John Dickson Carr: The Man who Explained MiraclesJohn Dickson Carr made his reputation through the art of bafflement. Creator of such legendary sleuths as the boisterous Sir Henry Merrivale and the imposing Dr. Gideon Fell, he claimed the "locked-room" puzzle as his own and virtually threw away the key for all time. Now Douglas G. Greene has brought forth, after more than a decade of research, the definitive biography of this unique writer. In it we see how, starting with the earliest efforts of his small-town Pennsylvania boyhood, Carr was destined to gain fame as a storyteller. Moreover, John Carr (who also wrote as Carter Dickson) knew instinctively that he had an affinity for "impossible" crimes and quite precociously set about exploring this phenomenon, the techniques of which he was to perfect over the course of seventy novels, along with dozens of short stories and radio plays. The history of the mystery genre in the middle of the twentieth century is here as well - for Carr's life spanned two continents and the writing cultures of both America and Britain. His friends and connections form a Who's Who of Golden Age giants: Dorothy L. Sayers, Ellery Queen, and Agatha Christie, among others. John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles is a portrait of a shining era in the literature of imaginative crime and of the complex man who was one of its towering figures. |
Contents
UNIONTOWN | 1 |
THE HILL AND HAVERFORD | 28 |
PARIS BROOKLYN HEIGHTSAND THE SATANIC BENCOLIN | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adrian Doyle Adventure American Anthony Boucher Appointment With Fear April Arthur Conan Doyle August BBC Appointment Bencolin British paperback Burning Court Cabin called Carr wrote Carter Dickson Chapter characters Chochor Clarice Carr clues Colonel March crime Crooked Hinge David Higham Death December Detection Club detective fiction detective novel detective story Door to Doom edition Ellery Queen's Mystery England explains February Fell novel Frederic Dannay ghost Gideon Fell Hamish Hamilton Harper & Brothers Haverfordian Hill School historical Ibid January JDC to Frederic JDC to Hamish John and Clarice John Dickson Carr John's Julia McNiven July June later locked room London Mamaroneck November October Plague Court Murders plot Prokosch published Queen's Mystery Magazine radio play Rawson reader Sayers says script September Sherlock Holmes short stories Sir Arthur Conan Sir Henry Merrivale solution tion told U.S. paperback Uniontown Val Gielgud Walks By Night woman Wooda writing York