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Sir Henry Merrivale #8
Death in Five Boxes
Persons this mystery is
Sir Henry Merrivale,
of the Secret Service, is a tremendous, bald-headed Englishman who curses with a vengeance, looks malevolently over his spectacles, and is known and respected by the whole London Police Force as H.M.
Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters,
is ruddy of face, bland as a car-sharper, and wears his grizzled hair carefully brushed to hid his bald spot. He has shrewd eyes and a disconcerting way of using them. To be suspicious of everything and take nothing for granted is his simple code.
Doctor John Sanders,
a serious-faced young man who is so wrapped up in forensic medicine that he hasn't had time to look at life. There is not a suspicious bone in his body, but he hates bluff with a scientist's hatred.
Peter Ferguson,
the queer old blighter who is interested in Egyptian art, is clerkly in appearance - with a fringe of gray hair on his bald head, and a look of dour tolerance on his face. He once received the Egyptian Order of Merit, and is duly proud of it.
Charles Drake,
junior partner in the law firm of Drake, Rogers & Drake, is a brisk man of fifty-odd, with a rolling walk like a sailor, and a pince-nez which pushes the bridge of his nose up into a hump and makes his eyes look big and gray.
Sir Dennis Blystone,
tall and impressive, has a personality which seems at once forceful and hesitant. He is a famous London surgeon whose carefully tailored clothes and fine hands inspire confidence and ease.
Marcia Blysonte,
a very pretty girl of twenty-one, has brown hair, a short, straight nose, and eyebrows that turn up at the corners. There is a particularly luminous quality about her fine brown eyes, and she is terribly curious about everything.
Bernard Schumman,
old and mild-tempered, has something of the air of a clergyman or a minor statesman. His eyes are candid, pale blue and troubled. His hands, very delicate, are obviously the hands of a scholar.
Felix Haye,
an immense, jovial-looking man, wears a tonsure of red hair that gives him the look of a dissipated monk He is an investment broker, a bachelor, and an authority on parlor tricks.
Bonita Sinclair,
soft, sleek and long of limb, has very dark, glossy hair and a face that is full of great beauty and sensitiveness. Her small mouth and strong round chin give her a humorless look of earnestness and imagination.
Sir Henry Merrivale,
of the Secret Service, is a tremendous, bald-headed Englishman who curses with a vengeance, looks malevolently over his spectacles, and is known and respected by the whole London Police Force as H.M.
Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters,
is ruddy of face, bland as a car-sharper, and wears his grizzled hair carefully brushed to hid his bald spot. He has shrewd eyes and a disconcerting way of using them. To be suspicious of everything and take nothing for granted is his simple code.
Doctor John Sanders,
a serious-faced young man who is so wrapped up in forensic medicine that he hasn't had time to look at life. There is not a suspicious bone in his body, but he hates bluff with a scientist's hatred.
Peter Ferguson,
the queer old blighter who is interested in Egyptian art, is clerkly in appearance - with a fringe of gray hair on his bald head, and a look of dour tolerance on his face. He once received the Egyptian Order of Merit, and is duly proud of it.
Charles Drake,
junior partner in the law firm of Drake, Rogers & Drake, is a brisk man of fifty-odd, with a rolling walk like a sailor, and a pince-nez which pushes the bridge of his nose up into a hump and makes his eyes look big and gray.
Sir Dennis Blystone,
tall and impressive, has a personality which seems at once forceful and hesitant. He is a famous London surgeon whose carefully tailored clothes and fine hands inspire confidence and ease.
Marcia Blysonte,
a very pretty girl of twenty-one, has brown hair, a short, straight nose, and eyebrows that turn up at the corners. There is a particularly luminous quality about her fine brown eyes, and she is terribly curious about everything.
Bernard Schumman,
old and mild-tempered, has something of the air of a clergyman or a minor statesman. His eyes are candid, pale blue and troubled. His hands, very delicate, are obviously the hands of a scholar.
