New Releases by John Dickson Carr

Carr considered this novel one of his best works, and it is easy to see why when experiencing its ingenious plot delivered with an astounding pace and masterfully drawn characters including none other than the great detective Dr. Gideon Fell. "It almost seemed that the murder, if it was a murder, must have been committed by someone who could rise up unsupported in the air..." When Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club in London, he is met instead with just two other guests and is treated to a strange tale of an impossible crime in France years before; the murder of a man on a tower with only one staircase, under watch at the time at which the murder took place. With theories of levitating vampires abounding, the story comes home to Miles when he realises that the librarian he has just hired for his home is none other than Fay Seton, a woman at the heart of this bizarre and unsolved past murder.

Dr. Gideon Fell solves two impossible murders in one of the most baffling locked room mysteries ever created.

Death and tennis meet in one of impossible crime master John Dickson Carr''s most memorable cases.

This "[Is a] nail-biting locked room puzzle...Carr''s gift for creating a creepy atmosphere again meshes with a brilliantly constructed and eminently fair whodunit." — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Who can I trust?" Love-sick Dick Markham is reeling. He''s set to marry Lesley Grant—a woman whom he learns is not who she appears to be. She seems to have been associated with three poisonings, all of which were in locked rooms. Another crime has been committed and we will watch the great Dr. Fell investigate through Markham''s watchful eyes. That night the enigmatic fortune teller—and chief accuser—is found dead in an impossible locked-room setup, casting suspicion onto Grant and striking doubt into the heart of her lover. Lured by the scent of the impossible case, Dr. Gideon Fell arrives from London to examine the perplexing evidence and match wits with a meticulous killer at large. First published in 1944, Till Death Do Us Part remains a pacey and deeply satisfying impossible crime story, championed by Carr connoisseurs as one of the very best examples of his mystery writing talents. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning author Martin Edwards.

"The purpose, the illusion, the spirit of a waxworks. It is an atmosphere of death. It is soundless and motionless... Do you see?" Last night Mademoiselle Duchêne was seen heading into the Gallery of Horrors at the Musée Augustin waxworks, alive. Today she was found in the Seine, murdered. The museum''s proprietor, long perturbed by the unnatural vitality of his figures, claims that he saw one of them following the victim into the dark—a lead that Henri Bencolin, head of the Paris police and expert of ''impossible'' crimes, cannot possibly resist. Surrounded by the eerie noises of the night, Bencolin prepares to enter the ill-fated waxworks, his associate Jeff Marle and the victim''s fiancé in tow. Waiting within, beneath the glass-eyed gaze of a leering waxen satyr, is a gruesome discovery and the first clues of a twisted and ingenious mystery. First published in 1932 at the height of crime fiction''s Golden Age, this macabre and atmospheric dive into the murky underground of Parisian society presents an intelligent puzzle delivered at a stunning pace. This new edition also includes the rare Inspector Bencolin short story "The Murder in Number Four" by John Dickson Carr, and an Introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger-Award winning author Martin Edwards.

From the archives of the British Library, the master of locked-room mystery John Dickson Carr presents an atmospheric and haunting example of crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder. Alison has been murdered. But his blazing body was seen running about the battlements of Castle Skull. And so a dark shadow looms over the Rhineland where Inspector Henri Bencolin and his accomplice Jeff Marle have arrived from Paris. Entreated by the Belgian financier D''Aunay to investigate the gruesome and grimly theatrical death of actor Myron Alison, the pair find themselves at the imposing hilltop fortress Schloss Schädel, in which a small group of suspects are still assembled. As thunder rolls in the distance, Bencolin and Marle enter a world steeped in macabre legends of murder and magic to catch the killer still walking the maze-like passages and towers of the keep. This new edition of John Dickson Carr''s spirited and deeply atmospheric whodunit also features the rare Inspector Bencolin short story ''The Fourth Suspect.''

