book cover of The Red Widow Murders
Added by 10 members
 

The Red Widow Murders

(1935)
(The third book in the Sir Henry Merrivale series)
A novel by

 
 
This is a good old-fashioned mystery. The amateur sleuth, Lord Henry Merrivale, makes such sounds as, ��Hum, Ha, Harumph,” and such exclamations as, “Lord, love-a-duck!” Only in a Golden Age puzzle mystery would the sleuth be eccentric in just this way.

The author was fond of locked room mysteries, and the locked room in this book is not only tightly sealed, but has a curse on it. The furniture comes from a family who were the executioners in the French Revolution. Anyone who stays alone in the room for two hours is found dead. No weapon in sight. No possible explanation. In the past four healthy people died inexplicably in The Widow Room.

To add to the fun there is a strain of madness in the aristocratic family that harbors the deadly room in their home. Certainly it’s a mad idea that leads to the death of a guest. A group of men draw cards to see who will stay in the Widow Room that night.

The Red Widow Murders was first published in 1935. I enjoyed it, though it went on a bit long with convoluted speculation about the crimes.



Genre: Mystery

Visitors also looked at these books


Used availability for Carter Dickson's The Red Widow Murders


About Fantastic Fiction       Information for Authors