The Gilded Man - Carter Dickson

Sheer chance led me to choose The Gilded Man as my final read for 2025. And waddya know? The book takes place on Dec 29-31, 1938 (even though it was published in 1942). In another neat coincidence as I was finishing up the book last night it began to snow.  We have about a half of inch covering the lawns and sidewalks (mostly still unshovelled) mirroring the final day in Carr's novel in which a heavy snowfall affects the plot in multiple incidents.

Like most of John Dickson Carr's murder mysteries this book has been covered by several vintage mystery bloggers and I won't go into great detail about the story. In essence it's primarily about a burglary that takes place during a house party, a tiresome cliche in detective fiction during the Golden Age, but in the hands of Carr and with the presence of Henry Merirvale you know you're going to get a lot of frothy farce and amusing incidents. This book is hardly tiresome.  It moves along at a clip, the action begins almost immediately with witty banter and a crucial scene involving two characters eavesdropping while completely unseen on two other characters.  That dialogue sequence pays a very important part in the plot.

The setting as well is pure Carr -- an immense four story mansion previously owned by a hedonistic, vain actress named Flavia Venner. She had a theater built on the top floor beneath the ornate cupola that tops the outside of the house. The architecture of the theater owes a lot to late 18th century theaters including two secret curtained booths called baignores (but spelled beignoir in the book). Nick Wood and Betty Stanhope are hidden in one of these curtained booths when they accidentally overhear the conversation between her father Dwight and his business partner Buller Naseby.

For a while it seems as if there will be no murder in this book. The burglar is stabbed but does not die.  He is dressed like a thief from a French silent movie - all in black with a mask covering his entire head. When the mask is removed they see the face of Dwight Stanhope. No one can believe that the man was burglarizing his own home and in the process of removing an El Greco painting from its ornate frame. We learn that his wife Cristabel wanted to have a masquerade party for New Year's Eve but her husband cannot abide dressing up of any kind and forbade her from staging such a party. Why then did he dress up as stereotypical cat burglar, break into his home, and attempt to remove the painting?

While Dwight Stanhope is recuperating Nick Wood makes sure that his bedroom is guarded so that when Stanhope is better and able to talk he can be questioned about who attacked him. Let's say that plan will not work out to Wood's advantage. When death occurs it is unnecessarily theatrical. Merrivale is astounded that the person who attempted to kill Stanhope would try again. Anyone would realize, Merrivale says, that an attempted murder would result in a punishment of only a few years while an actual murder is a capital offense and leads to the gallows. He is sure they are dealing with a vain individual.

Among the various puzzling elements of the burglary are footprints in the icy stone outside the French windows that forced to gain entry, some strange wounds on Stanhope's body and face that seem to indicate a person of small stature and lightweight physique stomped on him, scratches on some silver plates and bowls that were scattered around Stanhope's body, and a roll of adhesive tape with bloodstains on it. Other unusual clues include an oily saucer washed in a sink, a mini lesson in art history, and an offhand remark from the chauffeur who wants to see Merrivale perform the Indian rope trick. All of these clues and more are cleverly introduced into the story. Remarkably, all of them can be logically explained if one has been an assiduous reader. This is one of the Carr's most intricately laid out fair play detective novels with nearly all of the clues being front-loaded in the first three chapters. One remark in a casual conversation between Eleanor Stanhope (Betty's frivolous and sarcastic older sister), Christabel Stanhope, and Vincent James (a playboy athlete who Eleanor seems to be in love with) may be easily dismissed as fluffy chitchat. But no! It is in fact something that should be filed away because it comes back to play an important part in the final reveal.

