From one of the highest-rating authors in the genre, this is one of the John Dickson Carr’s best novels, rated highly among Carr connoisseurs. It features one of his famous series detectives Dr Gideon Fell (previously appearing in Till Death Do Us Part).

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.

Publication date: 10/06/2022

Author: John Dickson Carr, with an introduction by Martin Edwards

Brand: British Library Publishing

Number of pages: 240

Binding: Paperback

Dimensions: 190 x 130 mm