The Sleeping Sphinx

1947 detective story by John Dickson Carr

The Sleeping Sphinx
First US edition
Author	John Dickson Carr
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Gideon Fell
Genre	Mystery, Detective novel
Publisher	Hamish Hamilton (UK) & Harper (USA)
Publication date	1947
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	199 pp (Bantam paperback edition, 1966)
Preceded by	He Who Whispers (1946)
Followed by	Below Suspicion (1949)

The Sleeping Sphinx, first published in 1947, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr which features Carr's series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.

Plot summary

Donald Holden, upon his release from the British Armed Forces, discovers that he had been pronounced as dead more than a year ago, which may complicate his love for the beautiful Celia Devereaux. When he announces the mistake to her, they are reconciled, but strange things have been happening to the Devereaux family. Celia's sister Margot died in mysterious circumstances more than a year ago, after an evening of spooky games during which each guest wore the death mask of a famous murderer. The London offices of a fortune teller have been abandoned, but someone still uses them. And someone or something has been moving the coffins around inside a sealed mausoleum. Some people think that Celia has inherited the family taint of hysteria, but it takes the combined efforts of Donald Holden and Gideon Fell to explain Margot's death and the moving coffins.

Works 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)

Novels

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)

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)

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 (1959) The Witch of the Low Tide (1961) The Demoniacs (1962) Most Secret (1964) Papa La-Bas (1968) The Ghosts' High Noon (1970) Deadly Hall (1971) The Hungry Goblin (1972)
As Carter Dickson	The Bowstring Murders (1934) The Third Bullet (1937) Drop to His Death (1939) The Department of Queer Complaints (1940) Fear Is the Same (1956)

As John Dickson Carr