description The Crooked Hinge Overview
The Crooked Hinge is a 1938 detective novel by John Dickson Carr featuring Dr. Gideon Fell. Set around an English country estate, its plot concerns two men who each claim to be the rightful heir and survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, followed by a seemingly impossible murder. The novel combines disputed identity, occult imagery, an automaton, and Carr's characteristic interest in crimes whose physical circumstances appear to exclude any ordinary explanation.
help The Crooked Hinge FAQ
What is the disputed identity in The Crooked Hinge?
A man claiming to be Sir John Farnleigh returns to England after years abroad, but another man says he is the true heir. The dispute turns on survival, memory, and evidence connected with the Titanic.
What is impossible about the murder in The Crooked Hinge?
The victim is killed outdoors under circumstances that appear to leave no opportunity for a nearby person to commit the crime unnoticed. Dr. Gideon Fell must reconcile the physical method with conflicting testimony about who was present.
Does The Crooked Hinge involve a mechanical automaton?
Yes. A sinister historical automaton known as the Golden Hag contributes to the novel's Gothic atmosphere and becomes relevant to the investigation.
Is The Crooked Hinge a locked-room mystery?
It is generally treated as an impossible-crime novel, although its central puzzle is not confined to a conventionally locked room. John Dickson Carr published it in 1938 as part of the Dr. Fell series.
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