FIRST BOOKS: Death Whispers - Joseph B. Carr

THE STORY:  Jennifer Crump, RN is hired to care for Roderick Myncheon who is recuperating from a car accident that has left him with a fractured skull and contusions. Within hours of starting her new job Myncheon is shot dead in his bedroom.  It's a somewhat impossible crime for there are two people near the victim's bed when the shot is fired yet neither could have fired the gun. And no gun is found in the room. It seems that someone from outside the house fired the gun then escaped by climbing down a tree near the bedroom window. But no one is seen when they look for the shooter. And no footprints are found below the tree. Almost instantly Oceola Archer, private detective, appears on the scene. He has been hired to look into some missing money and he fortuitously steps in to investigate the murder. Before Archer can unmask the sly killer one of the Mycheons will disappear, an attempted murder will take place, and one more death will occur.

THE CHARACTERS:  Death Whispers (1933) is the debut of Joseph B. Carr's "gargantuan gourmand" Oceloa Archer, a private detective clearly modeled on Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale.  The DJ blurb describes him as Falstaffian and that is no hyperbole. Archer is tall and obese, and is indulgent in several ares of his life other than eating and drinking. He is sly, witty, and ironically genteel in spite of his tendency to be flippant and irreverent. He has an assistant named Bagshot (affectionately nicknamed Baggy by his employer) who tries his best to beat Archer to the solution early in the novel. But Bagshot is no match for Archer who whips up a surprising early solution of his own. Turns out to be a practical joke  intended to embarrass his assistant and put him in his place.

The Mycheon household is composed of a gaggle of oddball relatives all of whom seem eager for Roderick to die from his wounds from the accident. But one of them seems to have been impatient and sent him to a quick grave with the aid of a well aimed bullet to his head. Was it his daughter Patricia, nephew Ralph, niece Elise, family lawyer Cunningham, great aunt Ankerett, estranged daughter Eunice or her weak-minded husband the Honorable Richard Whittlesey? Or perhaps someone altogether unknown who has managed to infiltrate the house and is hiding out in some hidden area of Lichen House. Archer and Miss Crump end up working together alongside the manipulative policeman Inspector Trask.

In addition to a murder prowling around Lichen house some burglars are roaming in the area. Carr livens the proceedings with Archer's utterly unorthodox techniques in detection and his tendency to belittle everyone. Like so many fictional detectives he has a wide and arcane knowledge. He shows off about cigar tobacco, ballistics, gun manufacturing, and poisonous medications. 

Miss Crump is interestingly made the primary character from whose point of view we experience everything. If Miss Crump is not in the scene we know nothing. So when Archer is away with Bagshot digging into everyone's past and their belongings we follow Miss Crump who has her own indulgence -- she is an eavesdropper. The first time it occurs by accident but she picks up such provocative conversational tidbits that she cannot avoid trying it again purposefully when she hides in a curtained alcove to listen in on some of the suspects private exchanges.

ATMOSPHERE:  Carr not only seems to have been inspired by John Dickson Carr's detectives he has imbued his mystery novel with a gloomy and creepy Gothic atmosphere highly reminiscent of his namesake's mystery novels. The Mycheon house is dubbed Lichen House, almost a near parody of a Gothic mansion. In the final third of the book the Old Dark House vibe definitely kicks in with the discovery of architectural anomalies, secret passages, and other Gothic trappings. And with character names like Ankerett and Eldered, and surnames of Byx, Fream and Mycheon it is clear that Carr wants this world to be unusual if not thoroughly weird. At one point the ancient great aunt Ankerett Myncheon threatens Archer with a perfume atomizer filled with prussic acid. Definitely a weirdly Gothic touch!

QUOTES:  "I do call myself a poet, and as long as I do, I am. Why I knew a man who mixed up one night when he was tiddly, and said that God was a perfectly working piece of machinery. The next morning he began calling himself a philosopher, and has ever since."

"To tell you the truth"--Archer wore an air of humility-- "I'm sort of a slap-bang worker. My usual method is to come round after the murder and play a few practical jokes. The person who shows no surprise--that's the murderer. Or at least he's been up to something."

As she herself would has admitted, Miss Crump's talents were few; but her qualities were sterling, and well to the fore among them was an indomitable courage. 

The scene was not one calculated to inspire courage. The little chamber seemed filled with writhing cobwebs and v floating particles, set in motion by the first passage of air in a generation. The odor was that of a myriad scavenging rats. The walls seemed to bear down on them from every side, things of form without color, having all the unreality and grotesquerie of an old woodcut. 

Feb 1, 1932 issue

THINGS I LEARNED: Lichen House was at one time featured in Spur as "one of the most genuinely beautiful places in New England."  I figured this was some sort of magazine. I was right. The Spur (to give its accurate name) was founded in the United States in 1904 as an equestrian culture and hunting magazine before it eventually evolved into a luxury lifestyle photojournal. Certainly not to be confused with contemporary similarly named magazines like a fashion magazine based in Japan or the Australian university magazine, The Spur covered everything considered highbrow. One issue from 1933 I found for sale online includes features on polo, yachting, hunting dogs, European travel, art museums and theater. In the late 1930s the magazine had the tagline "A Magazine of the Good Things in Life".  The journal merged into Arts & Decoration in August 1940 and continued into early 1941 before it ceased publication entirely.

When Ralph Fream is questioned by Inspector Trask as to his whereabouts when the shot was fired he replies, "I was playing piquet in the butler's pantry."  Some kind of card game, I thought. Indeed it is! Piquet is a trick-taking card game for two players that dates back to the 16th century and became highly popular during the mid-19th century. The game uses a 32 card deck comprised of all suits with 7, 8, 9, 10, J, K, Q, and Aces only. Each player is dealt 12 cards and the remaining eight are placed face down on the table. Goal is to gain highest score by making card combinations and winning tricks. Any player with no face cards in their initial hand can declare Carte Blanche and win 10 points instantly.  Full rules are outlined here.

EASY TO FIND?  A handful of copies of Death Whispers turn up for sale from online dealers, a mix of Viking Press editions (the 1st US) and Grosset & Dunlap reprints. Remarkably nearly all of them are priced at $45 or less. Some are G&D reprints with a DJ that is a duplicate of the 1st US edition DJ.  Only one true 1st US edition is offered and not surprisingly is priced at $300. Happy hunting!