Felix Haye,
an immense, jovial-looking man, wears a tonsure of red hair that gives him the look of a dissipated monk He is an investment broker, a bachelor, and an authority on parlor tricks.
Bonita Sinclair,
soft, sleek and long of limb, has very dark, glossy hair and a face that is full of great beauty and sensitiveness. Her small mouth and strong round chin give her a humorless look of earnestness and imagination.
314 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 1938
About the author
Carter Dickson
75 books84 followersCarter Dickson is a pen name of writer John Dickson Carr.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 21, 2024
Dr. John Sanders is on his way home after a late night of trying to figure out how someone poisoned ice cream. Sanders is a doctor who sometimes analyzed evidence for the Home Office. Standing outside an old house that has been broken up into offices and a flat or two is a young woman who approaches him for help. Her father, Sir Dennis Blystone, has attended a late-night party and she's worried about him. The man is not a party-goer and he doesn't normally drink and before he left for the party he re-did his will, and, well, she's just worried. Will he go with her to check on Sir Dennis?
Sanders, who despite occasionally being in the public eye for criminal cases, normally keeps himself to himself, but he agrees and finds himself in the middle of a very unusual criminal case indeed. Inside the flat of Felix Haye they find Sir Dennis, Haye, Mrs. Bonita Sinclair, and Mr. Bernard Schumann. All four are full of atropine. Three are unconscious and fighting for their lives and Haye is dead--from a swordstick wound in his back. Chief Inspector Masters is sent to figure out who did it and why each of Hayes's guests have odd items in their pockets--from the four watches in Sir Dennis's pockets to Sshumann's inner workings of an alarm clock & convex piece of glass to the bottles of quicklime & phosphorus in Mrs. Sinclair's handbag. His task isn't made any easier when the three poison victims recover and swear that no one could have possibly doctored the drinks. Such bizarre circumstances seem tailor made for Sir Henry Merrivale, so Masters calls upon The Old Man to help get to the bottom of things.
I really enjoyed the set-up at the beginning of the book and the apparent impossibility. And the explanation of how the deed was done was pretty satisfying--and I'm sure much more surprising in 1938 than it was now. A couple of things do bother me though. Why did Sir Dennis redo his will? That's never explained. In fact, after Marcia Blystone lists that as a reason why she's worried about her father, that little detail never gets mentioned again. I'm also not sold on the motive. That wasn't nearly as satisfying as the means. But overall, a good outing. I always enjoy Masters and Merrivale and Sergeant Pollard almost steals the show with efforts to try and do Masters in the eye. Just when he thinks he's gotten ahead of his superior, something comes along to take the wind out of his sails. ★★★ and 1/2. [rounded up here]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
Sanders, who despite occasionally being in the public eye for criminal cases, normally keeps himself to himself, but he agrees and finds himself in the middle of a very unusual criminal case indeed. Inside the flat of Felix Haye they find Sir Dennis, Haye, Mrs. Bonita Sinclair, and Mr. Bernard Schumann. All four are full of atropine. Three are unconscious and fighting for their lives and Haye is dead--from a swordstick wound in his back. Chief Inspector Masters is sent to figure out who did it and why each of Hayes's guests have odd items in their pockets--from the four watches in Sir Dennis's pockets to Sshumann's inner workings of an alarm clock & convex piece of glass to the bottles of quicklime & phosphorus in Mrs. Sinclair's handbag. His task isn't made any easier when the three poison victims recover and swear that no one could have possibly doctored the drinks. Such bizarre circumstances seem tailor made for Sir Henry Merrivale, so Masters calls upon The Old Man to help get to the bottom of things.
