The Red Widow Murders
A Sir Henry Merrivale Mystery
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
In this baffling whodunnit from the master of the locked-room mystery, a man falls dead in a guarded room, and Sir Henry Merrivale searches for a devilishly-clever killer.
They say that Lord Mantling’s mansion is haunted — at least, one room of it is. Known as the Red Widow’s Chamber, the now-sealed quarters once housed the wife of a guillotine operator in the French Revolution, and, since her passing, have been host to a century of unsolved horrors, including the death of a man in 1802, the death of a child in 1895, and a number of mysterious mortalities in the years in between.
Now, in 1935, eight men and women join at the manor for a sinister experiment to determine the truth behind the haunting once and for all: they each draw a card, and whoever pulls the Ace of Spades must spend a night in that terrifying room. But the challenge turns fatal when the man selected for the task is found poisoned the next morning when the doors are opened. The locked room was guarded all night, so nobody could have entered or escaped; what’s more, the deadly toxin could only have entered through a break in the skin, but no wounds were discovered on the body.
Is this evidence, at last, of a nefarious spirit at work, or of a diabolical and ingenious killer? Only Sir Henry Merrivale, called in to take note of the night’s proceedings, will be able to examine the clues and deduce the truth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
How could a room only be deadly for a solitary individual? That's the baffling question at the heart of this ingenious 1935 mystery from Carr (1906–1977). Lord Mantling invites Sir Henry Merrivale to test a curse at his London home, which contains a room that's been locked and sealed for 60 years. Over the decades, four healthy people entered it alone, only to be found dead, apparently from poison, but no source of the toxin was ever found, and the chamber was harmless to anyone not alone in it. The aristocrat's grandfather died inexplicably in 1876, and Mantling's father's will dictated that the deadly room remain off-limits while the house still stood. With the property scheduled for demolition, Mantling has members of his household and some guests draw cards to determine who will spend time locked in the room. But despite Merrivale's presence and all possible access points tightly sealed, the experiment's subject dies from curare poisoning. Carr provides vital clues in plain view that will elude most readers. Fair-play fans will be eager for more reissues in the American Mystery Classics series from this master of the impossible crime.
