The Seat of the Scornful

Over a long career in the courts, Justice Horace Ireton has garnered a reputation for merciless rulings and his dedication to meting out strict, impartial justice. Taking a break from his duty after a session of assizes, Ireton retreats to his seaside bungalow in Devon and turns his attention to family, specifically in attempting to bribe his daughter's lover, Morrell, to leave her alone so that she may instead marry the respectable clerk, Fred Barlow.

It seems something about the deal with Morrell must have gone amiss, however, when the police are called to the Justice's residence to find Morrell shot dead and the judge still holding a pistol. But would the lawman be so bold as to commit a murder like this? With a number of strange items making up the physical evidence, Dr Gideon Fell, himself an old friend of Ireton's, is summoned to help with the deceptively simple yet increasingly complex investigation.

The Seat of the Scornful by John Dickson Carr takes readers on a suspenseful journey through a tangled web of motives and mysteries, leaving them guessing at each turn.