''It Walks By Night'', first published in 1930, is the first

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and is ...

which features for the first time Carr's series detective Henri Bencolin. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a

whodunit A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the c ...

Synopsis

A closely guarded room in a Paris gambling house, a mangled body on the floor, a severed head staring from the centre of the carpet.. someone had entered that room, killed and escaped all within ten minutes. Ten minutes after the Duc de Saligny entered the card room, the police burst in – and found he had been murdered. Both doors to the card room had been watched yet the murderer had gone in and out without being seen by anyone.

References

1930 American novels Novels by John Dickson Carr American detective novels Locked-room mysteries Harper & Brothers books {{1930s-mystery-novel-stub