Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (novels not included). Pages: 39. Chapters: And So to Murder, A Graveyard to Let, Behind the Crimson Blind, Castle Skull, Death in Five Boxes, Death Turns the Tables, Drop to His Death, Fire, Burn!, Hag's Nook, He Who Whispers, He Wouldn't Kill Patience, In Spite of Thunder, It Walks By Night, Murder in the Submarine Zone, My Late Wives, Night at the Mocking Widow, Patrick Butler for the Defense, Poison in Jest, Scandal at High Chimneys, Seeing is Believing (novel), She Died a Lady, The Arabian Nights Murder, The Black Spectacles, The Blind Barber, The Bowstring Murders, The Bride of Newgate, The Burning Court, The Case of the Constant Suicides, The Cavalier's Cup, The Crooked Hinge, The Curse of the Bronze Lamp, The Dead Man's Knock, The Demoniacs, The Devil in Velvet, The Eight of Swords, The Emperor's Snuff-Box, The Four False Weapons, The Gilded Man, The Hollow Man (1935 novel), The House at Satan's Elbow, The Judas Window, The Mad Hatter Mystery, The Man Who Could Not Shudder, The Nine Wrong Answers, The Plague Court Murders, The Problem of the Wire Cage, The Punch and Judy Murders, The Reader is Warned, The Red Widow Murders, The Skeleton in the Clock, The Sleeping Sphinx, The Ten Teacups, The Unicorn Murders, The Waxworks Murder, The White Priory Murders, The Witch of the Low Tide, Till Death Do Us Part (Carr novel), To Wake the Dead. Excerpt: The Burning Court (1937) is a famous locked room mystery by John Dickson Carr. However, it contains neither Gideon Fell, or Henry Merrivale, Carr's two major detectives. It was published in the United States, and was highly controversial upon its first printing, due to its unorthodox ending. Today, it is hailed as Carr's best non-series novel. Edward Stevens, an editor at Herald and Son's publishing house, is on the train home, recounting the story of the death of the uncle of his boss, Mark Despard. Mark's uncle, Miles, had died recently of gastroenteritis, which had caused him to be bedridden for days. Although Miles' death was considered death by natural causes, two strange things were reported surrounding the death. A housemaid reported spying into Despard's room, through the shade of one of the glass doors leading in, and reported that a woman had left, through a door that had been bricked up for years. After Despard died, under his pillow was found a strange piece of string, tied in nine knots. Stevens shrugs both events off as nothing. Instead, he opens the book he is bringing home to edit. The book is a book on true crime, by famous true crime writer Gauden Cross. Cross's book is on murder trials, and the book begins with the trial and execution of Marie D'Aubray, in 1861. There is a picture of Marie D'Aubray attached to the section, which causes Stevens to jump. The picture of Marie D'Aubray, is a picture of his wife, Marie Stevens. Stevens gets home, and confronts his wife, who tries to convince him that the picture means nothing. Stevens goes up to wash his hands, and when he returns, the picture is gone. Before Stevens can figure it out, the doorbell rings. It is Mark Despard and a doctor named Partington. Mark Despard explains he believes his uncle was murdered, and that he, Partington, and Stevens, are going to dig up the body, and do an autopsy. Miles Despard is buried in a crypt, sealed with cement. Mark, Partington, and Stevens begin the long proces
