Young Roderick Kinsmere was a country bumpkin when he strolled into the Great Court of Charles II's Whitehall Palace. Three days later he had lost his fortune, gained a wife, fought for - and been outwitted by - his king, and no one would ever call Rowdy Kinsmere a bumpkin again.

It was 1670 and London was a teeming, filthy, dangerous and splendiferous place. The king was in trouble and Roderick was surrounded by plots and counterplots. And somehow everything centred on the beautiful sapphire ring he had inherited from his father ...

'Mr Carr has contrived a fine, adventurous entertainment of politics and piracy, espionage and murder' The Times

'A master magician ... King of the Art of Misdirection' Agatha Christie

About the Author
John Dickson Carr, the master of the locked-room mystery, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the son of a US Congressman. He studied law in Paris before settling in England where he married an Englishwoman, and he spent most of his writing career living in Great Britain. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Golden Age mystery writers, his work featured apparently impossible crimes often with seemingly supernatural elements. He modelled his affable and eccentric series detective Gideon Fell on G. K. Chesterton, and wrote a number of novels and short stories, including his series featuring Henry Merrivale, under the pseudonym Carter Dickson. He was one of only two Americans admitted to the British Detection club, and was highly praised by other mystery writers. Dorothy L. Sayers said of him that 'he can create atmosphere with an adjective, alarm with allusion, or delight with a rollicking absurdity'. In 1950 he was awarded the first of two prestigious Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America, and was presented with their Grand Master Award in 1963. He died in Greenville, South Carolina in 1977.


Book Information
ISBN 9781471905391
Author John Dickson Carr
Format Paperback
Page Count 230
Imprint The Murder Room
Publisher The Murder Room