OK, let’s get this out of the way: Carter Dickson, aka John Dickson Carr, is my favourite Golden Age detective story writer. For me, he was better than Christie, Queen, Sayers and Stout, love them all though I do. And She Died A Lady is a superbly clever and brilliantly crafted example of his skill and ingenuity – and here’s why, with nary a spoiler in sight!
“Mrs Wainright and Mr Sullivan walked out to the edge of that cliff, and they didn’t come back.”
I submit this review for Bev’s Golden Age Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt; and Friday’s Forgotten Books meme run by Patti Abbott at her fab Pattinase blog.
“If only Alec would die or something like that …”
The narrator is Dr Luke Croxley, the old GP in the sleepy little North Devon village of Lyncombe. He is a widower and more or less retired now, so that his son Tom has taken over the practice. His best friend is a retired professor, Alec Wainright, who is married to Rita, who is beautiful, romantic, kind-hearted and twenty years his junior. War has broken out, but in July 1940 the village folk are more concerned with a local scandal: Rita has fallen madly in love with Barry Sullivan, a young American actor, and even the good doctor can’t avoid tripping over the indiscreet pair. One night he and Barry are invited to spend an evening with the Wainrights to listen to a production of Romeo and Juliet on the radio. After, while Alec listens to the news, Rita and Barry leave the room and are never seen alive again. The remote Wainright house ends at a cliff with a seventy-foot drop known as ‘Lover’s Leap’ and Dr Croxley find their footprints leading to the edge, and none coming back. Enter Sir Henry Merrivale, who is in town to get his portrait painted …
“Oh, my eye!” muttered H.M. “Oh, lord love a duck!”
It would seem that the two lovers, inspired by Shakespeare, decided to commit suicide. But then the bodies are recovered and it turns out they were shot to death, and the gun is recovered on the main road, very far away from the cliff. So was it murder? And who cut off the telephone wires at the Wainrights that night? And who siphoned the petrol from their cars? Then Barry’s wife is discovered locked up in Rita’s trysting hideaway. (She was spying on Barry and barely escaped with her life when his car was pushed into quicksand.) The local inspector thinks it must have been suicide and that the doctor found the gun and removed it so save Rita’s reputation (which he admittedly wants to redeem). The truth turns out to be much more complex …
If it was murder, how could it have been done without leaving footprints in the soft sand? And apart from the impossibility of it all, who was it? The jealous husband or the jealous wife? Or maybe even the man painting Merrivale’s portrait, who seems to have had something of a passion for Rita. Or maybe the local girl, Molly, who has a passion for him? But why deliberately draw attention to the gun, which scuppers the suicide theory, by putting it in a place where it could be found far away from the scene of the deaths – does Dr Croxley in fact know more than he is telling?
“I don’t know!” roared H.M. “I haven’t the ghostiest trace of a notion. The old man’s completely stumped and flummoxed.”
Some readers will spot a couple of reference to a celebrated Christie novel in this book, but this is aimed squarely and deliberately at clever and attentive readers – Carr has something very clever up his sleeve. As various theories are expounded on how the murder might have been committed, eventually we reach a clever and satisfying conclusion, topped by an epilogue, crucially not written by Dr Croxley, which reveals a wholly unexpected culprit. With its clever story, thankfully avoiding the need to add a gratuitous extra murder to the proceedings, as even Dame Agatha was wont to do at times, and its emphasis on character and the recreation of an idyllic little village disrupted by murder and Merrivale whizzing around in a motorised wheelchair after hurting his toe, this makes for a completely satisfying mystery.
You should go out and get a copy right now if you don’t have it already. And please don’t just take my word for it as connoisseurs of the genre have been rhapsodising about this novel for years. Here is what the Puzzle Doctor had to say about the book over at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel; Martin Edwards also sang it praises at Do You Write Under Your Own Name?; Brad recently reviewed it in great detail over at his, Ah Sweet Mystery; TomCat also gave it a rave at Beneath the Stains of Time; and Moira Redmond called it one of Carr’s finest at her blog, Clothes in Books.
I submit this review for Bev’s Golden Age Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt in the ‘revolver’ category:
I’m not surprised, Sergio, that this is a top Carr for you. He was so good at the puzzle, wasn’t he? It’s a real pleasure to match wits with him in these novels, especially when he’s at his best.
Absolutely Margot, thanks for that – this is splendid fron start to finish IMHO 😀
Thanks, Sergio, for including me in such noble company and for proving that I am a man of discerning taste!
Yes you are! Always nice to be seen hanging among right minded people – onwards comrades 😉
John Dickson Carr mystery writer also hosted legendary 1940’s radio mystery series: “Murder by Experts.” Carr wrote for years as a radio script writer, especially on International Super Hit Radio Program “Suspense.” Carr of course won an Edgar twice: Lifetime Achievement and for a fantastic bio of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle…In 1954 Carr and A. Conan Doyle (son of Sir Arthur) wrote (some say mostly Carr) collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published together etc…mostly Holmes cases mentioned in the canon but never written etc…Carr had a most rather cool mysterious voice on his radio show: “Murder by Experts.”
