John Dickson Carr Collection

John Dickson Carr
(1906 – 1977)

Mystery writer extraordinaire John Dickson Carr was a prolific writer during the golden age of detective mysteries in the 1930s.  He is considered a master of "locked room mysteries" stories that required complex logic to solve because on the surface they seemed unsolvable. 

Although John Dickson Carr was an American writer, his best known stories took place in England.  One of his most beloved characters is Dr. Fell, an obese but brainy detective in England whose hefty size prevented him from too much action, similar to the character The Fat Man.

In 1942, John Dickson Carr began writing for the well loved mystery show Suspense and created some of the best episodes of the series.  After the success of one particular Suspense episode, Cabin B-13 about a missing groom on his honeymoon, Carr was given the opportunity to write an entire series called Cabin B-13.  The show is quite rare but considered to be one of the best mystery shows ever created for radio.  John Dickson Carr also wrote for the little known series, Murder by Experts.

Many of John Dickson Carr's stories that were written for radio had some sort of confused hopelessness to the plot that would drive some characters into sobbing hysteria.  But somehow and someway, Carr would dig the plot out of impossibility and miraculously explain the mystery.  See also:

• Author's Collection
• Aldous Huxley
• Agatha Christie
• Cornell Woolrich
• Dashiel Hammet
• Frederic Brown
• HP Lovecraft
• John Dickson Carr
• James M Cain
• Patricia Highsmith
• Ray Bradbury
• Raymond Chandler
• Sci-Fi Authors
• World's Greatest Short Stories

For other literature-based see also: Best Plays, Favorite Story, Great Plays, NBC University Theater, Theater Guild on the Air, Tell It Again, Theater Royal, World's Great Novels, and Your Playhouse of Favorites.