I really enjoyed the set-up at the beginning of the book and the apparent impossibility. And the explanation of how the deed was done was pretty satisfying--and I'm sure much more surprising in 1938 than it was now. A couple of things do bother me though. Why did Sir Dennis redo his will? That's never explained. In fact, after Marcia Blystone lists that as a reason why she's worried about her father, that little detail never gets mentioned again. I'm also not sold on the motive. That wasn't nearly as satisfying as the means. But overall, a good outing. I always enjoy Masters and Merrivale and Sergeant Pollard almost steals the show with efforts to try and do Masters in the eye. Just when he thinks he's gotten ahead of his superior, something comes along to take the wind out of his sails. ★★★ and 1/2. [rounded up here]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
January 5, 2020
For some reason I enjoy Carr more when I’m reading a book made of paper and ink. Sometimes his novels strike the wrong chord with me and seem out of tune but I wonder if that’s mainly due to the hazards of ebooks: misspellings, haphazard formatting, errors, etc. I love Carr, so from now on it’s strictly a physical affair—in this case, a Dell Mapbook (not the most ingenious use of the illustrated map, that would be Rim of the Pit, but it still adds a certain amount of fun.)
Overall, Death in Five Boxes was a good read. The setup lacked some of that crazy panache and awesomeness, this isn’t one of his atmospheric turns, but the plot was well developed and logical, and the ending... not my favorite, but fairly played nonetheless.
Overall, Death in Five Boxes was a good read. The setup lacked some of that crazy panache and awesomeness, this isn’t one of his atmospheric turns, but the plot was well developed and logical, and the ending... not my favorite, but fairly played nonetheless.
January 11, 2018
GREAT... GOOD READ.
March 5, 2026
Surgeon Sir Dennis Blystone is one of Henry Merrivale's oldest friends. When Denny, along with his lady friend (an art dealer), a dealer in antiquities, and a dead man are found in a small room with no one else around, Denny is under suspicion, as are the others, of doping their cocktails and stabbing their host. Puzzling clues are found around their unconscious bodies, but when they recover they swear that no one--no one--could have tampered with their drinks. Denny's daughter Marcia and a young toxicologist find themselves also investigating the case, although H.M. and Scotland Yard seem to know much more than they do.
February 24, 2019
I couldn't put this book down and read it in less than twenty-four hours.
There have been many mysteries where I couldn't figure out who the murderer was or I figured out the who but not the how. But only two books have really made me feel like an idiot when the truth was revealed - this book and Dorothy L. Sayers' Unnatural Death.
Now, the ending isn't entirely perfect; I felt there was one part where I didn't really understand why the victim
In spite of that I really enjoyed this book. The writing is better than many mysteries written at the same time (and this was in the golden age of mystery fiction so that's saying something). The first appearance in the book of Sir Henry Merrivale (the book's main sleuth) is something I will never forget.
Carter Dickson was the pen-name of John Dickson Carr, who was apparently pretty well-known and widely read in his day but seems to have been practically forgotten. I've only ever seen two of his books for sale in person; used, one at a time, years apart, and each lost in a sea of Agatha Christie and other, much more recent, authors. Judging by this book and the radio scripts he wrote in the 1940s, he would seem to be worthy of reprinting. This book was certainly much more enjoyable than certain of Christie's later books (which were nowhere near the quality of her earlier work). I definitely want to read more of his work. I just hope I can find it.
There have been many mysteries where I couldn't figure out who the murderer was or I figured out the who but not the how. But only two books have really made me feel like an idiot when the truth was revealed - this book and Dorothy L. Sayers' Unnatural Death.
Now, the ending isn't entirely perfect; I felt there was one part where I didn't really understand why the victim
In spite of that I really enjoyed this book. The writing is better than many mysteries written at the same time (and this was in the golden age of mystery fiction so that's saying something). The first appearance in the book of Sir Henry Merrivale (the book's main sleuth) is something I will never forget.
Carter Dickson was the pen-name of John Dickson Carr, who was apparently pretty well-known and widely read in his day but seems to have been practically forgotten. I've only ever seen two of his books for sale in person; used, one at a time, years apart, and each lost in a sea of Agatha Christie and other, much more recent, authors. Judging by this book and the radio scripts he wrote in the 1940s, he would seem to be worthy of reprinting. This book was certainly much more enjoyable than certain of Christie's later books (which were nowhere near the quality of her earlier work). I definitely want to read more of his work. I just hope I can find it.
