Drop to His Death

{{Short description|1939 novel by John Dickson Carr}} {{Multiple issues| {{All plot|date=April 2026}} {{Sources exist|date=April 2026}} }} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox book |  | name = Drop To His Death (aka ''Fatal Descent'') | title_orig = | translator = | image = File:FatalDescent.jpg | caption = First US edition | author = John Dickson Carr writing as "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = | genre = Mystery fiction, Detective fiction | publisher = Heinemann (UK)<br />Dodd, Mead & Co. (USA) | release_date = 1939 | media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback) | pages = | isbn = | preceded_by = Death in Five Boxes | followed_by = The Reader is Warned }}

'''''Drop To His Death''''' (also published under the title '''''Fatal Descent''''') is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr, in collaboration with British author Cecil Street. It was published under their respective pen names Carter Dickson and John Rhode. It is a locked room mystery.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mead |first=Tom |date=2022-07-14 |title=The Great Locked Room Mystery: My Top 10 Impossible Crimes |url=https://crimereads.com/the-great-locked-room-mystery-my-top-10-impossible-crimes/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=CrimeReads |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Plot summary== {{expand section|date=July 2025}} A businessman, Sir Ernest Tallant, dies in an elevator in such a way that it seems as though no one could have committed the murder, drawing two sleuths to the case, Inspector Hornbeam and Dr. Horatio Glass. They are at odds from the beginning, each dismissive of the other's theories, creating an atmosphere as much of competition as cooperation.

The elevator was perhaps six feet square by eight feet high, with steel walls painted to imitate bronze. Sir Ernest Tallant sat very quietly in the rear right-hand corner. His legs were outthrust stiffly, his back bent a little forward, and the brim of the rakish gray hat shaded his face. He might have been a grotesque parody of Little Jack Horner, if it had not been for the widening bloodstains on the left breast of his jacket. His umbrella lay beside him, also looking oddly childish like his posture. Under each roof corner of the elevator there was a tiny electric light; these four little lights illumined even the wrinkles on the backs of the man's hands, and glittered on the pieces of broken glass. <references group="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/carter-dickson/drop-to-his-death.htm" />

== References == {{Reflist}}{{Merrivale}}

Category:1939 American novels Category:1939 English-language novels Category:1939 British novels Category:American detective novels Category:Novels by John Dickson Carr Category:Novels by Cecil Street Category:Locked-room mysteries Category:Heinemann (publisher) books Category:1930s mystery novels