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He Who Whispers
John Dickson-Carr; Introduction by Martin Edwards
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R305
R250
Discovery Miles 2 500
Save R55 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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‘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 from
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 whose name still
echoes from the heart of this bizarre and unsolved murder of the
past. First published in 1946, in later years Carr considered this
novel one of his finest works. It shows the masterful author at the
height of his powers, boasting an ingenious plot delivered with an
astounding pace and striking characters including none other than
the great detective, Dr Gideon Fell.
Over a long career in the courts Justice Horace Ireton has a
garnered a reputation for merciless rulings and his dedication to
meting out strict, impartial justice. Taking a break from his duty
after a session of assizes, Ireton retreats to his seaside bungalow
in Devon and turns his attention to family, and specifically in
attempting to bribe his daughter's lover Morrell to leave her alone
so that she may instead marry the respectable clerk, Fred Barlow.
It seems something about the deal with Morrell must have gone
amiss, however, when the police are called to the Justice's
residence to find Morrell shot dead and the judge still holding a
pistol. But would the lawman be so bold to commit a murder like
this? With a number of strange items making up the physical
evidence Dr Gideon Fell, himself an old friend of Ireton's, is
summoned to help with the deceptively simple - yet increasingly
complex - investigation.
'"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 Duchene was seen heading into the
Gallery of Horrors at the Musee 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 fiance 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
Murder in Number Four', a rare Inspector Bencolin short story.
Crime author Dick Markham is in love again; his fiancee the
mysterious newcomer to the village, Lesley Grant. When Grant
accidentally shoots the fortune teller through the side of his tent
at the local fair - following a very strange reaction to his
predictions - Markham is reluctantly brought into a scheme to
expose his betrothed as a suspected serial husband-poisoner. 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.
'That is the case. Alison has been murdered. 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 Schadel, 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 early novel also
features the rare Inspector Bencolin short story 'The Fourth
Suspect'.
John Dickson Carr lays on the macabre atmosphere again in this
follow-up to It Walks by Night, in which Inspector Bencolin
attempts to piece together a puzzle involving a disappearing
street, a set of gallows which mysteriously reveals itself to a
number of figures traipsing through the London fog, and the bizarre
suggestion that a kind of fictional bogeyman, Jack Ketch, may be
afoot and in the business of wanton execution. An early gem from
one of the great writers of the classic crime genre. This edition
also includes the rare Inspector Bencolin short story 'The Ends of
Justice'.
Christmas Eve. While the world sleeps, snow falls gently from the
sky, presents await under the tree ... and murder is afoot. In this
collection of ten classic murder mysteries from the best crime
writers in history, death and mayhem take many festive forms, from
the inventive to the unexpected. From a Santa Claus with a grudge
to a cat who knows who killed its owner on Christmas Eve, these are
stories to enjoy - and be mystified by - in front of a roaring
fire, mince pie to hand.
We are thrilled to welcome John Dickson Carr into the Crime
Classics series with his first novel, a brooding locked room
mystery in the gathering dusk of the French capital. In the
smoke-wreathed gloom of a Parisian salon, Inspector Bencolin has
summoned his allies to discuss a peculiar case. A would-be
murderer, imprisoned for his attempt to kill his wife, has escaped
and is known to have visited a plastic surgeon. His whereabouts
remain a mystery, though with his former wife poised to marry
another, Bencolin predicts his return. Sure enough, the Inspector's
worst suspicions are realized when the beheaded body of the new
suitor is discovered in a locked room of the salon, with no
apparent exit. Bencolin sets off into the Parisian night to unravel
the dumbfounding mystery and track down the sadistic killer.
The Christmas season is one of comfort and joy, sparkling lights and steam rising from cups of mulled wine at frosty carol services. A season of goodwill to all men, as families and friends come together to forget their differences and celebrate the year together.
Unless, of course, you happen to be harbouring a grudge. Or hiding a guilty secret. Or you want something so much you just have to have it - whatever the cost. In A Very Murderous Christmas, ten of the best classic crime writers come together to unleash festive havoc, with murder, mayhem and twists aplenty.
Following Murder on Christmas Eve and Murder under the Christmas Tree, this is the perfect accompaniment to a mince pie and a roaring fire. Just make sure you're really, truly alone ...
