The Case of the Constant Suicides

Dr. Gideon Fell investigates multiple impossible crimes in this celebrated mystery from the master of the locked room mystery.

After Angus Campbell falls to his death from a high window, his family is summoned to his Scottish manor to settle the estate. Just before his death, Campbell took out several large life insurance policies—all of which are voided in the event of suicide. The door to the room from which he fell was locked and the tower was too tall for anyone to climb in or out, so the insurers are threatening to do just that, despite the family’s insistence that Angus would not have killed himself.

Enter Dr. Gideon Fell, the amateur sleuth whose deductive wit is revered across the land. He quickly confirms that Campbell was murdered but before he can identify the culprit another impossible crime is committed. Will he be able to determine whodunit and prevent the killer from striking again?

An ingenious puzzler from the celebrated master of the locked room mystery, The Case of the Constant Suicides is an entertaining mix of humor, atmosphere, and bafflement. It is among the most celebrated of the cases of Gideon Fell.

Funny, intelligent, deftly plotted. . . . The quintessential John Dickson Carr novel.”
—Adrian McKinty

Carr at his best.”
—Saturday Review of Literature

John Dickson Carr (1906–1977) was one of the greatest writers of the American Golden Age mystery, and one of the only American authors to be included in England’s legendary Detection Club. Though he was born and died in the United States, Carr began his writing career while living in England, where he remained for nearly twenty years. Under his own name and various pseudonyms, he wrote more than seventy novels and numerous short stories, and is best known today for his locked-room mysteries. His beloved series character, Dr. Gideon Fell, was based on author G. K. Chesterton and appeared in twenty-four novels.

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Introduction by Otto Penzler.