bencolin whispers suicides detections

books:

The Crooked Hinge (A Dr. Gideon Fell Mystery)

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Collier Books, 1966

Leave The Lights On.
John Dickson Carr's mysteries are fantastic. This one in particular. In Farnleigh Close in England lived Sir. John Fairleigh and his wife, Molly. But, wait a minute, was he the real Sir John Fairleigh? A man who claims to be the true Farnleigh comes to see Sir John, with his lawyer and wants to lay claim to the estate. Dr. Gideon Fell of Scotland Yard is called in to try to determine who is ...

Castle Skull

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Pocket, 1947

A flaming 'danse macabre' on the ramparts of Castle Skull
A burning man is seen staggering across the battlements of Castle Skull before plunging to his death on the banks of the Rhine. The 15th century castle had most recently been the home of the terrifying magician, Maleger who had died seventeen years before this story begins, either as a suicide or a murder victim. His decomposed corpse was found floating down the Rhine, identifiable only through ...

The Case of the Constant Suicides

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Collier Books, 1963

finding old books
So glad this title was out there! I lost my copy--it's my favorite John Dickson Carr book. The seller got it to me very quickly and it was in good condition.

Death-Watch

1 review
Glyn Carr, John Dickson Carr

Collier Books, 1970

Death on the witches' sabbath
This mystery stars John Dickson Carr's gargantuan, shovel-hatted detective, Dr. Gideon Fell and takes place in England between the world wars. All of the characters act suspiciously, including the true and false heir to the extensive Farnleigh estate (and the title that goes with it), their two lawyers, the butler, Lady Farnleigh, and assorted family friends. The reader has many reasons to ...

The Case of the Constant Suicides

1 review
John Dickson Carr

NY Dell #91 1945., 1945

The Doom of the Campbells
"The Case of the Constant Suicides" (1941) is a fun read and one of the author's more interesting mysteries--three men die and the reader must determine who committed suicide and who was murdered. This book is very much of a howdunit as well as a whodunit. Carr's serial detective, the humungous Dr. Gideon Fell, galumphs into view about a third of the way through, after one man is already ...

Castle Skull

2 reviews
John Dickson Carr

T Stacey, 1973

Mephistopheles in pearl studs
A burning man is seen staggering across the battlements of Castle Skull before plunging to his death on the banks of the Rhine. The 15th century castle had most recently been the home of the terrifying magician, Maleger who had died seventeen years before this story begins, either as a suicide or a murder victim. His decomposed corpse was found floating down the Rhine, identifiable only through ...

The Bride of Newgate

4 reviews
John Dickson Carr

Carroll & Graf Pub, 1994

Carr's First Historical Novel
Carr's first historical detective novel-and one of his finest. Every conceivable aspect of 1815 that could lend itself to excitement, tragedy or melodrama is so used: the Battle of Waterloo, the last-minute repeal of an accused murderer married not one hour before to an ice maiden, the duels with sabre and with pistol, and a riot at the Opera. Throughout, the reader is kept wondering about the ...

The life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Dolphin books)

1 review
John Dickson Carr

DoubleDay, 1965

Exuberant Victorian
Some listings of biographical archives appear at the end of the book. Charles Doyle, the father, was by profession an architect. Charles Doyle liked fishing. Arthur was educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst. At age 15 he visited relatives in London and was a rabid sight-seer. He studied in Germany for one year. He went to medical school at the University of Edinburgh, living at home. It ...

Corpse in the Waxworks, the

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Collier Books, 1979

Alternate title: "The Waxworks Murder"
"The Corpse in the Waxworks (1932)" (alternate English title: "The Waxworks Murder") features the suave, manic-depressive M. Henri Bencolin, 'juge d'instruction' of the Seine, the head of the Parisian police. He is accompanied by his friend, the American Jeff Marle, who narrates and serves as Bencolin's straight man, muscle, and the guy who falls for all of the smouldering, silk-bosomed, ...

The murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey

2 reviews
John Dickson Carr

Hyperion Press, 1975

History, Politics, Religion, and Murder--a seamless story
Carr is the greatest writer of classic detection fiction. He was also a hell of a history student and an unregenerate lover of derring do of the Robert Louis Stevenson/Alexander Dumas type (see some of his historical/detection/thrillers like The Bride of Newgate), and here he combines all sorts of history with the methods of classic detection in a thrilling tale. He writes this piece of ...

