Barbara R. (Crop4Fun) reviewed on + 1217 more book reviews
This omnibus volume contains the following unabridged mysteries, all star Carr's elephantine, shovel-hatted detective, Dr. Gideon Fell.:
To Wake the Dead;
The Blind Barber;
The Crooked Hinge;
The Case of the Constant Suicides,
"To Wake the Dead" (1938)- South African drunkenly bets a friend that he can travel from Capetown to London, on his own by Feb 1, without any money and without any aid except for his own wits. Murder ensues, as does the gargantuan Fell.
"The Blind Barber" (1934) - A shipboard mystery/comedy concerning the murder of a woman, whose body subsequently disappears, the loss of a valuable emerald, and recurrent assault and battery on the ship's captain by various blundering would-be detectives. This is the most blatantly farcical of all his books, with a lot of drunken shenanigans and a truly ditzy heroine. Fell does his detection from his arm chair, after the fact (smart man!).
"The Crooked Hinge" (1938)- John wasn't the heir, but the black sheep of the family when he was packed off to Colorado via the spanking, new ocean liner, 'Titanic.' He was thought to have died when his ship sank on her maiden voyage, but after his older brother dies without issue, not one but two John Farnleighs show up within a year of each other to claim the family estate and title. Could be subtitled "He doesn't have any legs!"
"The Case of the Constant Suicides" (1941) - in which Dr. Fell lays a Scottish ghost and investigates the mysterious death of old Angus Campbell. Was it was accident, suicide, or murder?
To Wake the Dead;
The Blind Barber;
The Crooked Hinge;
The Case of the Constant Suicides,
"To Wake the Dead" (1938)- South African drunkenly bets a friend that he can travel from Capetown to London, on his own by Feb 1, without any money and without any aid except for his own wits. Murder ensues, as does the gargantuan Fell.
"The Blind Barber" (1934) - A shipboard mystery/comedy concerning the murder of a woman, whose body subsequently disappears, the loss of a valuable emerald, and recurrent assault and battery on the ship's captain by various blundering would-be detectives. This is the most blatantly farcical of all his books, with a lot of drunken shenanigans and a truly ditzy heroine. Fell does his detection from his arm chair, after the fact (smart man!).
"The Crooked Hinge" (1938)- John wasn't the heir, but the black sheep of the family when he was packed off to Colorado via the spanking, new ocean liner, 'Titanic.' He was thought to have died when his ship sank on her maiden voyage, but after his older brother dies without issue, not one but two John Farnleighs show up within a year of each other to claim the family estate and title. Could be subtitled "He doesn't have any legs!"
"The Case of the Constant Suicides" (1941) - in which Dr. Fell lays a Scottish ghost and investigates the mysterious death of old Angus Campbell. Was it was accident, suicide, or murder?