A sinister case of deadly poisoned chocolates from Sodbury Cross's
high street shop haunts the group of friends and relatives
assembled at Bellegarde, among the orchards of 'peach-fancier'
Marcus Chesney. To prove a point about how the sweets could have
been poisoned under the nose of the shopkeeper, Chesney stages an
elaborate memory game to test whether any of his guests can see
beyond their 'black spectacles'; that is, to see the truth without
assumptions as witnesses. During the test - which is also being
filmed - Chesney is murdered by his accomplice, dressed head to toe
in an 'invisible man' disguise. The keen wits of Dr Gideon Fell are
called for to crack this brazen and bizarre murder committed in
full view of an audience. Also known by its US title The Problem of
the Green Capsule, this classic novel is widely regarded as one of
John Dickson Carr's masterpieces and remains among the greatest
impossible crime mysteries of all time.
It's the middle of summer. On Cornish sea-fronts, happy children grip melting ice-creams. In the south of France, sunlight filters through leaves as families picnic in the shade. And in the fashionable resorts of the Mediterranean, the beautiful people sun themselves on picture-postcard beaches.
And in those long, hot summer nights ... murder walks abroad. Away from familiar surroundings, and as the temperature rises, old grudges come to the surface, new hatreds reach boiling point - and clever minds start to make dangerous plans. These ten classic mysteries, from some of the finest crime writers, prove that no matter where you travel to - there's no rest for the wicked.
The most famous of all locked-room mysteries - a classic in the
crime genre. 'The first deadly walking of the hollow man took place
when the side streets of London were quiet with snow and the three
coffins of the prophecy were filled at last...' The murderer of Dr
Grimauld walked through a locked door, shot his victim and
vanished. He killed his second victim in the middle of an empty
street, with watchers at each end, yet nobody saw him, and he left
no footprints in the snow. And so it is up to the irrepressible,
larger-than-life Dr Gideon Fell to solve this most famous and
taxing of locked-room mysteries.
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Death-Watch (Paperback)
John Dickson-Carr
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R500
R444
Discovery Miles 4 440
Save R56 (11%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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John Dickson Carr, a master of the Golden Age British-style mystery
novel, presents Dr. Gideon Fell's most chilling case, in which a
clock-obsessed killer terrorizes London A clockmaker is puzzled by
the theft of the hands of a monumental new timepiece he is
preparing for a member of the nobility. That night, one of the
stolen hands is found buried between a policeman's shoulder blades,
stopping his clock for all time. The crime is just peculiar enough
to catch the attention of Dr. Gideon Fell, the portly detective
whose formidable intellect is the terror of every criminal in
London. Working closely with Scotland Yard, he finds that the case
turns on the question of why the clock hands were stolen. And
learning the answer will put Dr. Fell squarely in the path of a
madman with nothing but time on his hands. "There has probably
never been, either in real life or in fiction, a more elaborately
planned crime than this one." -The New York Times "Very few
detective stories baffle me, but Mr. Carr's always do." -Agatha
Christie "Mr. Carr can lead us away from the small, artificial
world of the ordinary detective plot into the menace of outer
darkness. . . . Every sentence gives a thrill of positive
pleasure." -Dorothy L. Sayers John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) was one
of the most popular authors of Golden Age British-style detective
novels. Born in Pennsylvania and the son of a US congressman, Carr
graduated from Haverford College in 1929. Soon thereafter, he moved
to England where he married an Englishwoman and began his
mystery-writing career. In 1948, he returned to the US as an
internationally known author. Carr received the Mystery Writers of
America's highest honor, the Grand Master Award, and was one of the
few Americans ever admitted into the prestigious, but almost
exclusively British, Detection Club.
The Mystery Fancier, Volume 1 Number 6, November 1977, contains:
"Raymond Chandler on Film: An Annotated Checklist, Part I," by
Peter Pross, "The Degeneration of Donald Hamilton," by George
Kelley, "The Mysterious John Dickson Carr," by Larry L. French, and
"The Nero Wolfe Saga, Part IV," by Guy M. Townsend.
It is no ordinary murder case that brings the famed French
detective Monsieur Bencolin out of retirement, but one that
involves a midnight rendezvous on a steamy Paris night, a broken
love affair, and four different murder weapons found in the secret
villa where the body is discovered. Rose Klonec, whose corpse bears
the mark of a particularly horrible wound, had connections - and
old lovers - throughout Paris, and soon the number of suspects
grows to match the number of possible weapons ...
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