In this mystery by the acclaimed author of To Wake the Dead, an inheritance hangs in the balance in a case of stolen identities, imposters, and murder. Banished from the idyllic English countryside he once called home and en route to live with his cousin in America, Sir John Farnleigh, black sheep of the wealthy Farnleigh clan, nearly perished in the sinking of the Titanic. Though he survived the catastrophe, his ties with his family did not, and he never returned to England—not even for the funerals of his mother, his father, or, most recently, his older brother Dudley. Now, nearly twenty-five years since he was first sent away, Sir John has finally returned home to claim his inheritance. But another “Sir John” soon follows, an unexpected man who insists he has absolute proof of his identity and of his claim to the estate. Before the case can be settled, however, one of the two men is murdered, and Dr. Gideon Fell, who happens to be passing through the village, finds himself facing one of the most challenging cases of his career. To solve it, he’ll have to confront a series of bizarre and chilling phenomena, diving deep into the realm of the occult and brushing up against witchcraft, magic, and a sinister automaton to solve a seemingly impossible crime . . . Selected by a panel of twelve mystery luminaries as one of the ten best locked-room mysteries of all time, The Crooked Hinge is a creepy and atmospheric puzzle inspired by a real-life case. It is the ninth installment in the Dr. Gideon Fell series, which may be read in any order. “Carr . . . is at his best in this creepy and baffling entry in the American Mystery Classics series, originally published in 1938. . . . This is an all-time classic by an author scrupulous about playing fair with his readers. Golden age fans won’t want to miss it.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

''The Starberths die of broken necks'' goes the legend in the village of Chatterham . . . The Starberth family governed the now-abandoned Chatterham prison for many years, and each male heir must spend the night of his twenty-fifth birthday there, alone, overlooking the hanging site of Hag''s Nook. Meanwhile, after a chance encounter on a railway platform, Dorothy Starberth and young American graduate Tad Rampole fall in love. Rampole is here in rural Lincolnshire to see Gideon Fell. The following day, Dorothy''s brother is found dead of a broken neck, just as his father and grandfather before him. Ingeniously plotted and packed with atmosphere, Hag''s Nook will not disappoint mystery lovers.

To solve a centuries-old crime, a man makes a deal with the devil: “The fantasy, the murder and the historical action are . . . all wonderful” (San Francisco Chronicle). An aging scholar of Restoration history, Nicholas Fenton has long dreamed of traveling into the past. He has a date in mind—May 10, 1675—as well as a purpose: to solve the murder case of the woman he loves, his rakehell ancestor’s lovely wife. Obsessed with delivering her from danger, he turns to an unlikely accomplice: the devil. After striking a bargain with the prince of darkness, Fenton awakens in the seventeenth century in the much-younger body of dashing Sir Nick Fenton. In an era when gentlemen died by the blade, Fenton is handy with a rapier, and his knowledge of local history gives him a leg up on the swashbucklers who would have his hide. But while his sword may help him rescue his beloved, it will take more than that to save his soul. Even in 1675, the devil is in the details.

Famed crime solver Dr. Gideon Fell attends a housewarming party in the English countryside, but a ghost spoils the fun in Golden Age mystery master John Dickson Carr’s stylish, baffling mystery novel The house is called Longwood, and its history is wet with blood. It is closed up for good in 1920, when a massive chandelier falls, crushing an eighty-year-old butler. Oddly enough, the old chandelier was sturdy, and there was no way it could have fallen unless the butler leapt and swung on it. Was he mad? Suicidal? Or was he being pursued by something from beyond the grave? Seventeen years later, Longwood is purchased by Martin Clarke, a rakish young man with a taste for the supernatural. He invites his friends for a paranormal housewarming, but it is not long before the festivities turn gruesome. Chairs fly, guns fire on their own, and a mysterious fire threatens to engulf the whole mansion in flames. Clarke and his guests came for a ghost hunt—but could it be that the ghost is hunting them? The Man Who Could Not Shudder is the 12th book in the Dr. Gideon Fell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. The Man Who Could Not Shudder is the 12th book in the Dr. Gideon Fell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Famed French detective Monsieur Bencolin comes out of retirement to solve a crime of passion in Golden Age mystery master John Dickson Carr’s sophisticated and surprising novel London lawyer Richard Curtis is sent to Paris by one of the firm’s senior partners to handle a delicate case. Revelations about playboy Ralph Douglas’s former mistress, the stunning redhead Rose Klonec, threaten Douglas’s impending marriage. But upon Curtis’s arrival in Paris, a body is discovered alongside not one but four different murder weapons. To save his client from the gallows, Curtis turns to the brilliant Monsieur Bencolin. Only this suave, devilish detective is ideally suited to unravel a case this strange with so many contradictory clues and passionately motivated suspects. The Four False Weapons is the 5th book in the Monsieur Bencolin Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

