Carter Dickson Libros

«¿Quién de los componentes de nuestro grupo envió a Marcia Tait una caja de bombones envenenados?». A sir Henry Merrivale, antiguo jefe del servicio de contraespionaje británico, le visita su sobrino James Bennett –a quien fascina el talante atrabiliario del viejo que, además, es un genio de la investigación criminal– para ponerle al tanto de dos asuntos: su encuentro con la actriz Marcia Tait, bien conocida por el espía, y la tentativa de asesinato que contempló por casualidad.

«¿Cree usted –había dicho sin preámbulo–, que una habitación puede matar?». Esta pregunta, viniendo de sir George Anstruther, hombre consagrado a la ciencia y director del Museo Británico, le parece al doctor Tairlaine el preludio de un razonamiento filosófico. Pero luego, ya metido en la aventura, sabe de la existencia de un testamento que prohíbe abrir una estancia, cerrada desde la muerte de un antepasado, a riesgo de perder la herencia.

Death sails aboard the Edwardic. "Douse that light!" bawled a voice almost directly in his ear. He had not realized he was in the midst of a small crowd, until the bitter air was agitated by a dozen movements. Something hard, a shoulder or hand, struck him under the left shoulder-blade, pitching him forward. He knew a second of panic as the rail rushed at him, tilting over deeply to show him the phosphorescent wash boiling below. Just ahead of him, somebody reached out of darkness and struck at the hand that was holding the match. Its light went out. "Don't you know better than to show a light on deck?" demanded the voice of the third officer. "Theres a man overboard," Hooper managed to stutter out. "Spang down he went, splash bang, with a bullet in the back of his head. I evan saw the chap who shot him. For God's sake don't stand there and fuss about matches. There's a man overboard."

Traditional Chinese edition of Carter Dickson's (writing as John Dickson Carr) vintage classic The Curse of the Bronze Lamp. In Chinese. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

When Bennett's uncle, the cantankerous amateur sleuth Sir Henry Merrivale arrives from London to make sense of this impossible crime, the reader is treated to a feast of the author's trademark twists, beguiling false answers and one of the most ingenious solutions in the history of the mystery genre.