Rare Books

To wake the dead

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Description: When mystery writer Chris Kent finds the body of a woman in his hotel room, he enlists the help of detective Gideon Fell to try to uncover the killer.
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Publication date: 1938.
Call number: 660815
Creator: Carr, John Dickson (1906-1977)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Kim Stanley Robinson, August 2025. From the Kim Stanley Robinson Library. With green ink stamp on rear pastedown: "Evanston Book Shop and Rental Library, 7112 Davis St. Evanston, Ill." and stamped dates.
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Death-watch

Rare Books

A clockmaker is puzzled by the theft of the hands of a monumental new timepiece he is preparing for a member of the nobility. That night, one of the stolen hands is found buried between a policeman’s shoulder blades, stopping his clock for all time. The crime is just peculiar enough to catch the attention of Dr. Gideon Fell, the portly detective whose formidable intellect is the terror of every criminal in London. Working closely with Scotland Yard, he finds that the case turns on the question of why the clock hands were stolen. And learning the answer will put Dr. Fell squarely in the path of a madman with nothing but time on his hands.

660803

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It walks by night

Rare Books

Inspector Bencolin must unravel a dumbfounding locked-room mystery and apprehend a sadistic killer. In the smoke-wreathed gloom of a Parisian salon, Bencolin has summoned his allies to discuss a peculiar case. A would-be murderer imprisoned for attempting to kill his wife has escaped and is known to have visited a plastic surgeon. Bencolin predicts his return, and his worst suspicions are realized when the beheaded body of the wife's new suitor is discovered in a locked room just feet away.

660808

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The Arabian nights murder

Rare Books

When Scotland Yard detective John Carruthers attends the Wade Museum of Oriental Art, and begins to investigate the interior of one of a series of carriages on exhibit, he is sarcastically told by the night watchman "Watch out when you touch it! There's a dead man inside!" Of course, a dead man tumbles out. The corpse has been stabbed with an elaborate Persian dagger, is wearing an obvious set of false whiskers, and is clutching a cookbook. Gideon Fell must investigate the death and explain all the bizarre circumstances of what was a very busy night at the museum.

660805

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Till death do us part : a Dr. Fell detective story

Rare Books

Crime author Dick Markham is in love again; his fiancée, the mysterious newcomer to the village, Lesley Grant. When Grant accidentally shoots the fortune teller through the side of his tent at the local fair-following a very strange reaction to his predictions-Markham is reluctantly brought into a scheme to expose his betrothed as a suspected serial husband-poisoner. That night the enigmatic fortune teller-and chief accuser-is found dead in an impossible locked-room setup, casting suspicion onto Grant and striking doubt into the heart of her lover. Lured by the scent of the impossible case, Dr. Gideon Fell arrives from London to examine the perplexing evidence and match wits with a meticulous killer at large.

660799

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The eight of swords

Rare Books

Mr. Septimus Depping is found dead in his Gloucestershire country house, shot with his own gun and holding a card from the Tarot deck, the Eight of Swords, which stands for "condemning justice." Among those present is an Anglican bishop who is an expert in criminology, and sees wanted criminals in every parlourmaid, and Henry Morgan, who writes exciting mystery novels under two different names. Mr. Depping turns out to have been an American criminal, and Gideon Fell must penetrate the secrets of his American associates, as well as his British life in retirement in order to bring home the crime to the unlikely criminal.

660801

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Poison in jest

Rare Books

When Jeff Marle returns home to Pennsylvania for the first time in years, he visits his old friends the Quayles. But the respectable family isn’t as he remembered them – he’s shocked by the tattered state of both the house and the Quayles’ nerves. Patriarch Judge Quayle is poisoned right in front of Jeff and nearly dies, and this near-tragedy is followed by another poisoning, and then a more brutal attack. Without the help of his friend Bencolin, will Jeff manage to find the killer? Or is he fated to become a serial Watson – and if so, who will play the role of detective?

660811

To wake the dead

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Death-watch

It walks by night

The Arabian nights murder

Till death do us part : a Dr. Fell detective story

The eight of swords

Poison in jest