The Merrivale books tend to show off Carr's love of slapstick and low comedy. Apart from The Punch and Judy Murders, an all out farce and probably Carr's most ridiculous detective novel, The Gilded Man is probably his second most successful mystery as a comic farce. It has several and laugh out loud funny moments from some slapstick with snowballs to Merrivale's blustery outbursts. We learn that Merrivale is adept at sleight of hand tricks as well as stage illusions. When the planned entertainment for NewYear's Eve - magician Ram Das Singh, aka the Great Kafoozalum - sends a telegram that he cannot make it due to the snowstorm Merrivale volunteers to be his substitute.  The resulting rehearsal and final performance make for some hilarious scenes. The magic show itself is a huge hit with the invited schoolchildren who make up most of the audience especially when one audience member who loudly spoils nearly every trick by loudly explaining the secrets receives a well-deserved comeuppance. I confess I roared with laughter.

Finally, I thought this was one of Carr's most cinematically written novels.  It would make a terrific movie and wouldn't need much adaptation because it reads as if it were a screenplay. There is one chapter in particular written as if it were a long parallel edited sequence showing five different characters in their bedrooms mulling over the preceding events all at the same time.  It was an excellent sequence which of course included five subtle clues to the solution to the various mysteries. The setting also cries out to be viewed, especially the theater where two crucial scenes take place and where the unveiling of the murderer takes place during which all riddles and puzzles are explained in full.

The Gilded Man is easily obtained in a variety of paperback and hardcovers from both US and UK publishers. I found close to 125 copies offered for sale from several online sellers and most of them are very cheap. While the book has not been reprinted since the US IPL paperback in 1988 I suspect it will turn up soon from one of the reprint houses. It certainly ought to be reprinted! It's one of the most fun reads in the Henry Merrivale series. A breezy read and thoroughly entertaining mystery novel. And it may be the only one that most readers will be able to figure out on their own.

FFB: The Dead Have No Friends - John Donavan

THE STORY:  Intensely disliked, but extremely popular and financially profitable, novelist Emmanuel Cortal is murdered in his unique glass enclosed writing studio.  There is only one entrance and it was locked from the inside. His death may at first seem to have been natural, but police find he has been poisoned with a highly unusual toxin. How was the administered when apparently no one went into the studio the night he died?

THE CHARACTERS: Although The Dead Have No Friends (1952) is by John Donavan Sergeant Johnny Lamb, Donavan's usual series detective is nowhere in sight.  Instead we have Chief Inspector Roger Newlyn, the son of a Marquis who is affectionately referred to as "the Dook" by the policeman on his team or as Mrs. Coker, the cook in the Cortal household, describes him " a reel haristocrat." Despite the deferential attitude of servants who address him as "my lord" and the perks he gets that come with his family name Newlyn would much prefer to be done with his inherited title and just be known as a policeman.  He's efficient,  likeable and very good at his job as are the men who serve under him. Though as prominent as his role is Newlyn surprisingly is not the one who solves the case. Figuring out the strange murder weapon, the way it was administered and the unveiling of the identity of the killer falls to someone else entirely.

That man is Benjamin Scarle, who we first get to know in a scene of outrageous bluster and pompous anger in the office of literary agent T. F. Rodder.  Scarle is a former police commissioner, now retired, and is a bit behind in turning in the manuscript of his memoir he was coaxed into writing. Contentious, opinionated, and formidable Scarle will remind detective fiction fans of similar larger the life sleuths as Sir Henry Merrivale, Professor Stubbs, and Simon Gale.

Cortal, of course, is also one of Rodder's clients and this is how Scarle becomes involved in the case.  Though he claims to be retired Benjamin Scarle is one of those policeman who will never give up his work. Often Scarle serves as a consultant in some of the more complex cases involving Scotland Yard.  Newlyn is quick to enlist his aid when he is told the coincidence of Cortal and Scarle being clients at the same literary agency.

