The John Dickson Carr Treasury

by John Dickson Carr

Contains "The Three Coffins" & "The Burning Court".

Genres: Mystery

377 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

AKA Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn.

John Dickson Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1906. It Walks by Night, his first published detective novel, featuring the Frenchman Henri Bencolin, was published in 1930. Apart from Dr Fell, whose first appearance was in Hag's Nook in 1933, Carr's other series detectives (published under the nom de plume of Carter Dickson) were the barrister Sir Henry Merrivale, who debuted in The Plague Court Murders (1934).

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The John Dickson Carr Treasury (hardcover)

This was a Dr. Gideon Fell locked room mystery.

Professor Charles Grimaud appears to be a self-made man. Intelligent, well-liked, respected, and comfortably in social standing. Then while at the Warwick Tavern an unexpected and very unwanted figure appears. Pierre Fley is the Professor's long lost brother. In the midst of the Professor's discussion, he aims threats about another brother. The other brother who died under strange circumstances holds the key to a door that the Professor never wanted to be opened. Behind that door lies a secret that best remains locked away.
Pierre goes on to inform Grimaud that the other brother will rise from his grave and pay him a visit.
Threatening letters follow and then the night of the visit Grimaud is found shot inside his locked study alone.

I appreciate the old fashioned way Dr. Fell has in uncovering each clue to solve and explain this mystery to his friends: Superindendent Hadley and Ted Rampole with his wife Dorothy from America. Pictures of 2 scenes are included to aid the reader.

[David Kilner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of The Three Coffins (aka The Hollow Man).

Overall:
Classic ‘Locked Room’ murder mystery involving Dr Gideon Fell. Intense, intriguing, old-fashioned in its style of writing but entertaining and kept my interest.

Plotting:
Clever and complex. Only just believable, mainly because two leading characters both get shot but manage to stay alive long enough to add to the mystery through new activities.

Characterisation:
Some of the characters are very vivid eg Fell, Grimaud, Dumont. Minor characters were well also well-drawn.

Dialogue:
Old-fashioned but adds convincingly to the characterisation

Setting and Description:
Good evocation of a wintry London in the 1930s

Showing/Telling:
Heaps of telling by today’s standards but one expects that in an older book. Includes a couple of diagrams to explain the action.

Readability:
I found I could only read it in snatches due to the intensity and complexity of it.

Sub-plots:
No - but contains an excellent exposition on Locked Room mysteries!

Read another by same author?
Yes - for the mental exercise if nothing else!

www.davidkilner.com

[Zaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent crime fiction at its best, although necessarily more than a trifle fantastic, given the themes of coffins and the non-dead!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really cool to read these stories written over 80 years ago. I loved that they knew they were in a book. I preferred The Burning Court over The Three Coffins. I really didn't know how that one was going to end.

[Donald Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both The Three Coffins and The Burning Court are classic, locked-room mysteries in their own right. Must reads for any mystery readers or writers.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

rating is actually for The Peacock Feather Mystery written under Carr's pen name Carter Dickson to give credit to Carr for that book; this is Sir Henry Merrivale #6