The Plague Court Murders

"Plague Court is old and crumbling, long neglected after its lord, hangman's assistant Louis Playge, fell victim to the black death centuries before. The estate is famously haunted by Playge's ghost, and, for the property's new owner, banishing the spirit is a top priority. And when the exorcist employed with this task is found stabbed to death in a locked stone hut on the grounds, the other guests at Plague Court have every reason to fear an act of supernatural violence as the cause of the impossible execution. Enter Sir Henry Merrivale, an amateur sleuth with deductive powers strong enough to unspool even the most baffling crimes. But in the creepy setting of Plague Court, where every indication suggests intervention from the afterlife, he encounters a seemingly-illogical murder scene unlike anything he's investigated before. . . The Plague Court Murders is the eerie, atmospheric, and devilishly-puzzling first novel in the Sir Henry Merrivale series. Originally published under the name Carter Dickson, it is a masterful example of the "impossible crime" novel for which John Dickson Carr is known"--Page 4 of cover.