. It was an ancient knife which was said to be the property of the Plague Court ghost. By now we all know that Sir Henry Merrivale is no ordinary detective. Here he is in his first recorded appearance. And THE PLAGUE COURT MURDERS is not an ordinary mystery novel. How could it be? After all, it is the first book to bear the name of Carter Dickson, a/k/a John Dickson Carr, and by either name a most extraordinary author.

The Punch and Judy Murders (1936)

The Reader Is Warned (1939)

The Red Widow Murders (1935)

Seeing is Believing (1941)

She Died a Lady (1943) Beautiful Rita Wainright and young Barry Sullivan walked down the footpath to the edge of the seaside cliff - and never came back. Suicide by drowning, the police decreed ... until the bodies were washed ashore. Each had been killed by a bullet fired at close range, and the double suicide was suddenly a case of double murder. ENTER SIR HENRY MERRIVALE The only footprints to be found at the top of the cliff belonged to the victims, but the famous detective Sir Henry Merrivale didn't believe in a gunman who could walk through air. A very down-to-earth killer was on the loose, and it was up to Sir Henry to bring the footpad to heel and take him in tow before he had time to make tracks for his next victim!

The Skeleton in the Clock (1948)

The Third Bullet (1937) Short Stories

The Unicorn Murders (1935)

The White Priory Murders (1934) Who the dickens would murder lovely Marcia Tait, Sir Henry Merrivale's favorite cinema sex goddess? An exceedingly rummy business, to be sure. Marcia bludgeoned to death in the "Queen's Mirror" pavilion, the 17th-century trysting place of King Charles II and Lady Castlemaine. "Lummy, what a plum!" - with but one set of footprints in the newfallen snow leading to the pavilion and none leading away, Detective Inspector Humphrey Masters is baffled. Not to worry, though. Sir Henry has the situation well in hand. Or so it would appear. Until another murder occurs, right beneath the portly sleuth's pudgy nose.