James Answell is paying a visit to his future father-in-law, the champion archer Avory Hume, at his Grosvenor Street townhouse. Invited into the study and offered a drink, Answell suddenly swoons—and awakes to find the door and windows locked from the inside. His host is dead, skewered with an arrow, and Answell is prime suspect. The devilish puzzle constructed, Carter Dickson unravels an ingenious courtroom thriller, in which the razor-sharp amateur detective Sir Henry Merrivale argues fo...

Only young James Answell could have committed the murder. After all, he was found unconscious in the locked room next to the body of the murdered man. His clothes were disheveled from an apparent struggle. The whiskey decanter containing the liquor he said was used to knock him out was full to the brim. All the glasses on the table were clean. His fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, an arrow from the victim's collection. Furthermore, he was heard arguing with the dead man, whose ...

First published in 1937, this classic mystery shines on today as one of the great masterpieces of the impossible crime genre."There will be ten teacups at number 4, Berwick Terrace, W.8, on Wednesday, July 31st, at 5 p.m. Precisely. The presence of the Metropolitan Police is respectfully requested."The note was delivered to New Scotland Yard, its words evoking a cold murder case and its unsolved mystery of the ten teacups found beside the body. Scrambling to prevent a secon...

A businessman dies in an elevator in such a way that it seems as though no one could have committed the murder. A seemingly impossible murder in a private elevator draws two sleuths to the case. Inspector Hornbeam and Dr. Horatio Glass are at odds from the beginning, each dismissive of the other's theories, thus creating an atmosphere as much of competition as cooperation.

James Bennett has been invited to stay at White Priory for Christmas among the retinue of the glamorous Hollywood actress Marcia Tait. Her producer, her lover, the playwright for her next hit and her agent are all here, soon to become so many suspects when Tait is found murdered on a cold December morning in the lakeside pavilion. Only the footprints of her discoverer disturb the snow which fell overnight – and which stopped just shortly after Marcia was last seen alive. How did the murder...

'There will be ten teacups at number 4, Berwick Terrace, W.8, on Wednesday, July 31st, at 5 p.m. precisely. The presence of the Metropolitan Police is respectfully requested.' The note was delivered to New Scotland Yard, its words evoking a cold murder case and its unsolved mystery of the ten teacups found beside the body. Scrambling to prevent a second killing, the police set up a watertight cordon at Berwick Terrace. But gunfire rings out from the top floor at 5 p.m. on the 31st, and the...

One of the greatest locked-room murder mysteries of all time, hailing from 1938, returns to baffle a new bevy of armchair detectives. James Answell, visiting his father-in-law Avery Hume in his locked study, has the misfortune to wake up from a drugged-Whisky swoon to find his host dead, skewered with an arrow. He is, of course, prime suspect. After setting up this devilish scenario, unravels an ingenious courtroom thriller, in which the razor-sharp amateur detective (and barrister) Sir He...

James Bennett, nephew of Sir Henry Merrivale (the cantankerous yet genius sleuth), has been invited to stay at White Priory for Christmas, among the retinue of the glamorous Hollywood actress Marcia Tait. Her producer, her lover, her playwright and her agent are all here along with the haughty master of the estate, Canifes and his daughter. So many suspects they become when Marcia Tait is found dead on Christmas morning in the lakeside pavilion, having been left there alone the night befor...