Does much of that show remain? Ihave alll the extant episodrs of SUSPENSE, CABIB B13 and APPOINTMENT WITH FEAR- I published an index to his radio dramas here: https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/john-dickson-carr/radio-plays-by-john-dickson-carr/
There were 130 episodes of Murder By Experts (1949-51) of which the first 40 were hosted by John Dickson Carr and the rest by Brett Halliday . Only 15 episodes are now available (12 hosted by Carr and 3 by Halliday) . These 15 episodes along with some extra materials are available at https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Murder_By_Experts
(download the zip file)
Thanks Santosh, will definitely have a listen 😀
I remember when I first came to the book I had no knowledge of how well or poorly regarded it might have been. And I enjoyed it all immensely, the cleverness is there in spades, not all that surprising with Carr I suppose. But it’s also a fine character piece with a lot of heart, and that really lifts it and makes that bit extra special.
My impression was the same – at the time I read it this was a title often ignored even by fans. But like HE WHO WHISPERS it has an unexpected poignancy that elevates ut even by his high standards.
Yeah, it’s the combination of the devilishly clever plot and the very affecting human element. It’s that sensitivity which places the book right up among Carr’s very best.
Spot on mate. That it was published so close to The Emperor’s Snuffbox, another one of my favourites for exactly the same reason, is I think indicative of him really starting to peak around this time, with He Who Whispers as something of a summit I suspect.
Indeed. He had a really strong patch just before the outbreak of war, which I think draws more critical acclaim, but this period in the early to mid 1940s is quite superb and there’s a run of books where you finish them with a slightly dazed feeling as he’s just delivered literary punches to both the head and the gut.
And on top of that he was also writing all his best radio plays – an extraordinary period of great creative invention. I did so enjoy re-reading this one, can you tell? 🙂
I can’t tell lie, I did pick up a vague hint of that. I’m half-tempted to reread it myself now – I have that Zebra edition you featured at the top of the post – but I still have a reasonable number of Carr books I haven’t even read once so I really ought to get cracking on some of those.
I think you are right – I still have some of the ones you gave me to read in fact!
Nice to have a few fresh ones around, that’s my excuse for putting off reading some for later anyway.
You what, though? Just got a good friend into them and have given her all the obvious ones but now want to lend her others. Trouble is, with some of these, while I remember loving them, I can no longer recall important bits, like the culprit, so that has put me in a bind – how can I lend without re-reading? What if she wants to talk about them after!! So I think I am just morally obliged to read more Carr, I just am … 😉
Some obligations are hell, others are a little slice of heaven. I think we can safely place this obligation in the latter category. 🙂
😆
without nary a spoiler in sight
*koff* Double negative.
Yes, in English two negatives make a positive, but in French and Italian, two negatives often combine to still mean the negative !
Coulda sworn Sergio was writing in English.
🙂
Yes, but he may have been under Italian influence ! 🙂
Al my life 😉
Admittedly not necessarily in my head! Truth is, I changed the phrase but not all of it
Thanks for that Santosh – but I was wrong, wrong, wrong 😀
Too true – I may undertake some editorial revisions …
I remember reading this back in the, ahem, early 1970s or so, but I didn’t recall much about it except that it was definitely among his spiffiest. Thanks for the reminder of how good it was and the encouragement to dig it out for a reread!
Oh, and I’d agree with you that Carr is the bestest of them all.
I never get tired of hearing people say that 😀 Thanks chum. We really must be right!!!
My pleasure- I really like “spiffiest” (even if my autocorrect does not)
I really loved the puzzle in this one, particularly how the police ruled out every clever solution that I thought I had come up with. The solution to the impossibility isn’t Carr’s finest, but the identity of the killer may well be. Overall it is an excellent read, although I wouldn’t put it quite at the level of Till Death Do Us Part, The Problem of the Green Capsule, and several other Carr titles. The biggest element that dragged it down for me was the humor being a bit slapstick.
Well, with HM the broad humour was a given by then and we are really only talking about a couple of scenes with the wheelchair and toga, just a few pages after all. Till Death Do Us Part and The Black Spectacles (aka The Problem of the Green Capsule) are two classics, quite agree.
John DIckson Carr, you say? Sounds good, might have to check him out…
You do that JJ (saucy so and so …) 🙂
You’re right, Sergio. This is one of Carr’s greatest detective novel and consider it to be his Death on the Nile. Yes, it’s that good.
And to thegreencapsule: I disagree about this not being one of Carr’s finest impossible crimes. Impossibilities involving footprints are (IMO) the hardest to do and coming up with an original trick is even harder, but Carr pulled it off here. Just compare it to the few other books and short stories he wrote about impossible footprints to know how good this one really is.
Thanks TC, I thought the solution was superb and I loved how various other possibilities were regularly knocked out!
The solution to the footprints in She Died a Lady is definitely original. I personally prefer the solutions to The White Priory Murders and The Witch of the Low Tide, although those could be seen as more simple. I do love a good footprint mystery. In some ways they puzzle me more than a locked room.
Any recommendations for good footprint mysteries from authors besides Carr? I believe I read that Suddenly At His Residence by Christianna Brand fits the bill.
