Rare Books

Death in five boxes

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Description: Fictitious character Sir Henry Merrivale solves a case involving five wealthy crypto-criminals.
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Publication date: 1938.
Call number: 660826
Creator: Dickson, Carter (1906-1977)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Kim Stanley Robinson, August 2025. From the Kim Stanley Robinson Library. With autograph signature and date on front free endpaper: "John F. Boutelle 3/25/43".
Dimensions: 20 cm
Associated people

The card : a story of adventure in the Five Towns

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A short comedic novel that chronicles the rise of Edward Henry ("Denry") Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley (a fictitious town based on Burslem).

6269

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The crooked hinge

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"Banished from the idyllic English countryside he once called home and en route to live with his cousin in America, Sir John Farnleigh, black sheep of the wealthy Farnleigh clan, nearly perished in the sinking of the Titanic. Though he survived the catastrophe, his ties with his family did not, and he never returned to England--not even for the funerals of his mother, his father, or, most recently, his older brother Dudley. Now, nearly twenty-five years since he was first sent away, Sir John has finally returned home to claim his inheritance. But another "Sir John" soon follows, a stranger who insists he has absolute proof of his claim to the estate. Before the case can be settled, however, one of the two men is murdered, and Dr. Gideon Fell finds himself facing one of the most challenging cases of his career. To solve it, he'll have to confront a series of bizarre and chilling phenomena, brushing up against witchcraft, magic, and a sinister automation in the process."--Back cover.

660814

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The cavalier's cup : another adventure of Sir Henry Merrivale

Rare Books

The story is set at Telford Old Hall, a historic English estate haunted by the ghost of a long-dead Cavalier, Sir Byng Rawdon. The estate's prized family heirloom is the jeweled "Cavalier's Cup," which Sir Byng reportedly cursed while etching a poem into a diamond-paned window. When the cup is brought back to the manor from a bank vault, Lord "Tom" Brace attempts to protect it by guarding it in the heavily fortified Oak Room. Lord Brace wedges the heavy bolts on the door from the inside and fastens all the windows. The cup is placed in a safe, with its only key secured in the room as well.However, by morning, a seemingly impossible crime has occurred. The room remains entirely sealed, yet the cup has been removed from the safe and placed out on a table. Fearing he has become a sleepwalker, Lord Brace refuses to return to sleep, ultimately prompting his wife to call upon Scotland Yard.

660823

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The emperor's snuff-box

Rare Books

Beside the dead body of Sir Maurice Lawes are the shattered fragments of a snuff-box that once belonged to Napoleon. These fragments tell a tale, or rather two tales, one true and one false. Now, an English expert in criminology forces the evidence to tell the truth about what happened and to point out the real murderer.

660798

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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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Manuscripts

Contains: LN 1947. [Herndon, William Henry]. Analysis of the Character and Mind of Abraham Lincoln. 1865 [December 12] LN 1948. [Herndon, William Henry]. Imagination, etc. 1865 December 26. LN 1949. [Herndon, William Henry]. Facts Illustrative of Mr. Lincoln's Patriotism and Statesmanship. [1866 January 23]. LN 2325. Herndon, William Henry. To Ward Hill Lamon. 1870 March 1. LN 2326. Herndon, William Henry. To [Ward Hill Lamon]: Statement of Jas. T. Stuart and Jas. H. Mathenay. 1870 March 2. LN 2327. Herndon, William Henry. To Ward Hill Lamon. 1870 March 3. LN 2328. [Herndon, William Henry]. [Copies of source material for Life of Lincoln, includes Ancestors of Lincoln, statements of John B. Helm, Samuel Haycroft, R. Wintersmith]. [Approximately 1870]. LN 2460. The Great Western Empire [memoir of a scheme for the partition of the Americas, 1848-1864]. [Approximately 1886].

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Death in five boxes

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