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Post by valdemar on May 23, 2012 1:15:19 GMT
The master of the 'Locked Room' mystery. I had quite forgotten about him, until I got stuck into the latest issue [288] of Fortean Times, where there is an article, complete with two great cover illustrations. I have only read a couple of his tales - 'The Case Of The Constant Suicides', and 'The Hollow Man' [great evocative titles, eh?], and remember enjoying their convolutedness [if that's not a word - sorry]. I would very much like to read some more. Anybody know if there are any volumes of his collected work available? Or is he sadly quite forgotten? He doesn't deserve to be.  |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on May 23, 2012 1:51:19 GMT
I would very much like to read some more. Anybody know if there are any volumes of his collected work available? Or is he sadly quite forgotten? He doesn't deserve to be. The only story of his I've read is "The House in Goblin Wood," anthologized in Marvin Kaye's Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural. I'm curious about his other work, however, particularly the novels The Burning Court and The Devil in Velvet. The 1960s Bantam paperback covers for those two are evocative-looking. |
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Post by dem on May 23, 2012 11:23:16 GMT
i've only read a few of his more macabre offerings - the Christmas ghost story Blind Man's Hood, gruesome murder mystery Vampire Tower (aka Terror’s Dark Tower, and the aforementioned The House in Goblin Wood. Had a brilliant time with each of them, but for some reason it's taken me an age to get around to this beauty. Maybe once i'm done with that other dark master of his game, Shaun Hutson .... John Dickson Carr - He Who Whispers (Bantam, Nov. !957: originally 1946) Was it a vampire that killed two people and frightened another to death. And did a lovely young woman have monstrous, unnatural powers? |
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Post by doug on May 23, 2012 18:16:51 GMT
i've only read a few of his more macabre offerings - the Christmas ghost story Blind Man's Hood, gruesome murder mystery Vampire Tower (aka Terror’s Dark Tower, and the aforementioned The House in Goblin Wood. Had a brilliant time with each of them, but for some reason it's taken me an age to get around to this beauty. Maybe once i'm done with that other dark master of his game, Shaun Hutson .... John Dickson Carr - He Who Whispers (Bantam, Nov. !957: originally 1946) Was it a vampire that killed two people and frightened another to death. And did a lovely young woman have monstrous, unnatural powers?That's one of those covers that shouts "buy and read me!!" Take care. Doug |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 23, 2012 18:53:27 GMT
I'm curious about his other work, however, particularly the novels The Burning Court and The Devil in Velvet. The 1960s Bantam paperback covers for those two are evocative-looking. THE BURNING COURT offers marvels such as a murder committed by a ghost who is seen to walk through a wall. It all has a rational explanation, of course. Or does it? The ending is controversial among fans of Golden Age mystery fiction. THE DEVIL IN VELVET is one of the 10 or 15 novels of his that I have not yet read. But Carr is generally excellent. His early novels featuring Henri Bencolin, such as CASTLE SKULL and THE LOST GALLOWS, have a heavier gothic atmosphere than the later ones. One of my personal favorites is THE ARABIAN NIGHTS MURDER, which while not particularly gothic in flavor is marvelously entertaining. |
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Post by andydecker on May 23, 2012 20:02:19 GMT
THE DEVIL IN VELVET is one of the 10 or 15 novels of his that I have not yet read. He wrote, what? 100 novels? I am impressed. I started a very nice edition of The Hollow Man twice and couldn´t get into it which I regreted. I mean, it is THE locked room novel. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 23, 2012 20:17:49 GMT
He wrote, what? 100 novels? I am impressed. He wrote 80 novels, I think. This would be a remarkable achievement for any author, but Carr in addition essentially never recycled any of his solutions. And in THE HOLLOW MAN, of course, the famous "Locked-Room Lecture" is a lengthy list of fine solutions that, by disclosing them, he is nonchalantly committing never to use. What a guy. |
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Post by ramseycampbell on May 24, 2012 7:48:55 GMT
THE DEVIL IN VELVET is one of the 10 or 15 novels of his that I have not yet read. He wrote, what? 100 novels? I am impressed. I started a very nice edition of The Hollow Man twice and couldn´t get into it which I regreted. I mean, it is THE locked room novel. You might give The Plague Court Murders a shot - that's pretty compelling and certainly atmospheric. |
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Post by valdemar on May 29, 2012 8:18:58 GMT
Here's an odd thing - I was looking through the BBC Radio 4 website the other day, looking for a comedy show I'd missed, so that I could use the 'Listen Again' function so that I could unmiss it, as it were, and saw a tag for a show last Monday which was about 'Locked Room' mysteries, featuring of course, the works of John Dickson Carr. I hadn't thought about his work for years, when along comes an article in Fortean Times, and a show on Radio 4. I caught the show with only a couple of hours until it expired, and enjoyed it very much. I was very pleased to hear mention of 'The Mammoth Book Of Locked Room Murders'. I shall try and get a copy as soon as possible. ;D
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Post by ramseycampbell on May 29, 2012 9:37:59 GMT
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 31, 2012 14:49:10 GMT
I think that is just a typical IMDb error. Carr is not credited in the film itself, where it says "Screenplay by John Gilling, original story Francis Searle." |
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sara
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 69
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Post by sara on Jun 12, 2012 23:56:24 GMT
I’ve not read anything by John Dickson Carr but lots of people have recommended him to me as a writer worth getting into, so I might give this one a go soon - Berkley Edition April 1960. Castle Skull has been on my ‘to read’ list since I picked this up at Zardoz last year. I also really like this artist’s take on the traditional gothic romance cover. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Sept 18, 2012 0:09:47 GMT
THE BURNING COURT offers marvels such as a murder committed by a ghost who is seen to walk through a wall. It all has a rational explanation, of course. Or does it? The ending is controversial among fans of Golden Age mystery fiction. I finally got around to reading The Burning Court and enjoyed it quite a bit, particularly the witchcraft theme. The best description I can think of is "locked room mystery meets Montague Summers." I loved the ending (I'm not much of a mystery novel purist). John Dickson Carr - The Burning Court (Bantam, 1963; originally 1937)Bantam did some great covers for their Carr books. The one above helped inspire me to buy the book. I also like the one that Dem posted above, as well the ones for The Witch of the Low Tide and The Devil in Velvet. |
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Post by valdemar on Mar 12, 2014 19:59:18 GMT
I have recently acquired the first series of the BBC series 'Jonathan Creek', and have enjoyed re-acquainting myself with the show. Watching one of the bonus features, I was pleased that the show's creator, David Renwick, acknowledged the works of John Dickson Carr, as well as the 'Father Brown' stories by GK Chesterton, as the basis for the show. Seeing again the ingenuity of the show, and the quality of the writing, someone should step up, and produce a series of John Dickson Carr shows.
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Post by thecoffinflies on Mar 17, 2014 15:47:31 GMT
I have a Carter Dickson novel, Lord Of The Sorcerers, which has a particularly satisfying explanation that wouldn't work in a film but works in a book and probably would work in real life.
I don't know why he sometimes used the pseudonym...is there a different remit for Carter Dickson as opposed to Dickson Carr?
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