It Walks by Night (British Library Crime Classics): A Paris Mystery - Softcover

We are thrilled to welcome John Dickson Carr into the Crime Classics series with his first novel, a brooding locked room mystery in the gathering dusk of the French capital. In the smoke-wreathed gloom of a Parisian salon, Inspector Bencolin has summoned his allies to discuss a peculiar case. A would-be murderer, imprisoned for his attempt to kill his wife, has escaped and is known to have visited a plastic surgeon. His whereabouts remain a mystery, though with his former wife poised to marry another, Bencolin predicts his return. Sure enough, the Inspector's worst suspicions are realized when the beheaded body of the new suitor is discovered in a locked room of the salon, with no apparent exit. Bencolin sets off into the Parisian night to unravel the dumbfounding mystery and track down the sadistic killer.

John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) was a hugely popular and prolific author of crime fiction, regarded as one of the finest writers of `Golden Age' mysteries. Though born in Pennsylvania, USA, Carr developed a distinctly `British' style to his mystery writing from his time living in England and became one of only two Americans ever admitted to the Detection Club.