Book of the Week: The Ten Teacups

Another Tuesday, another British Library Crime Classic pick. And yes I finished it this week. But no, I don’t care. It was a difficult week in new reading and I stand by my choices. Have a read of Recommendsday tomorrow and you’ll understand.

This is a locked room mystery of the most impossible type: the police receive a note that evokes a cold case, telling them to go to a house in Berwick terrace at a given date and time. There they set up a cordon – but still at the appointed time, shots ring out and a man is dead. But who did it and how? Sir Henry Merrivale is called in to try and solve the crime.

John Dickson Carr – writing here as Carter Dickson – is one of the masters of the locked room and impossible mysteries and at times in this it feels like he’s trying to outdo his previous efforts (like The White Priory Murder) by creating an even more unsolvable crime. And although I have a few reservations, this is a twisty and atmospheric read that keeps you turning the pages right until the end.

This is one of the most recent BLCC releases – it only came out in early February, but it’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment if you’re in that program. Otherwise I’m sure the paperback will pop up in bookshops that stock the British library crime paperbacks – I forgot to check for it in Foyles last week but I would be surprised if it wasn’t there in their selection.

Happy Reading!