I made a long list of characters because the first section of this novel, a scathing satire of literary workplaces, was overflowing with names and personalities.  None of the people at the Rodder agency is pertinent to the murder case other than T. F. Rodder himself.  I wasted an entire piece of paper making notes on the staff and their delightful eccentricities only to never read of many of them after the first three chapters. Nigel Morland, the writer behind the "John Donavan" pen name, clearly was having a lot of fun in poking fun at the world of agents, publishers and writers. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these characters were based on people he knew. Instead of eagerly scribbling down notes on the staff of the agency I should have just waited until the police started their murder investigation. For it is the Cortal household with its myriad servants, Cortal's soon-to-be ex-wife Vivien, his 12 year old son Tony, and actress paramour Gerda Heywood who are the real characters to pay attention to.

INNOVATIONS:  The murder scene, of course, is perhaps the most original element.  Cortal has built for himself a private sanctuary where he can be in isolation while he writes. Within the cavernous ballroom converted into a library of his Georgian mansion he has placed his transparent studio, an entirely glass-enclosed private domain where he can see anyone coming toward him on all sides. Thankfully we are given a beautifully drawn and labeled plan of Cortal's glass room-within-a-room that definitely helps the reader understand how impenetrable it appears to be.

 

But in addition to the odd murder setting Morland adds clueing about the door of the ballroom's main entry which leads to the glass encased writing studio.  One of the maids has a great scene where she mentions the clicking of the door handle. She has exceptionally acute hearing and has always been aware of the odd noise which reverberates through the nearly deserted floor where the ballroom and studio are located.  Much is made of this and Newlyn sensing the young woman's sincere attitude and resolute testimony has his team investigate the door. They determine that the clicking sound only occurs when someone leaves the room. One brilliantly observant cop even shows Newlyn exactly how it makes the noise. This bit of info is crucial to eliminating possible suspects among the list of those who visited the ballroom just prior to Cortal's death.  The whole book is filled with excellent details like the "mystery of the clicking door" in helping the police determine who could have killed Cortal.

Also notable is Cortal's weird museum of African artifacts and medieval weaponry, a hodgepodge of dangerous objects that were left in an unlocked room. I was reminded of the many similar scenes from the crime museum in Isabel Ostrander's The Twenty-Six Clues to the collection of skulls in Freeman's The Uttermost Farthing all the way up to the prominently displayed weapon collection that features in the climax of the recent movie Knives Out.

Much of The Dead Have No Friends reminded me of a classic Agatha Christie novel. The multiple Golden Age motifs and conventions continued to pile up and delighted me the deeper I got into the book. A convoluted will with a cruel legacy, an actress who does more acting in real life than on stage, a murder mystery novel ghost written by one of the suspects, minor characters who seem to be thrown in only to  entertain the reader but who prove to be most important of all -- all of these elements make The Dead Have No Friends a corker of a murder mystery. Morland was always a thriller writer first and foremost, and he cannot resist adding a hair-rising climax worthy of the cinema. It's so well done that I found myself gasping in awe but moreso for it being highly reminiscent of the finale of one of Christie's best mysteries.

QUOTES:  Wessex Street on a Sunday forenoon has a peculiar air, like an old lady in a tube subway waiting for somebody to tell her where to go.

A typical outburst from Benjamin Scarle: "Hell's bell, Malcolm, you're a nasty-minded chap! Don't stare at me like a recalcitrant bacteria, startin' revolutions on a culture plate."

"Your mental dexterity is only equaled by your appalling audacity."

The English worship old customs, colourful anachronisms, and self-opinionated old men with original ways.

Scarle was not a psychic man: he had that quality of all real thinkers, in that he could parade invisible people before him and survey them from a godlike peak, guided by understanding and insight blessed with the incisive, merciless qualities of a scalpel. As the actors in the tragedy...passed before him each was dissected neatly, as if the heart was cut open and its secrets betrayed.

"'Turns out well'?" Scarle waved. "My dear chap, I'm takin' over, aren't I? That's an assurance of success."

