Synopsis:

When the police burst in they found the mangled body lying on the floor, while staring at them from the centre of the empty room was the severed head of the Duc de Saligny. The crime had occurred in an anteroom of a smart Paris gambling-house. Both doors of the room were watched by the police. The window was absolutely inaccessible and had not been entered, and there were no secret passages by which an entrance could be made through the walls. Yet within the space of ten minutes the criminal had entered the room, had committed the murder, and had escaped without leaving a clue and without having been seen by anyone.

So begins a mystery story as weird and terrifying as any ever contrived by Poe. All the wiles of Bencolin, most satanic and most lovable of modern crime detectors, were called upon to solve the mystery of de Saligny's death - the first of the inexplicable murders. Carr has a style and literary skill equaled by few modern mystery-writers and this novel takes rank with the best for eeriness and ingenuity.