Hag's Nook (Gideon Fell Mystery Series Book 1)

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1933. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. First edition. Lacks jacket. Boards soiled, spine leans, corners slightly exposed, ink number on top edge, light smudge on bottom edge, ink date on front endpaper, toned section on half-title page and flyleaf from now-absent clipping once laid in. 1933 Hard Cover. 296 pp. A detective novel by the Golden Age mystery author who also wrote under the names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. Carr was considered a master of the 'locked room' sub-genre. This book is the first to feature his popular Dr. Gideon Fell character. "In his detecting debut, larger than (truncated) life lexicographer Dr. Gideon Fell is entertaining young American college graduate Tad Rampole at Yew Cottage, Fell's charming home in the English countryside. Within sight of his study window is the ruin of Chatterham Prison, perched high on a precipice known as Hag's Nook. The prison's land belongs to the Starberth family—whose eldest sons must each spend an hour in the prison's eerie "Governor's Room" to inherit the family fortune. Rampole is especially interested in the family, having met the young and beautiful Dorothy Starberth on the train from London. He readily agrees when Fell and the local reverend, Thomas Saunders, ask him to accompany them as they watch and wait for badly frightened Martin Starberth to complete 'his hour' in the prison. Martin has every reason to be afraid; more than one Starberth heir has met an untimely end. Will his turn come tonight (Inventory #: 2344897)