The Eight of Swords

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eight of Swords
Author	John Dickson Carr
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Gideon Fell
Genre(s)	Mystery, Detective novel
Publisher	Hamish Hamilton (UK) & Harper (USA)
Publication date	1934
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	220 pp (Collier Books, paperback edition, 1962)
Preceded by	The Blind Barber (1934)
Followed by	Death-Watch (1935)

The Eight of Swords, first published in 1934, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.

[edit] Plot summary

Mr. Septimus Depping is found dead in his Gloucestershire country house, shot with his own gun and holding a card from the Tarot deck, the eight of swords, which stands for "condemning justice". Among those present is an Anglican bishop who is an expert in criminology, and sees wanted criminals in every parlourmaid, and Henry Morgan, who writes exciting mystery novels under two different names. Mr. Depping turns out to have been an American criminal, and Gideon Fell must penetrate the secrets of his American associates as well as his British life in retirement in order to bring home the crime to the unlikely criminal.

v • d • e Gideon Fell series by John Dickson Carr

Novels:	Hag's Nook • The Mad Hatter Mystery • The Blind Barber • The Eight of Swords • Death-Watch • The Hollow Man (aka The Three Coffins) • The Arabian Nights Murder • To Wake the Dead • The Crooked Hinge • The Black Spectacles (aka The Problem of the Green Capsule) • The Problem of the Wire Cage • The Man Who Could Not Shudder • The Case of the Constant Suicides • Death Turns the Tables • Till Death Do Us Part • He Who Whispers • The Sleeping Sphinx • Below Suspicion • The Dead Man's Knock • In Spite of Thunder • The House at Satan's Elbow • Panic in Box C • Dark of the Moon

Short story collections:	Dr. Fell, Detective, and Other Stories • The Men Who Explained Miracles • Fell and Foul Play