April 13, 2025
A good, not a great, Sir H.M. novel.
The essence of the H.M. stories is their strong element of farce.
A locked room puzzle (but of course). A little romance (just because). High energy (a prerequisite).
A competitive tension between Sir Henry and Chief Inspector Masters (each one-upping and out-doing the other)
With enough twists and turns and supporting characters to keep one almost breathlessly turning pages.
However ...
This tale has less of that tension and energy, and frankly less interesting characters (and more explication) than is found in his best books.
I once enveigled my sister into reading one of my favorite H.M.s (The Cavalier's Cup), by telling her that our dad had loved it. Her response (after reading) was "it's silly".
Yeah.
The essence of the H.M. stories is their strong element of farce.
A locked room puzzle (but of course). A little romance (just because). High energy (a prerequisite).
A competitive tension between Sir Henry and Chief Inspector Masters (each one-upping and out-doing the other)
With enough twists and turns and supporting characters to keep one almost breathlessly turning pages.
However ...
This tale has less of that tension and energy, and frankly less interesting characters (and more explication) than is found in his best books.
I once enveigled my sister into reading one of my favorite H.M.s (The Cavalier's Cup), by telling her that our dad had loved it. Her response (after reading) was "it's silly".
Yeah.
February 23, 2023
The story concept is good - four people are poisoned (they all survive), a fifth (the host) is stabbed. How does the poison get into the drinks? No one saw anyone put the poison into the drinks and they won't admit to doing it themselves. The book got too confusing at the end. There were too many things going on all at once in the last third of the book. It's not clear to me why Drake, the lawyer, did the killing. Sir Denis Blystone's daughter made a big deal about him drawing up a new will. It was never explained properly why he would do this. He can make a new will if he wants to. Why make such a fuss about it at the beginning of the book and then not explain it?
December 16, 2020
I had never read a Sir Henry Merrivale mystery before now. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, until the arrival of the Merrivale character in the story. I found myself disliking his characterization and would have much preferred that Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters get credit for solving the case. As far as the mystery itself goes, a more seasoned mystery reader would probably have figured out the murderer long before Merrivale's summation on the final pages of the book.
January 1, 2024
Plusieurs personnes sont trouvées autour d'une table groggy, car ils ont été drogués. Et l'un d'entre eux a été poignardé...
Si l'accroche de ce roman est excellente - on baigne dans le lockedroom mystery - Dickson Carr achève le tout d'une façon un peu décevante. Il y a un des ressorts de l'intrigue qui est sensiblement facile à deviner. Dommage, avec quelques modifications, cela pourrait être un des opus majeurs du genre.
Si l'accroche de ce roman est excellente - on baigne dans le lockedroom mystery - Dickson Carr achève le tout d'une façon un peu décevante. Il y a un des ressorts de l'intrigue qui est sensiblement facile à deviner. Dommage, avec quelques modifications, cela pourrait être un des opus majeurs du genre.
June 15, 2019
Questo libro mi ha davvero spiazzato. Carr ha immesso tutto in questo romanzo: un fatto impossibile (avvelenamento dei drink senza che nessuno possa averlo fatto), gli elementi bizzarri, suspence. Insomma, davvero di tutto. Tutti gli elementi erano a portata di mano ma tanto abilmente nascosti, da risultare invisibili. Bellissimo.
February 12, 2023
Maybe a bit more of a thriller than the average Carr, with an emphasis on danger and suspense, and with more variety in point of view than usual. The solution feels rather perfunctory, but the journey there is very pleasurable.
November 5, 2024
I enjoyed the early part of this book then it became tedious. When they were trying to figure out how the poison got into the drinks I was baffled that no one considered ice straight away. It was my first thought. Ultimately the plot just felt too contrived and I became impatient.