The Four False Weapons: Being the Return of Bencolin

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Harper & Brothers, 1937

The Corpses' Club
John Dickson Carr's mysteries tend to be very atmospheric, most especially his Monsieur Bencolin mysteries that take place in decadent, prewar Europe. "The Four False Weapons" is set in and near Paris, and the famous French detective Bencolin is called out of retirement to solve the mystery of who killed the ageing `fille de joie' Rose Klonec. It is no ordinary murder that brings the ...

The Mad Hatter Mystery.

1 review
John Dickson. Carr

Harper & Bothers Pub., 1933

One of J D Carr's best mysteries
"The Mad Hatter Mystery" has nothing to do with Alice's Mad Hatter, although it takes place in a locale almost as English as Wonderland, i.e. the Tower of London. As may be guessed from the murder site, Carr relies heavily on atmospherics: shrouds of fog; a corpse with a crossbow bolt through its heart; an unpublished story by Edgar Allen Poe; and above all a mad prankster who steals the ...

Fell and Foul Play

1 review
John Dickson Carr

International Polygonics, 1991

The Best of Them?
Every time I re-read my copy of FELL AND FOUL PLAY, which I bought at Aardvark Books here in San Francisco, used, for $6, I get a little chortle of glee when I think that on Amazon the cheapest copy is $74 or something. For I have been stiffed so often on books that getting a bargain is an anomalous thrill, like the nerd getting lucky at the sex club. Anyhow my other thought is that FELL AND ...

He who whispers,: A Dr. Fell mystery story

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Harper, 1946

A vintage Gideon Fell novel published in 1946
John Dickson Carr was a writer in the "Golden Age" of mysteries, and he never cheated his readers. All of the clues needed to solve the mystery are presented, giving the alert reader a chance at identifying the murderer. I actually figured out who the killer was before the denouement of "He Who Whispers" even though I had no idea of how the murder was committed. However, his scrupulosity is ...

It walks by night

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Penguin Books, 1966

First Bencolin mystery, published in 1930
________________________________________________________________ ... and not least foul among these night-monsters (which may be found even in our pleasant land of France) is a certain shape of evil hue which by day may not be recognized, inasmuch as it may be a man of favoured looks, or a fair and smiling woman; but by night becomes a misshapen beast with blood-bedabbled claws. So I say to you, ...

The Door To Doom and Other Detections

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Harper & Row, 1980

Try to find the 1991 edition of this book
"The Door to Doom" was first published in 1980 and reissued in 1991 as the third volume in International Polygonics's omnibus collections of John Dickson Carr's short stories. The 1991 edition differs from earlier printings in including for the first time the complete version of Carr's essay on detective fiction, "The Grandest Game in the World." John Dickson Carr began his professional ...

Hag's Nook

1 review
John Dickson CARR

Dell, 1951

"Let there be a spice of terror, of dark skies and evil things"
John Dickson Carr began his professional writing career, at the age of twenty-five, with his Inspector Bencolin mystery novels. (It may surprise you to learn that John Dickson Carr was American). "Hag's Nook" is this author's first mystery starring Dr. Gideon Fell, Carr's gargantuan serial detective, who actually comes across as human in this novel, not just a creature of snorts, tics, and coy ...

The Four False Weapons: A Monsieur Bencolin Mystery

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Harpercollins, 1989

A very Parisian murder
John Dickson Carr's mysteries tend to be very atmospheric, most especially his Monsieur Bencolin mysteries that take place in decadent, prewar Europe. "The Four False Weapons" is set in and near Paris, and the famous French detective Bencolin is called out of retirement to solve the mystery of who killed the ageing `fille de joie' Rose Klonec. It is no ordinary murder that brings the ...

The Mad Hatter Mystery

1 review
John Dickson Carr

The MacMillan Company, 1965

A madman is loose in London between the Wars
"The Mad Hatter Mystery" has nothing to do with Alice's Mad Hatter, although it takes place in a locale almost as English as Wonderland, i.e. the Tower of London. As may be guessed from the murder site, Carr relies heavily on atmospherics: shrouds of fog; a corpse with a crossbow bolt through its heart; an unpublished story by Edgar Allen Poe; and above all a mad prankster who steals the ...

Four False Weapons: Being the Return of Bencolin

1 review
John Dickson Carr

Collier Books (Macmillan Pub Co.), 1984

Bencolin seedy rather than satanic, but still sharp
John Dickson Carr's mysteries tend to be very atmospheric, most especially his Monsieur Bencolin mysteries that take place in decadent, prewar Europe. "The Four False Weapons" is set in and near Paris, and the famous French detective Bencolin is called out of retirement to solve the mystery of who killed the ageing `fille de joie' Rose Klonec. It is no ordinary murder that brings the ...

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