Originally posted April 25, 2024.   While John Dickson Carr (and his alter-ego Carter Dickson) frequently dominates lists of best locked room mysteries , for good reason, I’ve always gotten the sense that The White Priory Murders is a divisive one, so I had some trepidation in checking it out. Some reviewers say that the impossible crime has a brilliant solution; others think that it’s overlong, tedious, and lacking in character. After reading it, I have to agree with both opinions. Marcia Tait is a British Hollywood actress, returned to her home country to star as Barbara Villiers in a play about Charles II. The playwright’s eccentric, unpleasant brother owns a (fictional, as far as I can tell) historical manse featuring a pavilion called the Queen’s Mirror, where Charles II allegedly conducted numerous liaisons. Marcia decides to sleep there for method purposes, and is found dead early the next morning. The pavilion is not locked; rather, it is surrounded by unble...