| The White Priory Murders | |
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First US edition dustjacket |
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| Author(s) | John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Henry Merrivale |
| Genre(s) | Mystery |
| Publisher | Morrow (US, 1934) Heinemann (UK, 1935) |
| Publication date | 1934 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 305 (first US hardback ed) |
| ISBN | 0-553-20572-2 (Bantam paperback edition, 1982) |
| OCLC Number | 8256696 |
| Preceded by | The Plague Court Murders |
| Followed by | The Red Widow Murders |
The White Priory Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale, assisted by Scotland Yard Inspector Humphrey Masters.
Contents |
Marcia Tait is a Hollywood star who has come to England to make a historical film. She's found beaten to death in the Queen's Mirror pavilion, the 17th-century trysting place of King Charles II and Lady Castlemain. The problem is particularly puzzling because the pavilion is surrounded by newfallen snow, with only one set of footprints leading to it and none leading away. The suspects include a man who thought he was marrying her — and her husband, whose marriage was unknown to all.
Sir Henry Merrivale lends a hand to Inspector Masters in the investigation, but is too late to stop the second murder before Merrivale solves the case.
"Sir Henry Merrivale is caught up in the murder of a wilful actress; it's done inside a pavilion, snow is on the ground, and there are crowds of candidates for her favors and for the role of murderer. ... The telling is done in Carter Dickson's usual long and diffuse talk which he thinks conversation; oddities are added for pseudo suspense; people shout, whirl, say What! in italics, and generally the thing is irritation unrelieved even by a second murder."[1]
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