EDGAR WALLACE ALLUSIONS:  Morland was Edgar Wallace's protege and friend. His early books were dedicated to Wallace and are modeled on his style of thriller with policemen as protagonists and not an amateur sleuth in sight.  Morland also claimed to be his secretary. Wallace is mentioned two separate times in this book. First, in a faint allusion that only a few might catch. Cortal is described as posing with a cigarette in an extremely long holder "copied from a long dead and still unforgotten writer of detective stories who had been loved as Cortal never would be."  The second time Wallace is directly mentioned when the investigation uncovers the ghost written novel The Pliny Problem. Rodder, the literary agent says: "Don't you recall how people used to say that Edgar Wallace had hacks to write his books? I knew E.W. well and I can assure you it was fatuous nonsense."  A clear case of Morland inserting himself into the narrative.

THINGS I LEARNED:  The Yost Typewriter is mentioned in a throwaway line and of course I needed to look it up.  Named after its inventor George Washington Yost it is one of the earliest typewriters, created in the last decade of the 19th century. An early ad proclaimed its original features: "No ribbon, direct printing, permanent alignment." As for the remarkable lack of ribbon here is how that worked according to an article at Antiquetypewriters.com: "Inking is done by a felt pad positioned in a full circle around the top of the tower where the type-bars rest. The type-bars travel an intricate half-flip upwards to reach the platen and then are channeled, by an inverse pyramid shaped guide hole, to strike the platen in exactly the same spot every time, giving the accurate alignment that Yost demanded."

I learned all about Acokanthera schimperi a plant indigenous to eastern Africa. Its bark wood and roots are used to make an arrow poison as well as being used in tribal medicines.

SUMMARY:  Written in 1952 and seemingly very modern The Dead Have No Friends simultaneously seems like a retro Golden Age book.  It may have been written years before and sat around waiting for the right time for Morland to submit it. The only sign that it is a later work is his more mature approach to characterization, the moral nature of the resolution, and the focus on psychology which was one of his main interests in the last half of his writing career.  I found little in his writing to arouse my irritation like xenophobic or ethnic slurs, misogyny or any of his other sins for which he has been derided.  The locked room puzzle, the clever murder method, the clues that lead to the solution, the abundance of suspects and motives -- all of this is redolent of the good ol' days of pure detection.  In fact, of all the Morland books I've read, whether under his real name or a pseudonym, I will concede that this is perhaps the best of the lot. As seen on the final page to the left (no spoilers at all in the bittersweet final paragraphs, BTW) the publisher promised more adventures from the thoroughly enjoyable Benjamin Scarle. Sadly, nothing ever came of that. The Dead Have No Friends is his first and only appearance.

It's a shame that this fine book is so ridiculously scarce. Purchased a few months ago my copy is the first I have seen in over 45 years of collecting and reading vintage crime fiction. This is one to add to the list of Must Be Reprinted titles. Here's hope that some enterprising publisher stumbles across this post and takes up the challenge.

FFB: My Late Wives - Carter Dickson

"If there's any flumdiddling of the police to be done, I'm the one to do it."

--Sir Henry Merrivale in My Late Wives

There is a lot of flumdiddling and farcical doings amid the criminal mischief and baffling murders in My Late Wives (1946), Carter Dickson's follow-up to the infamous The Curse of the Bronze Lamp.  I say infamous because in that book Dickson included a kind of twist that I consider something of a cheat in a murder mystery.  The rear panel on the DJ for My Late Wives hints that Dickson has surpassed the impossibilities of his previous book.  Did he really write a better mystery?

The story is pure fancy, one that could only take place in the pages of a detective novel. We learn that someone has written a play based on the life of a murderer and sent the script to a well known actor. His friend and colleague, Beryl West, would love to direct the play even though it may be libelous but it has a weak ending. The play is based on the life of Roger Bewlay, a known multiple murderer who killed and disposed of the bodies of his four wives. The requisite Dicksonian impossibility appears in the last murder. Bewlay managed to murder his wife in a house watched by two policemen and witnessed by another woman outside. But when the police broke into the house there was no sign of a murder and no body. What happened to the murder victim? And what happened to all the other bodies of his dead wives?

