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CASTLE_SKULL

                                            July 5, 2004

The book "Castle Skull"
(1931) is responsible for
winning me over to the
side of John Dickson Carr.

Sure, I thought "The Blind
Barber" and "The Case of
the Inconstant Suicides"
were great when I was a
kid (excellent murder
farces), and in principle       When a mystery
I appreciated Carr's pose       novel "plays
of Fair Play.                   fair", the reader
                                is supposed to
                                always have a         Really, "fair play"
   But "Castle Skull",          chance at finding     isn't always quite so
   an early and                 the solution to       fair.  Carr's real
   superficially                the puzzle.           genius is to make it
   slight novel is                                    always *look* fair,
   what really grabbed                                to get you to buy
   me...  and set me                                  anything he wants to
   off on my current                                  sell you.
   craze.
                                                        "Oh, I guess that
      And what it's impressive for is                    makes sense.
      more what's not there, than what                   Wait a minute...
      is...                                              The killer's
                                                         accomplice was an
          This is like a "Scooby Doo" plot,              insane dwarf??!
          without the veneer of ironic                   *That's* the
          clowning to make it palatable                  solution???"
          to the modern (or post-modern)
          world.  Carr never winks at
          the audience, he *always* just
          plays it straight.

          Here we have the celebrated French
          detective, the elegant Bencolin,
          in competition with his German
          opposite number, the gruff Baron
          von Arnheim, investigating
          mysterious plots in a castle on
          the Rhine, which happens to look
          like a skull --

                  What, what are you
                  giggling about?

                      You wouldn't think
                      it was so funny if
                      *you* were confronted
                      by a flaming corpse
                      on the battlements
                      of Castle Skull.


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