My Late Wives

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My Late Wives
MyLateWives.jpg
First edition (US)
Author John Dickson Carr writing as "Carter Dickson"
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Henry Merrivale
Genre Mystery, detective
Publisher Morrow (US, 1946, first edition)
Heinemann (UK, 1947)
Publication date
1946
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages282
Preceded by The Curse of the Bronze Lamp  
Followed by The Skeleton in the Clock  

My Late Wives is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr, who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a whodunnit featuring the series detective Sir Henry Merrivale and his long-time associate, Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters.

Plot summary

Roger Bewlay is a murderer; the British police are sure he's a murderer, and so is noted detective and explainer of the impossible, Sir Henry Merrivale. Bewlay has married at least four women who promptly vanish on their honeymoons.

Unfortunately, Bewlay himself has also vanished.

Years later, a well-known actor receives the script of a play about Roger Bewlay from an anonymous source, which he determines to produce and in which he will star. The script contains information known only to the police, one witness and Roger Bewlay himself. That reopens the old case and involves the actor, his good-looking female director, and a woman named Mildred Lyons who soon turns up dead in the actor's bedroom.

Sir Henry Merrivale must identify Roger Bewlay's new identity and work out an extremely ingenious place to hide a corpse.


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John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn.

Sir Henry Merrivale is a fictional amateur detective created by "Carter Dickson", a pen name of John Dickson Carr (1906–1977). Also known as "the Old Man," by his initials "H. M.", or "the Maestro", Merrivale appears in 22 of Carr's locked-room mysteries and "impossible crime" novels of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, as well as in two short stories.

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The Judas Window is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr, writing under the name of Carter Dickson, published in 1938 and featuring detective Sir Henry Merrivale.

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<i>The Red Widow Murders</i>

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The Punch and Judy Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr (1906–1977), who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a whodunnit and features the series detective Sir Henry Merrivale.

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The Reader is Warned is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr, who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a whodunit and features the series detective Sir Henry Merrivale.

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<i>She Died a Lady</i> 1943 mystery novel by John Dickson Carr

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<i>The Curse of the Bronze Lamp</i> Mystery novel by John Dickson Carr

The Curse of the Bronze Lamp is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr, who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery or, more properly, a subset of that category known as an "impossible crime", and features the series detective Sir Henry Merrivale. Carr considered this one of his best impossible crime novels.

<i>The Skeleton in the Clock</i> 1948 novel by John Dickson Carr

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