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The Reader is Warned

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The Reader is Warned
First US edition
AuthorJohn Dickson Carr writing as "Carter Dickson"
LanguageEnglish
SeriesHenry Merrivale
GenreMystery fiction
Detective fiction
PublisherMorrow (US, 1939)
Heinemann (UK, 1939, first edition)
Publication date
1939
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Preceded byDrop to His Death 
Followed byAnd So to Murder 

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.

Plot summary

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Sir Henry Merrivale must solve an impossible crime when a man dies in his home in such a way that it seems no one could have been sufficiently close to him to have committed murder, and it is unclear exactly how or why he died.

The circumstances are complicated by the presence of the victim's wife, a writer of clever detective stories, the disappearance of a book in which she jots down unusual methods of murder, and a strange house guest who believes that he can kill people at a distance by the use of something he calls "Teleforce".