I've chosen to list separately John Dickson Carr's books featuring Sir Henry Merrivale published under his pseudonym Carter Dickson because, well, it's my game, so my rules.
I've always like these books a little better than the Gideon Fell books, probably because they tend to be a bit lighter and more fun than the Fell books. Just as Gideon Fell was modeled on G. K. Chesterton, Sir Henry Merrivale was modeled on Sir Winston Churchill. Corpulent, irascible, given to smoking cigars, this is the Churchill of the years between the war.
Having said that, Nine And Death Makes Ten reminded me of most of the things I don't like about Carr's books, mainly the lovely but brain-dead female characters who develop an irrational dislike of the viewpoint male character and end up falling in love with him at the last minute, amid the air of frenzied hysteria the characters express. The plot of this book, set on an ocean liner pressed into wartime service as a munitions transport with only nine civilian passengers aboard, strains credulity. Grade: C.
And So To Murder does much the same thing: young female author takes an irrational dislike to male detective novelist, ends up falling in love with him. Both characters are hired to write screenplays for a movie company, but someone on the premises apparently has it in for the young woman, first attempting to maim her with vitriol, then shoots at her. The murder device is another of Carr's tricky bits involving timing that again strains credulity. Grade: C.
I didn't find either of those books entertaining enough to ever want to read again, and when I picked up the next book, She Died A Lady, I remembered that I hadn't much liked it the first time I read it, so skipped it this time. I don't know what Carr had against women, but most of the murder victims in these three books are women. Not even giving this one a grade. I do remember like the next one on the list, so I'll move on to that one.
On the other hand, I've always liked The Curse of the Bronze Lamp, even though Sir Henry is over the top several times in this one. The supposed curse is on a bronze lamp discovered during the excavation of an Egyptian tomb by an expedition led by the Earl of Severn. One member of the expedition has already died, leading to speculation in the newspapers of a curse reminiscent of the experiences of the members of the expedition to excavate King Tut's tomb led by Lord Carnavon in the 1920s, ten years before this story is set. When the Earl's daughter, who is determined to scotch the rumors of a curse disappears, the rumors gain even more credence. It's up to Sir Henry to sort it all out. Grade: A.
A Graveyard To Let used to be on my OK list, but now I think it's slipped down to the ho-hum list. Again, the plot depends on the split second timing that would never come off in real life. Sir Henry is visiting an old friend, Frederick Manning, in New York who has invited him to witness a miracle. The miracle does come off, Manning dives fully clothed into a swimming pool and vanishes before HM's eyes. Later Manning is found barely alive from a gunshot wound in a nearby overgrown cemetery, and it's up to HM to sort it out before another attempt at murder comes off. Grade: C.
The Cavalier's Cup also used to be on the OK list, but also has slipped down. Once again, characters who have apparently taken a violent dislike to each other secretly admire each other, in this case a father-in-law and son-in-law. The mystery involves the failure of burglars to steal an ornate, gaudy, golden cup encrusted with precious stones that was created by the family in the Victorian era to commemorate an event that occurred centuries earlier during the English Civil War. The safe is burgled, the cup is left behind and nothing else is stolen. Again, it's up to Sir Henry to solve the mystery. Grade: C.
I was never very fond of Night At The Mocking Widow, and rereading it confirmed that low opinion. Sir Henry is lured to a small village to solve the riddle of who is sending poison pen letters to the local villagers; the letters have already triggered one suicide and shortly also lead to outright murder. Some parts of this one are fairly plausible, but I guess I'm just tired of Carr's manufactured hysteria. Grade: C.
Behind The Crimson Blind is another one that never quite worked for me, and didn't this time, either. Sir Henry is on an incognito trip to Tangier, where he is snared into trying to capture a brazen jewel thief known only as Iron Chest because of the decorated iron box he carries. Grade: C.
I don't know why Carr's female characters all have to be either brain-dead, hysterical sexpots or seemingly cold, aloof women only waiting for the right male to light their fires, but I'm tired of it. Enough of it, I'll keep the Bronze Lamp, but the rest of these are headed for the donation bin.