'Paul Halter is France's answer to John Dickson Carr' Martin Edwards

The ultimate locked-room mystery.

In Paul Halter's The Fourth Door, the impossible becomes reality. A haunted room. An unbroken seal. A murder victim whose very identity is an enigma. And then, a second death in a house surrounded by untrodden snow. Both crimes defy reason – but master detective Dr. Alan Twist reveals that even the most baffling mysteries have rational explanations.

This international bestseller is a masterpiece of intrigue and misdirection, hailed as the French answer to John Dickson Carr and a modern rival to Anthony Horowitz (The Twist of a Knife). Fans of Sophie Hannah's Poirot mysteries and the layered puzzles of Knives Out will relish this thrilling, twist-laden tale. Winner of the Prix du Roman Policier, Halter cements his place as a titan of the locked-room genre.

Discover The Fourth Door, alongside Halter's other captivating works like The Lord of Misrule and The Night of the Wolf.



Paul Halter is a French crime writer, known for his locked room mysteries.

His first published novel, La Quatrième Porte (The Fourth Door) was published in 1988 and won the Prix de Cognac, given for detective literature. The following year, his novel Le Brouillard Rouge (The Red Fog) won the Prix du Roman d'Aventures.