Castle Skull - (British Library Crime Classics) by John Dickson Carr (Paperback)

About the Book

"The great magician, Maleger, has bought Schloss Schèadel (Castle Skull) on the Rhine and has transformed it into a fitting abode for his stage persona, replete with all the trappings of gothic romance. When a man is seen atop the battlements, running aflame and then plunging to his doom, the calamitous reputation of the Castle seems to have become reality. And when Maleger himself is found drowned in the great river, Inspector Bencolin is sent to investigate how the magician was killed, within an apparently sealed room, with only a small group of suspects on the ill-fated fortress at the time"--

Book Synopsis

From the archives of the British Library, the master of locked-room mystery John Dickson Carr presents an atmospheric and haunting example of crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder.

Alison has been murdered. But his blazing body was seen running about the battlements of Castle Skull.

And so a dark shadow looms over the Rhineland where Inspector Henri Bencolin and his accomplice Jeff Marle have arrived from Paris. Entreated by the Belgian financier D'Aunay to investigate the gruesome and grimly theatrical death of actor Myron Alison, the pair find themselves at the imposing hilltop fortress Schloss Schädel, in which a small group of suspects are still assembled.

As thunder rolls in the distance, Bencolin and Marle enter a world steeped in macabre legends of murder and magic to catch the killer still walking the maze-like passages and towers of the keep.

This new edition of John Dickson Carr's spirited and deeply atmospheric whodunit also features the rare Inspector Bencolin short story 'The Fourth Suspect.'

Review Quotes

"A hugely compelling tale" -- On Magazine UK

"A Poe-esque feel of madness... gradually builds towards a tense and atmospheric climax" -- Fiction Fan's Book Reviews

"Excellent whodunit" -- Publishers Weekly