The Burning Court

infobox Book |
name = The Burning Court
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = John Dickson Carr
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = N/A
genre = Mystery, Detective, Horror novel, Novel
publisher = Harper (USA)& Hamish Hamilton (UK)
release_date = 1937
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 209
isbn = 0-930330-27-7
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Burning Court" (1937) is a famous locked room mystery by John Dickson Carr. However, it contains neither Gideon Fell, or Henry Merrivale, Carr's two major detectives. It was published in the United States, and was highly controversial upon its first printing, due to its unorthodox ending. Today, it is hailed as the best non-series Carr's novel.

Plot summary

Edward Stevens, an editor at Herald and Son's publishing house, is on the train home, recounting the story of the death of the uncle of his boss, Mark Despard. Mark's uncle, Miles, had died recently of gastroenteritis, which had caused him to be bed ridden for days. Although Miles' death was considered death by natural causes, two strange things were reported surrounding the death. A housemaid reported spying into Despard's room, through the shade of one of the glass doors leading in, and reported that a woman had left, through a door that had been bricked up for years. After Despard died, under his pillow was found a strange piece of string, tied in nine knots.

Stevens shrugs both events off as nothing. Instead, he opens the book he is bringing home to edit. The book is a book on true crime, by famous true crime writer, Gauden Cross. Cross's book is on murder trials, and the book begins with the trial and execution of Marie D'Aubray, in 1861. There is a picture of Marie D'Aubray attached to the section, which causes Stevens to jump. The picture of Marie D'Aubray, is a picture of his wife, Marie Stevens.

Stevens gets home, and confronts his wife, who tries to convince him that the picture means nothing. Stevens goes up to wash his hands, and when he returns, the picture is gone. Before Stevens can figure it out, the door bell rings. It is Mark Despard and a doctor, named Partington. Mark Despard explains he believes his uncle was murdered, and he, Partington, and Stevens are going to dig up the body, and do an autopsy.

Miles Despard is buried in a crypt, sealed with cement. Mark, Partington, and Stevens begin the long process of breaking up the cement. After they do, they climb down the long steps, to retrieve the body. They find Miles' coffin, open it, and reveal nothing. A quick search confirms that the body has disappeared from the sealed crypt.

Controversy

The ending of The Burning Court was highly controversial upon its release. Writer Gauden Cross explains that Mark Despard and his lover, Myra Corbett (who was his uncles nurse), killed his uncle and removed the body from the crypt.

Cross explains that Myra took a mirror from Miles' room, and placed it, at an angle, in front of the bricked up door, to reflect on the wooden door that opens into the hallway. When Myra left, she left through the hall door, not the bricked up door.

In the crypt, were Miles' body was placed, there were two large urns in the entrance way. Mark, who was the last one in the crypt, placed Miles body in one of the urns, then sealed the entrance. When they opened the crypt, the body was in the urn. After not finding the body, Mark told Partington and Stevens to go find help. While they did, in the three or four minute time frame, Mark took the body, and hid it elsewhere in the cemetery.

Cross then took a glass of sherry, given to him by Myra, took a single sip, and died of cyanide poisoning. Myra is arrested, tried, and sentenced to die, but has the sentence reduced to life in prison.

At the end of the novel, it is revealed that Stevens' wife Marie is the ghost of a woman who had been burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft in the 1600's. Marie had been put to death by the Despard familly. She had been trying to get revenge for years, finally succeeding by killing Miles and Mark Despard.

Literary significance and criticism

"A stunning situation to start with, which leads to steadily more complicated problems -- all perfectly clear, thanks to the art of this master of plotting ... we are also given a rationally possible explanation of the events, but the odor of brimstone overcomes the factual sense and renders the story a hybrid."Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. "A Catalogue of Crime". New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8]

References