Bruce Ransom, the actor who receives the play, is challenged by Beryl to act out in real life the part and test the weak ending of the play. He is to pretend to be Roger Bewlay, court a young woman and all the while let slip that he is a wife killer and let that spread throughout the town. Then just as the girl is ready for Bruce to ask her to marry him he reveals that everything is a sham. He's really an actor and he's not a murderer at all, that it's all research for an upcoming play.  Crazily enough, Ransom accepts the challenge and the story takes off like gangbusters.

Enter Sir Henry Merrivale explosively. Literally. He makes his appearance in this novel accompanied by his Scottish golf instructor in an amusement arcade which he manages to destroy in one of Dickson's usual over-the-top low comedy sequences. As extreme as it was I burst out laughing. I guess I needed a dose of Three Stooges style nonsense that day. The book is filled with these usual blustery Merrivale escapades. A silly fight on a golf course and the following argument initially seem like filler, but will have greater significance in the final pages. However, it's one of the least clever bits of misdirection in the book, one that led me to the solution of how Roger Bewlay's victims were disposed of.

Merrivale is not really onstage all that much and that is part of the problem with the book. Though he gives a lot of advice to Dennis, Beryl's lawyer friend, and drops hints that he knows the real Roger Bewlay has shown up in the town where Bruce is doing his play-acting/research he does not really solve the case. Dickson allows the actor to have a melodramatic confrontation with the killer that might as well have taken place in a theater while Merrivale, Dennis and Beryl watch in an adjoining room. Bruce nearly is done in by the maniac and Merrivale steps in at the eleventh hour to stop one last murder.

The plot is difficult to summarize since the playscript, the story of Roger Bewlay's life of crime, and Bruce Ransom's "research" all intersect and overlap as the novel progresses. There are multiple mysteries to solve and it got a little dizzying for me as Merrivale tried to explain to Dennis and Beryl how he knew Bewlay committed all his wife murders, knew where the bodies were hidden and hinted at one more murder that might take place. Of course it does occur and both Denis and Beryl are devastated that they could have prevented it if only Merrivale hadn't been so damned ambiguous.

Such is the world of John Dickson Carr and Carter Dickson. His plots are all fancy and contrivance.  Who would ever write a play based on a murderer's real crimes, divulging previously undisclosed evidence, and then send it to an actor? Wouldn't someone just call the police and tell them what they knew? Asking questions like this when reading a book by Carter Dickson or John Dickson Carr is futile. You must surrender to his fantastical plots and absurdities or the book can never be enjoyed for the baffling puzzle it ought to be.

*  *  *

This counts as another book on my Golden Age Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge bingo card.  I've counted it as space G6 ("A Book Set in the Entertainment World").  I seem to be doing this haphazardly with no intention of trying to get a Bingo line, right?  But there is indeed a method to my reading selections. Solve that mystery if you can!

Death in Five Boxes - Carter Dickson

Here's another greatly under appreciated book in the Sir Henry Merrivale series.  This has -- flat out -- the best opening of any of the books in the series. The first three chapters whiz by and are as action-filled as one of the dizzying comic book hero movies that are flooding the cinemas these days.  A young girl runs out of the rainy darkness into the arms of a passing doctor, pleading with him to go inside the building across the street and rescue her father only to discover a roomful of drugged people and one stabbed corpse. Oh, and I shouldn't forget the bloodstained umbrella-cum-swordstick that comes bouncing down the staircase as the two race up before they even set foot in the room. You just can't stop reading there, can you?  Of course not.

And there are impossible situations in abundance here.  Who drugged the guests in Felix Hayes home?  How was the poison administered when the cocktail shaker that contained most of the drinks had not a trace of poison in it?  How did the murderer escape the building when the rear entrance was locked?  What is the meaning of the five boxes sent to a lawyer's office that were then stolen only a day later?  There are these and many other puzzles that will baffle even the most astute reader.

