The Seat of the Scornful

Written by John Dickson Carr

Narrated by Kris Dyer

When the police arrive at the holiday bungalow of the haughty Justice Ireton to find a man killed by gunshot and the high court judge brandishing a pistol, the case seems as straightforward as it is scandalous. Yet, with the incongruous assemblage of physical evidence, the judge's denial of any participation in the crime and the recent events of his daughter's love life combined, the deceptively simple case is soon steeped in complexity. At a loss in the bizarre circumstances, the local force calls in the larger-than-life sleuth Dr Gideon Fell, who just the previous day had been contending with Ireton's intellect over a game of chess. With Fell and the judge now facing off as detective and suspect, a new battle of wits begins in this fiendishly plotted masterclass of the mystery genre, first published in 1942.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Soundings
• Release date: Oct 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781399143271

John Dickson Carr

John Dickson Carr was born in 1906 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the son of a lawyer. While at school and college, he wrote ghost, detective and adventure stories. After studying law, he headed to Paris in 1928. Once there, he lost any desire to study law and soon turned to writing crime fiction full-time. His first novel, It Walks by Night, was published in 1930. Two years later, he moved to England with his English wife; thereafter he became a prolific author and became a master of the locked-room mystery. He also wrote a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, radio plays, dozens of short stories, and magazine reviews. He died in 1977 in South Carolina.

Reviews for The Seat of the Scornful

[Lisa Headen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic Classic British Mystery. I had no idea who did it till the very last chapter. I’ll look forward to finding more books by this author. Narration is A+