The Man Who Could Not Shudder.

JOHN DICKSON CARR

Publication: Harper & Brothers, 1940, New York

First edition. Fine, bright, square copy in a price-clipped dust jacket lightly soiled on the rear white cover panel. The 12th Dr. Gideon Fell novel. Martin Clarke is celebrating his acquisition and refurbishment of an old stately home by inviting a number of guests to stay for the weekend. The house has an unsettling history; two decades ago, the butler, a frail man of over 80 years, was killed when he uncharacteristically decided to swing back and forth from the chandelier, which then fell and killed him. Another report features a chair which leaps off the wall at the viewer. Clarke's guests have been invited to investigate the rumors of ghostly hauntings. The weekend begins when, as the guests are entering the home, one woman screams and claims that something has clutched at her ankle...something "with fingers." The host immediately tells the story of a former owner of the home whose death was met with such suspicion of witchcraft from the servants that the body lay as it fell for days. The weekend is off to a spooky start but then three witnesses agree that a gun jumped off the wall and killed a seated guest, with no hand holding it. Gideon Fell is called in to explain matters. An exceptional copy.

Inventory Number: 40171