The Corpse in the Waxworks cover art

The Corpse in the Waxworks

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

About this listen

Last night, Mademoiselle Duchêne was seen heading into the Gallery of Horrors at the Musée Augustin waxworks, alive. Today she was found in the Seine, murdered. The museum's proprietor, long perturbed by the unnatural vitality of his figures, claims that he saw one of them following the victim into the dark; a lead that Henri Bencolin, head of the Paris police and expert of impossible crimes, cannot resist. Surrounded by the eerie noises of the night, Bencolin prepares to enter the ill-fated waxworks. Waiting within, beneath the glass-eyed gaze of a leering waxen satyr, is a gruesome discovery and the first clues of a twisted and ingenious mystery.

First published in 1932 at the height of crime fiction's Golden Age, this macabre and atmospheric dive into the murky underground of Parisian society presents a puzzle delivered at a stunning pace.

©1932, 2021 The Estate of Clarice M. Carr, Introduction Martin Edwards (P)2022 Soundings Crime Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural
All stars
Most relevant
A delight of a book. The story moves briskly from the finding of a body in a waxwork through to the end of the case. Though the story can be a little theatrical at times the solution is carefully worked out and entirely rational.

I love these locked room mysteries and this is one of the best.

A brilliant jewel of a puzzle

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written and atmospheric with characters sometimes grotesque but very similar to Poe classics although over the top at times it also delivers a gothic feel that enthralls

Atmospheric

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.