A review by leandrathetbrzero
The Eight of Swords by John Dickson Carr

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The quiet normalcy of the country estate known as The Grange has recently been disturbed with reports even reaching Scotland Yard of odd encounters and a bishop off his rocker. Within a twenty-four hour period, the bishop was seen sliding down the banister like a child, a poltergeist attacked one of the houseguests with an inkbottle, and Mr. Depping – the estate’s tenant over in the Guest House – has been found with a bullet in his head. This is a case full of tangled, contradictory accounts and a good number of people attempting to play detective. Some are found to be more qualified than others. One of these detectives is the well-known Dr. Gideon Fell, a lexicographer by trade whose appreciation for improbable crimes matches his interest in the beer-drinking habits of the English people throughout history. An absolute delightful and chaotic cozy mystery!

John Dickson Carr’s The Eight of Swords was my introduction to the American mystery author, and the experience leaves me wanting more. I loved Carr’s cast of characters, emphasis on characters; the humor infused in the narrative and the various characters’ mannerisms were such good fun! I think it gave me an interesting view into Carr himself, his personality and his life philosophies, especially since there was an emphasis on the fact that in America at the time Prohibition was still actively in place, and all of the characters seemed grateful they were in England.

I appreciated the attention to details like character and setting description as both of these departments are typically lacking in Golden Age detection fiction titles. Above all, though, I must admit that I am a sucker for any book that participates in metafiction, as if the characters themselves are self-aware that they exist within a detective story. It helps that one of the “detectives” is a mystery writer named Henry Morgan, and his comments on what makes a mystery probable or not are just brilliant. A solid, wildly entertaining mystery! And my first of 2022!!