Henri Bencolin is a fictional

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

created by

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and ...

. He was Carr's first series detective, appearing in five "locked-room" and "impossible crime" mystery novels in the 1930s, and four short stories that appeared even earlier. In later decades, Carr did not return to the Bencolin character, but instead focused on creating English sleuths such as Dr. Gideon Fell and

Sir Henry Merrivale Sir Henry Merrivale is a fictional amateur detective created by "Carter Dickson", a pen name of John Dickson Carr (1906–1977). Also known as "the Old Man," by his initials "H. M." (a pun on "His Majesty"), or "the Maestro", Merrivale appears in ...

Biography

Bencolin is a ''

juge d'instruction In French criminal law, the investigation phase (') in a Criminal proceeding in French law, criminal proceeding is the procedure during which an investigating judge () gathers evidence on the commission of an offense and decides whether to refer ...

'' (

examining magistrate An examining magistrate is a judge in an inquisitorial system of law who carries out pre- trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases makes a recommendation for prosecution. Also known as an investigating magistrate, inquisit ...

) in the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

judicial system, and occasionally takes private cases. During World War I, he served as a French spymaster. Bencolin has a forbidding appearance. The narrator of the stories, American writer Jeff Marle, describes him as looking "Satanic", and characterizes his manner with witnesses and suspects as sometimes very harsh. He is sophisticated and cultured, and written to appeal to an American audience that would associate France and French people with sophistication.

List of stories

Short stories

The short stories in which Bencolin appears were all originally published in the Haverfordian: *"The Shadow of the Goat" *"The Fourth Suspect" *"The End of Justice" *"The Murder In Number Four" (1928)

Novels

*''It Walks By Night'' (1930) *''The Lost Gallows'' (1931) *''Castle Skull'' (1931 – not published in the UK until c. 1980) *''The Waxworks Murder'' (1932) *''The Four False Weapons'' (1937)

Spin-off

Bencolin is mentioned in Carr's book ''Poison in Jest'' (1932), but does not appear in it. The novel, however, is narrated by Marle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bencolin, Henri Book series introduced in 1930 Characters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Literary characters introduced in 1926 Fictional French police detectives Fictional French people Novel series by featured character John Dickson Carr characters