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 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 is the creator of:
1. 'Dr. Gideon Fell, a physician and amateur sleuth.
2. 'Sir Henry Merrivale, a baronet, barrister, physician, and amateur sleuth (under the pseudonym 'Carter Dickson').