Patrick Butler For The Defense - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

James Vaughan and Hugh Prentice are the two junior partners of the law practice of Prentice, Prentice & Vaughan and its senior partner, Hugh's uncle Charles Prentice. Hugh and his fiance Helen are in Hugh's office, which is littered with detective stories; a French-speaking Arab who calls himself Abu of Ispahan arrives and asks for an appointment to discuss a private matter. Helen leaves, and Hugh must deliver a brief to famed defense lawyer Patrick Butler. Since Abu wishes to deal with no one except "Meester Pren-tees", Hugh asks him to wait for forty-five minutes; before Hugh leaves, Abu announces "All my troubles have been caused by your gloves." Hugh goes down the hall to speak with James Vaughan. When they hear a scream, both rush back to Hugh's office to find Abu stabbed; he has just enough time and breath to gasp "Your gloves" in French before he expires. Hugh immediately enlists the help of Patrick Butler, who is accompanied by the upper-crust Lady Pamela de Saxe. The three, with occasional assistance from Helen, embark upon a series of breakneck escapes from the police and Hugh's strait-laced uncle while they gather evidence (including the beautiful stage magician Cécile Feyoum, Abu's widow). In the course of the evening, Hugh falls out of love with Helen and into love with Pam, and at the night's climax Patrick Butler calls everyone together and reveals the name of the murderer, and the meaning of the gloves.

Novels by John Dickson Carr
Sir Henry Merrivale series
Novels
  • The Plague Court Murders (1934)
  • The White Priory Murders (1934)
  • The Red Widow Murders (1935)
  • The Unicorn Murders (1935)
  • The Punch and Judy Murders (1936)
  • The Ten Teacups (1937)
  • The Judas Window (1938)
  • Death in Five Boxes (1938)
  • The Reader is Warned (1939)
  • And So to Murder (1940)
  • Murder in the Submarine Zone (1940)
  • Seeing is Believing (1941)
  • The Gilded Man (1942)
  • She Died a Lady (1943)
  • He Wouldn't Kill Patience (1944)
  • The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (1945)
  • My Late Wives (1946)
  • The Skeleton in the Clock (1948)
  • A Graveyard to Let (1949)
  • Night at the Mocking Widow (1950)
  • Behind the Crimson Blind (1952)
  • The Cavalier's Cup (1953)
Short stories
  • Merrivale, March and Murder (1991)
Gideon Fell series
Novels
  • Hag's Nook (1933)
  • The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933)
  • The Eight of Swords (1934)
  • The Blind Barber (1934)
  • Death-Watch (1935)
  • The Hollow Man (1935)
  • The Arabian Nights Murder (1936)
  • To Wake the Dead (1938)
  • The Crooked Hinge (1938)
  • The Black Spectacles (1939)
  • The Problem of the Wire Cage (1939)
  • The Man Who Could Not Shudder (1940)
  • The Case of the Constant Suicides (1941)
  • Death Turns the Tables (1941)
  • Till Death Do Us Part (1944)
  • He Who Whispers (1946)
  • The Sleeping Sphinx (1947)
  • Below Suspicion (1949)
  • The Dead Man's Knock (1958)
  • In Spite of Thunder (1960)
  • The House at Satan's Elbow (1965)
  • Panic in Box C (1966)
  • Dark of the Moon (1968)
Short story
collections
  • Dr. Fell, Detective, and Other Stories (1947)
  • The Men Who Explained Miracles (1963)
  • Fell and Foul Play (1991)
The Henri Bencolin series
Novels
  • It Walks By Night (1930)
  • Castle Skull (1931)
  • The Lost Gallows (1931)
  • The Waxworks Murder (1932)
  • The Four False Weapons (1937)
Short stories
  • "The Shadow of the Goat"
  • "The Fourth Suspect"
  • "The End of Justice"
  • "Murder In Number Four"
Other novels
As John Dickson Carr
  • Poison In Jest (1932)
  • The Burning Court (1937)
  • The Emperor's Snuff-Box (1942)
  • The Bride of Newgate (1950)
  • The Devil in Velvet (1951)
  • The Nine Wrong Answers (1952)
  • Captain Cut-Throat (1955)
  • Patrick Butler for the Defense (1956)
  • Fire, Burn! (1957)
  • Scandal at High Chimneys: A Victorian Melodrama (1959)
  • The Witch of the Low Tide: An Edwardian Melodrama (1961)
  • The Demoniacs (1962)
  • Most Secret (1964)
  • Papa La-Bas (1968)
  • The Ghosts' High Noon (1970)
  • Deadly Hall (1971)
  • The Hungry Goblin: A Victorian Detective Novel (1972)
As Carter Dickson
  • The Bowstring Murders (1934)
  • The Third Bullet (1937)
  • Drop to His Death (1939), with John Rhode
  • The Department of Queer Complaints (1940)
  • Fear Is the Same (1956)
Other works
As John Dickson Carr
  • The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1949)
  • The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1954), with Adrian Conan Doyle


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