In the process of unraveling all the baffling elements of the crime and the discoveries at the scene of the crime it is learned that the four drugged guests found in Felix Hayes' apartment all have one thing in common - they apparently have all committed a crime that escaped detection and prosecution. Was Hayes blackmailing them all and did one of them do him in to prevent the secret form being publicized?  It's a bit more complicated than simple blackmail.

I would count this book as one of Top 10 of the Carter Dickson books.  I'm surprised not much is written about it.  I found it to be a perfect example of what Carr/Dickson did so well. Create an impossible situation, complicate it with lots of odd behavior, throw in numerous red herring bizarreness and deliver a walloping surprise. Yes, I gasped.  I was reminded of my stunned reaction to Ellery Queen's The Greek Coffin Mystery. It's a corker for sure.

And just for the heck of it below this paragraph is the cover of the Belmont Tower reissue paperback version of Death in Five Boxes.  The illustrations have absolutely NOTHING to do with the story.  I'm positive this publisher lifted their artwork from other books and slapped it on their books without regard to the story's content. There is no bearded men with a German Luger. There is no Gothic looking castle. What are those five ghostly figures loating beneath the castle? Are they children? Mannequins? Dead bodies?  If you own this copy and have yet to read it rest assured the cover is one huge illustrated non sequitar.

The Reader Is Warned - Carter Dickson

Sir Henry Merrivale has no patience for frauds. But he's up against a singularly delusional fraud in The Reader is Warned. Herman Pennik is a self-professed mind reader who believes that he has harnessed a new power he calls Teleforce. He claims that he can kill by thought alone. At the home of Mina and Sam Constable Pennik promises he will put to test his powers with a fatal experiment. At around eight o'clock that night his host Sam drops dead. No other cause than literally dropping dead can be found. It seems that Pennik managed to pull off his experiment with the expected deadly result. Merrivale and the reader know better. There is a fiendish murderer loose in the house taking advantage of the supposed power of the charlatan.

The power of a mind reader really lies in a face to face confrontation. Reading about someone who claims to read another character's mind is not as impressive as an utter stranger telling you in person what you happen to be thinking. The pronouncement of one's private thoughts is not only invasive but I imagine can be a personal shock. But does the telling alone of an exchange between mind reader and his mark have as great an effect as one in real life? I was dubious how Dickson could pull it off.  Little did I expect how Dickson would exploit the mind reading claim and turn Pennik into the most fascinating character in the book. I was waiting for him to trip himself up and for Merrivale, Dr. Sanders and the irascible Inspector Masters to expose him, but Dickson took the story into another realm. As the story progresses Pennik goes through a metamorphosis of sorts from a mildly amusing charlatan to creepy cocktail party entertainer and finally megalomaniacal avenger. Pennik even takes his story to the radio airwaves and newspapers. The story takes place in 1939.  Hitler is also in the news. The idea of killing by thought alone captures the imaginations of a populace already feeling the threat of imminent war. Soon the entire country seems to be caught up in a paranoia of the terror of Teleforce.

Here is yet another of the ingenious impossible crime novels in which howdunit seems to be far more important than whodunit. In the case of the two deaths in The Reader Is Warned there is the added mystery of whydunit. Both deaths appear utterly motiveless. I began to think that Dickson was using the most unusual of motives also employed by Agatha Christie in her brilliant theatrical detective novel Murder in Three Acts. But I was to be proved wrong. Of course.

Clues are abundant in this book, but I challenge any reader to spot the correct ones. As an example, there is an instance in which Dr Sanders knocks a glass off of a space heater in a room. This is mentioned about five times in the course of the narrative and I knew it was significant. But I spent too much time focused on the broken glass and completely missed the real significance of the repeated mention of the accident. It's a prime example of the mastery of misdirection that is prevalent not only in this baffling novel, but nearly all of the Merrivale books from his best period.