September 13, 2025
This was a very old-fashioned murder mystery but without the charm and humor of Agatha Christies. The mystery was hard to figure out, and all loose ends were wrapped up, but it wasn't a page-turner for me, and the sexism was hard to take.
May 30, 2019
An excellent murder mystery variant of locked door. How were people poisoned and why run the victim through with an umbrella sword when he was already poisoned?
February 29, 2020
A fast-paced but an exquisitely elaborate exposition of late middle-aged tomfoolery by a Don Van Vliet-ish "old fart at play."
March 2, 2020
4.5 *
June 10, 2020
Excelente !! Como todas las primeras novelas de Carter Dickson son su inefable H.M. son de un misterio bien armado en que el lector puede dilucidar la solución hasta el último detalle.
January 18, 2023
An enjoyable book, as always a fun little premise with multiple confusions that are all tidied up in the end.
June 19, 2025
Only just barely fair-play, and the characters aren't up to Dickson's usual standard.
August 1, 2014
I first read this book thirty years ago or more, when I was a teenager, and I thought it was really good. I'm glad to see that it still holds up.
A stockbroker, known as something of an eccentric, throws a dinner party for three of his acquaintances. Despite the fact that the cocktails are prepared in full view of all of them, someone doses them with atropine, leaving them insensible. And then runs the host through with a swordstick.
Sir Henry Merrivale is drawn into the case, and manages to sort things out, after all sorts of amusing incidents, and a few more that are quite sinister. The moment when Merrivale reveals how the drinks were poisoned is a high point, as is a tense standoff in a darkened house. One of Carr's best.
A stockbroker, known as something of an eccentric, throws a dinner party for three of his acquaintances. Despite the fact that the cocktails are prepared in full view of all of them, someone doses them with atropine, leaving them insensible. And then runs the host through with a swordstick.
Sir Henry Merrivale is drawn into the case, and manages to sort things out, after all sorts of amusing incidents, and a few more that are quite sinister. The moment when Merrivale reveals how the drinks were poisoned is a high point, as is a tense standoff in a darkened house. One of Carr's best.
September 29, 2015
Everything about this book was great. a perfect mysterious atmosphere. number of suspects and a little bit of thrill. but i was dissappointed in the grand finale. i was expecting some grander solution .some speculative surprise. As is a saying in hindi "Khoda pahad nikla chuha" (which means- dug a mountain, found a mouse) although the process of digging the mountain was enjoyable. excluding the conclusion this book would get 4-5 stars.
May 23, 2020
Similar setup to Christie's Cards on the Table (1935), but with an impossible poisoning angle. How the poisonings were done is fairly easy to work out--this would be a good Carr for newbies--though the fact that none of the investigators asks a Certain Obvious Question is hard to believe. Good misdirection about the culprit though. The situations (romantic and otherwise) in which the protagonist manages to entangle himself are frequently ludicrous--this was never Carr's strength.
March 31, 2026
“I’d hoped that here, at last I was going to get a straightforward case; no locked rooms or bodies alone in the snow or any flummery. And the first word I hear is ‘impossible’!”
This one is just disappointing. The howdunnit relies on one of the oldest cliches of the genre, the whodunnit element is incredibly weak, there's not much that really recommends the book apart from the initial setup, which is actually quite good.
October 8, 2009
Classic old school locked door impossible whodunit. Dickson (really John Dickson Carr) is truly a master mystery craftsman and this one is chock full of aristrocratic suspects with checkered pasts, red herrings galore, delightful characters, romance and action. And all in under two hundred pages! A total pleasure.
August 13, 2016
My Merrivale marathon continues apace and this one is a doozy.Really enjoyed this one,contains all the usual Carr hallmarks,it's complex,red herrings a plenty and just when you think something will be revealed it cuts to a different locale and character.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
June 18, 2008
A fun murder mystery. Eh, not that murder should be fun, mind you. But this mystery was quite comical in a sense – quite unreal, really. I enjoyed it.
February 19, 2012
It was highly interesting. I would definitely recommend it. You are not going to be able to put it down until it's finished. :)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews