My Late Wives. Another Adventure of Sir Henry Merrivale -
Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr)
1947 - William Heinemann Ltd, London Toronto - First English Edition
A fine first English edition.
Featuring Sir Henry Merrivale and the grumbling Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters of Scotland Yard.
‘All Roger Bewlay’s wives had four things in common: no near relatives – a hunger for romantic love – an idylic honeymoon – and, after their honeymoon, nobody ever saw them again . . .’ First English edition, published in America the year before by William Morrow & Company, New York.
‘The master of the ‘Locked Room’ murder mystery, prolific American author John Dickson Carr (1906-77), who also wrote under the names ‘Carter Dickson’, ‘Carr Dickson’, and ‘Roger Fairbairn’, was a highly regarded member of the ‘Golden Age’ sect, his complex, plot-driven stories concentrated on the puzzle of the story rather than the fast-paced tough-guy violence purveyed by his contemporary pulp hacks. Carr modelled his major detective - overweight lexicographer Dr Gideon Fell - on G.K. Chesterton. The stories see the eccentric Fell solving ‘impossible’ crimes, where the victim is usually discovered, not only with doors and windows locked from the inside, but with multiple impediments.’ [BMC]
References: Reilly, ’Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers’ (1980), 269. ‘Book and Magazine Collector’, issue 272. Herbert, ‘Whodunnit?’, 68.
Octavo (book size 18.9x12.9cm), pp. [4] 222 [2]. In publisher’s black cloth, spine lettered in silver, straw-coloured endpapers. Dust jacket priced ‘8s6d NET’ to lower corner of front panel. Condition: Fine with the exception of some fading to spine and small patch of abrasion to front pastedown, in fine dust jacket. Ref: 110382 Price: HK$ 1,400
Featuring Sir Henry Merrivale and the grumbling Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters of Scotland Yard.
‘All Roger Bewlay’s wives had four things in common: no near relatives – a hunger for romantic love – an idylic honeymoon – and, after their honeymoon, nobody ever saw them again . . .’ First English edition, published in America the year before by William Morrow & Company, New York.
‘The master of the ‘Locked Room’ murder mystery, prolific American author John Dickson Carr (1906-77), who also wrote under the names ‘Carter Dickson’, ‘Carr Dickson’, and ‘Roger Fairbairn’, was a highly regarded member of the ‘Golden Age’ sect, his complex, plot-driven stories concentrated on the puzzle of the story rather than the fast-paced tough-guy violence purveyed by his contemporary pulp hacks. Carr modelled his major detective - overweight lexicographer Dr Gideon Fell - on G.K. Chesterton. The stories see the eccentric Fell solving ‘impossible’ crimes, where the victim is usually discovered, not only with doors and windows locked from the inside, but with multiple impediments.’ [BMC]
References: Reilly, ’Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers’ (1980), 269. ‘Book and Magazine Collector’, issue 272. Herbert, ‘Whodunnit?’, 68.
Octavo (book size 18.9x12.9cm), pp. [4] 222 [2]. In publisher’s black cloth, spine lettered in silver, straw-coloured endpapers. Dust jacket priced ‘8s6d NET’ to lower corner of front panel. Condition: Fine with the exception of some fading to spine and small patch of abrasion to front pastedown, in fine dust jacket. Ref: 110382 Price: HK$ 1,400