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CASTLE_SKULL

                                            July 5, 2004
   
The book "Castle Skull" is       
more than any other is         
probably 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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