John Dickson Carr, master of the Golden Age British-style whodunit, delivers a dazzling historical mystery set in Restoration London In England, the Civil War is finished, Cromwell is dead, and the monarch Charles II sits happily upon the throne. It is a fine time to be rich, young, and bold—and there are few in the kingdom more daring than Roderick Kinsmere. A country boy come to London to become a man, Roderick is drawn into a whirlwind of danger that will not slow until the streets of the metropolis are stained with blood. With the monarchy depending on him, Roderick knows survival will mean a quick study in the arts of court intrigue, piracy, and swashbuckling romance—and that somehow everything centers on the beautiful sapphire ring he inherited from his father.

On the verge of a second marriage, a divorcee discovers her first husband has returned, and murder ensues in this chilling tale, which the New York Times Book Review hailed as “one of the most ingeniously constructed mystery stories John Dickson Carr has ever told” After divorcing her husband, Ned, Eve Neill falls in love with banker Toby Lawes and quickly agrees to marry him. But news of the engagement brings Ned back, intent on reclaiming his bride, whatever the cost. The price of passion proves too high when a dead body is found—and beside it, the shattered fragments of a snuff-box that once belonged to Napoleon. These fragments tell two tales, one true and one false. And in order for Eve to know whether her future holds a white bridal gown or a black hangman’s cloak, she will have to trust that an expert in criminology will be able to force the evidence to tell the truth and point out the real murderer.

Hailed by Agatha Christie as “the king of the art of misdirection,” John Dickson Carr draws readers into a thrilling tale of a family’s hunt for an inheritance hidden in a haunted New Orleans mansion Before he became a commodore in the Confederate Navy, Serena Hobart’s grandfather was a treasure hunter who combed the bottom of the sea in search of Spanish gold. In 1927, after her father dies, Serena wants nothing more than to be rid of Delys Hall, the commodore’s rambling old New Orleans mansion, which has been nicknamed “Deadly Hall” because some pretty awful things have occurred there, including murder. When her relatives hear rumors that there may be gold hidden in the old house, they will stop at nothing to keep it in the family. Serena’s childhood friend Jeff Caldwell senses that Serena is in danger and wants to protect her. But there are many dark corners in Deadly Hall, maybe even ghosts, and certainly relatives who can dream up a thousand ways to kill.

A man fears his beloved is not who she claims to be in this sophisticated puzzler by John Dickson Carr, a master of the British-style detective novel David Garth has just stepped off the train at Charing Cross when he is summoned to Scotland Yard to answer questions about a person believed to be living a double life. A neurologist, Garth is an expert on the brain, but in matters of the heart he is clueless. He has fallen in love with Betty Calder, a delicate young woman whom the police suspect of blackmail and prostitution. Garth refuses to believe these accusations, but when a strangled body is found on Betty’s property, surrounded by fifty feet of wet sand with no footprints but her own, the challenge before him seems daunting. Can he outwit a cunning murderer and a hostile detective-inspector to prove his fiancee’s innocence?

John Dickson Carr, one of the masters of the British-style detective novel, evokes the danger and delights of 1912 New Orleans in this puzzling murder mystery Journalist and spy novelist Jim Blake takes an assignment for Harper’s Weekly that puts him on a train to New Orleans, where congressional candidate James Claiborne Blake is being targeted by enemies who threaten to reveal that there is a glamorous Creole courtesan in his past. But in New Orleans, a sexual indiscretion is not enough to ruin a politician. That would require murder. When one of Clay’s supporters is found murdered, Jim Blake sets out to clear the candidate’s name—a dangerous mission in a city that comes alive at night, where rumor can be as deadly as poison.

