Cavalier's Cup

John Dickson Carr excelled at creating "impossible" crimes and then explaining how they occurred. To enjoy Carr's mysteries, you must like puzzles that have intricate solutions, and not mind that a few aspects may be difficult to follow. While Carr's solutions are clever, these mysteries were written in the 1930s to 1950s, so there may be an occasional clue that doesn't hold up in today's CSI era. Though some will disagree, Carr's most entertaining mysteries are those that feature Sir Henry Merrivale (written under the name Carter Dickson). THE CAVALIER'S CUP is the 22nd and last Sir Henry Merrivale mystery. The windows and door of a room are found to be locked and bolted from the inside, yet an intruder somehow entered during the night and moved a valuable cup but didn't steal it. The solution is unusual, clear, and logical, albeit somewhat less awesome than other H.M. cases. It's best to read this concluding H.M. mystery after having read the others. TCC is a change of pace that is more difficult to appreciate if you read it first; it's a very funny and somewhat bawdy farce, like a Marx Brothers movie referred to in the story. Some material refers to previous stories. And the light-hearted ending is an ideal way to bring the H.M. saga to a close. (Note: Nothing in TCC indicates that it was planned to be the last H.M. mystery; it just turned out that way.) If you're a newcomer to H.M., read the mysteries in the order in which they were published. Or start with one of these: "The Curse of the Bronze Lamp," "Nine--And Death Makes Ten," "He Wouldn't Kill Patience," "A Graveyard to Let," "She Died A Lady."

An entertaining change of direction for Carter Dickson's irascible sleuth, Sir Henry Merrivale. It is a typically ingenious and baffling locked-room mystery centering on the fabulously valuable goblet of the title, and why a thief should NOT have stolen it when he had the chance; but for the most part, it resembles P.G. Wodehouse or possibly the Marx Brothers, as Dickson indulges himself in the manner of country-house farce. This is good fun on all levels. Those who have never read Dickson before should know that John Dickson Carr, the man behind the psedonym, ranks with Christie and Marsh among the greats of the golden-age detective novel, and was arguably more versatile than either. His speciality was the locked-room or 'impossible' crime, and he created two memorable detectives in Merrivale and the Chestertonian Dr. Gideon Fell. The latter stars in The Hollow Man (or in the US, The Three Coffins), one of his best.