I thought it was time to visit the prolific John Dickson Carr and Dr. Gideon Fell again. I found a shining example of Carr’s locked room puzzle expertise in Till Death Do Us Part (Harper & Brothers, 1944; British Library Crime Classics, 2021), the 15th case of the good doctor.
Playwright Dick Markham is madly in love with Lesley Grant, a newcomer to the village of Six Ashes who has just agreed to marry him. They dawdle on their way to the garden party at Ashe Hall and arrive much later than they intended to. A sort of village fete is taking place in the garden with a coconut shy and a shooting gallery and a fortune teller as well as a cricket match. Lesley is anxious to see the fortune teller and Markham waits for her while accepting congratulations on his engagement from Major Horace Price who is running the shooting gallery. Major Price tells Markham quite privately that the fortune teller is Sir Harvey Gilman, the Home Office Pathologist and an international expert on criminology, staying in the village anonymously for a few weeks.
Gilman takes Markham aside later and tells him that his fiancé’s name is not Lesley Grant and she is suspected of killing no fewer than three men. None of the deaths could be proven, as they all took place in locked rooms and Lesley had alibis for all three. Markham is stunned and at a loss as to what to do. The next day Gilman is found dead, killed in the same manner as the three men he had told Markham about. The room was completely sealed.
The crime is well beyond the scope of the village constable or the county police so Scotland Yard’s presence is requested. Chief Inspector David Hadley arrives and, after assessing the situation, drives to Hastings where Dr. Fell is spending the summer to solicit his assistance. Once Fell steps in, the pace accelerates and one surprise after another crops up.
Publisher’s Weekly gave the British Library re-issue a starred review: This “[Is a] nail-biting locked room puzzle…Carr’s gift for creating a creepy atmosphere again meshes with a brilliantly constructed and eminently fair whodunit.”
More than one article states that this was one of Carr’s favorite mysteries. I can see where it might be, as the solution is ingenious, although I would like to see a citation to support that assertion. It is a stellar piece of plotting. A good introduction to Carr for readers unfamiliar with his pyrotechnics.