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A review by nnecatrix
The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson
4.0
Book #32 for 2017
Follow the Clues: Trail #1, Clue #10
Mt TBR #12
Old Firehouse Books Summer Bingo Square: A Book That Is More Than 10 Years Old
Personal Challenge: A book about a haunted building
PopSugar Challenge (max. 3):
- A book that is a story within a story
- A book by an author who uses a pseudonym
- The first book in a series you haven't read before
Read Harder Challenge: A book published between 1900 & 1950
Better World Books: A book set in a place you want to visit (London)
Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt: a bird
This was the first book in the Sir Henry Merrivale series, but it's interesting that early covers did not recognize that and instead listed Masters as the detective. Indeed, Masters does a huge amount of detecting -- and not a terrible job of it, either -- before we even meet Merrivale, who kind of swoops in and, after getting his bearings, saves the day. So you might say that the pacing of the book is a bit awkward.
I'm rather proud of myself for picking up on an important piece of the scheme (which Masters totally missed) that enabled me to stay a half-step ahead of the solution for almost the entire book. Almost. I do have to admit that the actual murder method didn't occur to me, as I am a little too accustomed to modern ideas of thoroughness in post mortem exams. Still, very clever obfuscation and another example of why John Dickson Carr was considered the master of the locked-room mystery.
I enjoyed the Gothic details sprinkled throughout for gruesome effect. Going back and forth between the 20th-century investigation and the 17th-century ghost tale was quite effective. I found it particularly interesting to look up the locations as best I could, as quite a bit of it took place in my old stamping grounds, and then it was fun to overlay the locations in [b:The Dark Days Club|15993203|The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen, #1)|Alison Goodman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439928937s/15993203.jpg|21750762] to see what matched up there as well.
Despite some flaws, this story held together quite well, and I'd recommend it to any fan of locked-room puzzles or anybody looking for a Golden Age police procedural.
Follow the Clues: Trail #1, Clue #10
Mt TBR #12
Old Firehouse Books Summer Bingo Square: A Book That Is More Than 10 Years Old
Personal Challenge: A book about a haunted building
PopSugar Challenge (max. 3):
- A book that is a story within a story
- A book by an author who uses a pseudonym
- The first book in a series you haven't read before
Read Harder Challenge: A book published between 1900 & 1950
Better World Books: A book set in a place you want to visit (London)
Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt: a bird
This was the first book in the Sir Henry Merrivale series, but it's interesting that early covers did not recognize that and instead listed Masters as the detective. Indeed, Masters does a huge amount of detecting -- and not a terrible job of it, either -- before we even meet Merrivale, who kind of swoops in and, after getting his bearings, saves the day. So you might say that the pacing of the book is a bit awkward.
I'm rather proud of myself for picking up on an important piece of the scheme (which Masters totally missed) that enabled me to stay a half-step ahead of the solution for almost the entire book. Almost. I do have to admit that the actual murder method didn't occur to me, as I am a little too accustomed to modern ideas of thoroughness in post mortem exams. Still, very clever obfuscation and another example of why John Dickson Carr was considered the master of the locked-room mystery.
I enjoyed the Gothic details sprinkled throughout for gruesome effect. Going back and forth between the 20th-century investigation and the 17th-century ghost tale was quite effective. I found it particularly interesting to look up the locations as best I could, as quite a bit of it took place in my old stamping grounds, and then it was fun to overlay the locations in [b:The Dark Days Club|15993203|The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen, #1)|Alison Goodman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439928937s/15993203.jpg|21750762] to see what matched up there as well.
Despite some flaws, this story held together quite well, and I'd recommend it to any fan of locked-room puzzles or anybody looking for a Golden Age police procedural.