The master of the Golden Age detective novel displays his expertise in the historical whodunit with this Gothic tale of passion and bizarre murder, which Newsday hailed as “mystery fiction at its finest” When headstrong young heiress Peg Ralston flees London for Versailles, her father sends dashing rake Jeffrey Wynne to bring her home from the court of England’s greatest enemy. But upon their return it appears that a mysterious portrait and a child’s nursery rhyme link vivacious Peg to a bawdy old seamstress who resided near London Bridge and was quite literally scared to death. The old woman’s murder is but one thread in a web of conspiracy that includes blackmail, court intrigue, and an underground club that has made a hobby out of murder. With Peg’s life at stake, Wynne will do everything he can to trace the diabolical connection between the two women—and resist falling in love.

One October night in the middle of the twentieth century Detective Inspector John Cheviot got into a taxi, bound for New Scotland Yard. When he stepped out it was from a horse-drawn cab, the year was 1829, and a beautiful woman was beckoning him in front of Old Scotland Yard. There were things Cheviot remembered but couldn''t use - like how to analyse fingerprints; and things he didn''t know that he could have used - like how advanced his romance with Lady Flora really was. And there wasn''t even time to learn, because in the midst of helping Robert Peel establish the respectability and competence of his new police force, Cheviot suddenly finds himself and his lady accused of cruel murder.

On his return to Geneva, Brian Innes must meet Audrey Page and find a way to prevent her from joining the strangely temperamental group of people gathered around film star Eve Eden at the Villa Rosalind. With characteristic stubbornness, if not trusting naivety, she refuses to be detained 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.

And So to Murder by John Dickson Carr (as Carter Dickson), a Sir Henry Merrivale mystery. “A first-class murder mystery [and] also a ribald satire of the motion picture industry.”—The Vancouver Sun DEATH RIDES THE TUBE... The speaking-tube whistled. Monica flew at it. “Who are you? What do you want?” She bent her cheek to the mouth of the tube to listen for an answer. Something was happening inside the tube. She jumped back. Something which looked like water, but was not water, spurted in a jet from the mouth of the tube. It splashed across the linoleum. There was a hissing, sizzling noise as half a pint of vitriol began to eat into the surface of the floor. The footsteps in the room above began to run. Monica Stanton has written a saucy best-seller that has landed her her dream job, scriptwriting for a movie studio. Things turn sour quickly as she''s saddled with a mentor she despises After someone makes a gruesome attempt on her life, however, her feelings begin to change about him as they are forced together during the investigation. Theories of Nazi “heiling enthusiasts” and espionage soon take form, leading to the entrance of Sir Henry Merrivale, who now works for Britain''s Military Intelligence division. Only Sir Henry can wade through the “fat-heads” and schemers to get to the bottom of this amusing and clever mystery.

Ten minutes after the Duc de Saligny entered the card room, the police burst in - and found he had been murdered. Both doors to the card room had been watched yet t he murderer had gone in and out without being seen by anyone . ''

A BLACK DAGGER CRIME edition of a novel in which someone is murdering Napoleon''s personal enemies and is spreading terror through the army poised to invade England, and a Briton, forced to discover the identity of the killer, pits his wits against Napoleon himself.

When Dr. Gideon Fell finds himself at a party where 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, southern aristocrat Henry Maynard, so cryptic about the strange goings-on in the mansion? And how is the theft of the scarecrow linked to a diabolical and ingenious murder?

All of Carr''s stories featuring Dr. Gideon Fell, including previously unpublished ones in radio-play form, are accompanied by six other mystery tales and a locked-room novella

The scene in Papa La-Bas is New Orleans in 1858. There, strong men, lovely women, dark magic and violence swirl around Senator Judah P. Benjamin, who can solve any problem by logical analysis, and Richard Macrae, Her Majesty''s Consul, when they witness a devilish murder.

When Pennington Barclay is found murdered in a locked room, his sister claims that he was killed by a ghost and Dr. Fell is called to investigate