Like much of Dickson Carr's work, this novel is a locked room mystery, in addition to being a whodunnit.

Unlike most of the other Dr. Fell novels, this story has a high humour level, reminiscent of the Henry Merrivale works.

Suspicious events soon begin to occur, the body count rises, and a verdict of suicide is not necessarily to be trusted.

Enter the gargantuan Doctor Gideon Fell, who applies his substantial powers of deduction to the problem of how men can be indirectly murdered while they're inside locked, sealed and inaccessible rooms.

The statement is true, for this tale offers a few characters and a few problems that are soberly and adroitly dealt with, instead of being enveloped in a mixture of highjinks and red herrings as the author likes to do with his good situations and brilliant solutions.