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John Dickson Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In 1925, he was accepted by Haverford College, a small Quaker establishment near Philadelphia. Here he began to learn his craft as a writer. His first published story appeared in 1926 in The Haverfordian, the college's literary monthly. He became editor of this monthly and published several more of his stories. In 1928, he travelled to France where he continued to write. In 1930, his first novel was published. In 1931, he met an English girl, Clarice Cleaves, on an ocean crossing. They married and settled in England. In 1933, he created the first of his two great detectives, Dr. Gideon Fell. In 1935, his second great detective appeared, Sir Henry Merrivale, baronet, barrister and physician. In the war years, he worked for the BBC. Much of his work, at this time, was propaganda. In 1947, he returned to the U.S. but moved back to England in 1951. In 1965, he again returned to the U.S. where he became the regular monthly book reviewer for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He also wrote under the pseudonyms 'Carter Dickson', and 'Roger Fairbairn'. |
Titles and year of publication:
| 'Dr. Gideon Fell' Novels | |
| 1) Hag's Nook | 1933 |
| 2) The Mad Hatter Mystery | 1933 |
| 3) The Eight of Swords | 1934 |
| 4) The Blind Barber | 1934 |
| 5) Death Watch | 1935 |
| 6) The Three Coffins (UK Title: The Hollow Man) | 1935 |
| 7) The Arabian Nights Murder | 1936 |
| 8) To Wake the Dead | 1938 |
| 9) The Crooked Hinge | 1938 |
| 10) The Problem of the Green Capsule (UK Title: The Black Spectacles) | 1939 |
| 11) The Problem of the Wire Cage | 1940 |
| 12) The Man Who Could Not Shudder | 1940 |
| 13) The Case of the Constant Suicides | 1941 |
| 14) Death Turns the Tables (UK Title: The Seat of the Scornful) | 1941 |
| 15) Till Death Do Us Part | 1944 |
| 16) He Who Whispers | 1946 |
| 17) The Sleeping Sphinx | 1947 |
| 18) Below Suspicion | 1950 |
| 19) The Third Bullet and Other Stories (short stories) | 1954 |
| 20) The Dead Man's Knock | 1958 |
| 21) In Spite of Thunder | 1960 |
| 22) The Men Who Explained Miracles (short stories) | 1964 |
| 23) The House at Satan's Elbow | 1965 |
| 24) Panic in Box C | 1966 |
| 25) Dark of the Moon | 1967 |
| 26) The Door to Doom and Other Detections (short stories) | 1980 |
| Other Novels | |
| 1) It Walks By Night | 1930 |
| 2) The Lost Gallows | 1931 |
| 3) Castle Skull | 1931 |
| 4) The Corpse in the Waxworks (UK Title: The Waxwork Murders) | 1932 |
| 5) Poison in Jest | 1932 |
| 6) The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey | 1936 |
| 7) The Burning Court | 1937 |
| 8) The Four False Weapons | 1938 |
| 9) The Emperor's Snuff Box | 1943 |
| 10) The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1949 |
| 11) The Bride of Newgate | 1950 |
| 12) The Devil in Velvet | 1951 |
| 13) The Nine Wrong Answers | 1952 |
| 14) The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes | 1954 |
| 15) Captain Cut Throat | 1955 |
| 16) Patrick Butler for the Defence | 1956 |
| 17) Fire, Burn! | 1957 |
| 18) Scandal at High Chimneys | 1959 |
| 19) The Witch of the Low-Tide | 1961 |
| 20) The Demoniacs | 1962 |
| 21) Most Secret | 1964 |
| 22) Papa La-Bas | 1969 |
| 23) The Ghosts' High Noon | 1970 |
| 24) Deadly Hall | 1971 |
| 25) The Hungry Goblin | 1972 |
| Novels as 'Carter Dickson' | |
| 'Sir Henry Merrivale' Novels | |
| 1) The Plague Court Murders | 1935 |
| 2) The White Priory Murders | 1935 |
| 3) The Red Widow Murders | 1935 |
| 4) The Unicorn Murders | 1936 |
| 5) The Punch and Judy Murders (UK Title: The Magic Lantern Murders) | 1936 |
| 6) The Peacock Feather Murders (UK Title: The Ten Teacups) | 1937 |
| 7) The Judas Window (Also published as: The Crossbow Murder) | 1938 |
| 8) Death in Five Boxes | 1938 |
| 9) The Reader is Warned | 1939 |
| 10) Nine - and Death Makes Ten (UK Title: Murder in the Submarine Zone) (Also published as: Murder in the Atlantic) | 1940 |
| 11) And So to Murder | 1941 |
| 12) Seeing is Believing (Also published as: Cross of Murder) | 1941 |
| 13) The Gilded Man (Also published as: Death and the Gilded Man) | 1942 |
| 14) She Died a Lady | 1943 |
| 15) He Wouldn't Kill Patience | 1944 |
| 16) The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (UK Title: Lord of the Sorcerers) | 1946 |
| 17) My Late Wives | 1947 |
| 18) The Skeleton in the Clock | 1949 |
| 19) A Graveyard to Let | 1950 |
| 20) Nigth at the Mocking Widow | 1951 |
| 21) Behind the Crimson Blind | 1952 |
| 22) The Cavalier's Cup | 1953 |
| Other Novels | |
| 1) The Bowstring Murders | 1934 |
| 2) The Third Bullet | 1937 |
| 3) Drop to His Death (US Title: Fatal Descent) (with John Rhode) | 1939 |
| 4) The Department of Queer Complaints | 1940 |
| 5) Fear Is the Same | 1956 |
| Novel as 'Roger Fairbairn' | |
| 1) Devil Kinsmere | 1934 |
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