The White Priory Murders
Encyclopedia
The White Priory Murders is a mystery
novel by the American
writer John Dickson Carr
(1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery
and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale, assisted by Scotland Yard Inspector Humphrey Masters.
Sir Henry Merrivale lends a hand to Inspector Masters in the investigation, but is too late to stop the second murder before Merrivale solves the case.
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
novel by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
(1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale, assisted by Scotland Yard Inspector Humphrey Masters.
Plot summary
Marcia Tait is a Hollywood star who has come to England to make a historical film. She's found beaten to death in the Queen's Mirror pavilion, the 17th-century trysting place of King Charles II and Lady Castlemain. The problem is particularly puzzling because the pavilion is surrounded by newfallen snow, with only one set of footprints leading to it and none leading away. The suspects include a man who thought he was marrying her — and her husband, whose marriage was unknown to all.Sir Henry Merrivale lends a hand to Inspector Masters in the investigation, but is too late to stop the second murder before Merrivale solves the case.
Literary significance and criticism
"Sir Henry Merrivale is caught up in the murder of a wilful actress; it's done inside a pavilion, snow is on the ground, and there are crowds of candidates for her favors and for the role of murderer. ... The telling is done in Carter Dickson's usual long and diffuse talk which he thinks conversation; oddities are added for pseudo suspense; people shout, whirl, say What! in italics, and generally the thing is irritation unrelieved even by a second murder."Publication history
- 1934, USA, William Morrow, Pub date December 1934, Hardback, 305pp (first US edition)
- 1935, UK, Heinemann, Pub date 1935, Hardback, 282pp (first UK edition)
- 1942, USA, Pocket Books 156, Pub date 1942, Paperback, (first US pb edition)
- 1946, USA, serialized in Crime Digest, June
- 1951, UK, Penguin Books 811, Pub date 1951, Paperback, 251pp (first UK pb edition)
- 1982, USA, Bantam 20572-2, Pub date 1982, Paperback, 214pp
- 1991, USA, International Polygonic ISBN 1-55882-072-8, Pub date 1991, Paperback, 191pp (Library of Crime Classics)