Death Watch

Another review posted here is in error. It is not a review of this book. I do not know what happened, but . . . .Death Watch by John Dickson Carr is one of the most intricately plotted who-done-its that I've read in a while. A policeman is murdered after midnight in a darkened house. The murder weapon is the hour hand of a large hall clock. The hands of the clock had been stolen from the same house two nights before. Carr assembles a good group of suspects. Some own the house, others are visitors or lodgers in the house. Carr challenges the reader by amassing detail that the reader is expected to remember, and also, by changing direction just when the reader is beginning to think a suspect is the likely killer. This novel is from the 1930's -- 1935, to be exact -- and thus comes to us from the golden age of detective fiction. The years of the "Black Mask" magazine, and the era of detective writers such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Carr was one of the masters. One senses considerable quality of writing here. Carr is a master of dialog, and uses this skill to bring his characters to life. One engine driving the book is the constant bickering and disagreement between Inspector Hadley and Dr. Gideon Fell, both of Scotland Yard. Hadley is something of a straight man, and a foil for Dr. Fell. Inspector Hadley is an experienced and reasonably intelligent policeman, but is somewhat plodding and not very imaginative. Dr. Fell, to the contrary, is highly intuitive and strikes deductions that at times rise to brilliance. What seems so obvious and clear to Inspector Hadley -- and to the reader most of the time -- is soon shot down and debunked by Fell's unerring analysis. The whole is great fun. Carr's mysteries often have a strong dash of the "gothic flavor." Spooky houses, secret passages, bizarre appearances and disappearances, sinister characters, the trappings of superstition -- the works! If you enjoy such effects, it's just one more source of enjoyment.I highly recommend the book. However, it is somewhat demanding. I would not try to read it while half asleep, nor would I begin the book and then lay it aside for several days. Without a real effort to concentrate, it is difficult to remember all the characters, clues, relevant details, or twists of plot. Many people must be willing to put forth the effort because the John Dickson Carr mysteries continue to be popular many years after the author's death.Patrick Callahan

This mystery stars John Dickson Carr's gargantuan, shovel-hatted detective, Dr. Gideon Fell and takes place in England between the world wars. All of the characters act suspiciously, including the true and false heir to the extensive Farnleigh estate (and the title that goes with it), their two lawyers, the butler, Lady Farnleigh, and assorted family friends. The reader has many reasons to suspect each character in turn after the murder (or was it suicide?) of one of the two competing heirs. The only person who might be able to tell whether the true John Farnleigh died or still lives is his tutor, Murray who happens to have taken a thumb-o-graph of young John before he was sent away to America to live with a distant relative.John wasn't the heir, but the black sheep of the family when he was packed off to Colorado via the spanking, new ocean liner, 'Titanic.' He was thought to have died when his ship sank on her maiden voyage, but after his older brother dies without issue, not one but two John Farnleighs show up within a year of each other to claim the family estate and title. The first one to appear marries John's childhood sweetheart and settles down to manage Farnleigh.Then up pops John Farnleigh #2, one of the competing heirs dies, and someone steals Murray's thumb-o-graph. The reader is beset with conflicting stories and clues, when Dr. Fell finally lumbers onto the scene with his shovel-hat, swirling cape, and crutch-headed cane. He figures out who killed whom right away, but the reader is left grasping at hints (some of them pretty darn subtle - I think Carr cheats a little on this mystery) until the final denouement, which involves that fateful night when the 'Titanic' went down.As always with this author, the eerie, suffocating atmosphere surrounding a mysterious death is tinged with an aura of the supernatural. "The Crooked Hinge" features devil worship and a horrible old eighteenth-century automaton called, 'The Golden Hag.' Her sinister appearances alone make this a novel worth savoring, and Carr also provides a meticulously plotted mystery (although I could do without a few of his great detective's tics and his refusal to blab out the name of the murderer as soon as he figures out whodunit. And what the dickens is a shovel-hat?)