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by John Dickson Carr
Dr. Gideon Fell solves two impossible murders in one of the most baffling locked room mysteries ever created.
Professor Charles Grimaud is found dead in his study just moments after his housekeeper watched him greet a mysterious visitor and welcome him into the room. Yet no sign of the murderer or murder weapon can be found. The housekeeper saw no one leave through the door and the snow outside the only window remains unblemished.
An equally puzzling murder has occurred outside, in the middle of the street: The illusionist Pierre Fley was walking alone in a snow-covered cul-de-sac when witnesses heard someone shout "The second bullet is for you!" followed by a gunshot. He is found dead, with the revolver that killed both Grimaud and himself by his side and no footprints in the surrounding snow but his own.
It appears that both murders must have been committed by a specter?someone not only invisible but lighter than air. But if anyone can find a rational explanation, it is brilliant amateur sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell.
In a 1981 survey of mystery experts, The Three Coffins (called The Hollow Man in the UK) was voted the best locked room mystery of all time. It is also celebrated for a scene in which Carr's iconic detective Gideon Fell delivers a speech expounding upon the dozens of methods and variations by which apparently impossible murders may be accomplished. Any fan of locked room mysteries and impossible crimes should consider this book required reading.
"One is always sure of a good crime puzzle and of excellent entertainment when Dr. Fell is on the job." ―New York Times
This information about The Three Coffins was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) was one of the greatest writers of the American Golden Age mystery, and one of the only American authors to be included in England's legendary Detection Club. Though he was born and died in the United States, Carr began his writing career while living in England, where he remained for nearly twenty years. Under his own name and various pseudonyms, he wrote more than seventy novels and numerous short stories, and is best known today for his locked-room mysteries. His beloved series character, Dr. Gideon Fell, was based on author G. K. Chesterton and appeared in twenty-four novels.
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