I’d have to dig out my copy of the Robert Adey book to answer that! Carr did footsteps on a tennis court on PROBLEM OF THE WIRE CAGE, which si great fun if not his best.
Far away from his best, but Carr revisited the no footprints variant in Dark of the Moon, at least as far as I remember.
Not read that one. My copy was yours!
Pretty sure one (possibly even more) of his short stories played around with this trope too. I may have to go back and read some again, just to make sure. Oh, don’t you just hate it when life presents us with such chores!
Definitely one of the stories from QUEER COMPLAINTS
That’s probably what I’m thinking of, and I’ve a hunch The Men Who Explained Miracles has one as well.
KING ARTHUR’S CHAIR is the title I think. Does CROOKED HINGE count?
Yes, King Arthur’s Chair is the one, though here it is titled Invisible Hands.
Ah, thanks for that – I wasn’t sure if I was remembering the title correctly.
Good question. My first reaction would be to say, yes, it probably does fit.
Exvellent! White Priory has snow of course …
And Plague Court has mud…
I really, really need to re-read that one. Can’t remember a thing about it right now, nothing – which is excellent! More Carr – hurrah 😀
I like it a lot. I know some feel the atmosphere is laid on too thick but I love that ripe sense of dread, the feeling of a rotten past reaching out to influence a rotten present in a rotten old house.
Getting my copy with the big black cat off the cover right this second… but it may just have to join the queue
Good man!
😆
“Any recommendations for good footprint mysteries from authors besides Carr?”
My favorite impossible footprint story is actually a short story, “No Killer Has Wings” by Arthur Porges, which is an unsurpassed masterpiece. She Died a Lady is one of the few that came close to matching it.
Definitely have that one TC – thanks chum.
Agree with the Porge, it’s freakin’ awesome. Also, John Pugmire of Locked Room International recently announced the forthcoming honkaku short story collection The Ginza Ghost by Keikichi Osaka, and one story in there — ‘The Cold Night’s Clearing’ — has a very clever variation on the “vanishing footprints” motif.
Some novels that fulfil this crtiateria are Christianna Brand’s Suddenly at His Residence (someone stabbed in a dusty room in a cottage surrounded by soft ground )or an easily-marked path, I forget which) without footprints on either), Derek Smith’s Whistle Up the Devil (a man stabbed in a room where both entrances were locked and observed, and the only means of entry would therfore be over a flowerbed which shows no marks), and Hake Talbot’s Rim of the Pit (footprints disappearing in the middle of a snow drift).
Than JJ – was going to suggest the Talbot but couldn’t remember enough tp be sure. 30 years is a long time in crime fiction 😀
Well, perhaps it’s due a reread…Dan and I have a spoiler-filled deconstruction of it coming in July, remember. Perfect timing, eh?
Say no more!!!
For information of all, the short story No Killer Has Wings by Arthur Porges is available in The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes & Impossible Mysteries by Mike Ashley.
Which I definitely have – knew it was somewhere on the shelves
Gosh, high praise indeed. But having loves two of JDC’s books recently, I can see I’m going to have to explore his alter ego too!
Saw your excellent review of He Who Whispers; which was the other Carr you read?
Sorry for being thick, here is your review of that Carr evergreen The Hollow Man!
:))))
Well, quite!
I prefer the “Carter Dickson” mysteries over the John Dickson Carr locked-room puzzles. Excellent review of one of my favorite mysteries!
Thanks George – well, they are certainly funnier! It was my reading of a classic Carter Dickson featuring Sir Henry Merrivale, THE READER IS WARNED, that got me hooked on Carr in fact.
Just ordered a copy (with a great cover) from Abe Books! I know I’ve probably read this, but since I have no memory of it and your review intrigued me – what the heck. 🙂 Better than Rex Stout and Agatha Christie? Can’t agree, but we’ll keep on keeping on.
I so hope you love this book Yvette, I really do!
Agreeing with Yvette on Stout, plus I’ve not read any Carr, altho I’ve been seeing his name for ages. Guess I’m gonna hafta finally dip a toe in the water…
You must, you must 😀
Till Death Do Us Part, Matt, that’s what you need. If you read that and have no inkling to read any more Carr, he’s not for you.
I will second that – desperate to re-read it now, it us just so utterly superb!
Yes – I am on board with this one, as you kindly show in your shoutout. It’s a weird and haunting story… there is one image from it that sticks in my mind, can’t say more without spoilering, but it is part of the footprint explanation.
Thanks Moira – and I believe I know what you mean. The POV is very important here.
With such high praise, it looks like I will have to get a copy of this one. I will read a couple of the books that I have first. Yvette and I agree on Stout though, but you knew that.
Thanks Tracy, hope you get into Carr. His books are really the ones that turned me onto Golden Age detective fiction, but are much more about story and atmosphere and stunning the reader with an unexpected solution, and less focused on the series detectives per se. I love Stout but read his work with pretty much the opposite emphasis – I rarely remember his plots but love the interaction with the recurring characters.
Re footprints, there’s The Footprint in the Sky, in The Department of Queer Complaints.
That’s the one – not my favourite but that was, I think, the first story I read from that collection.
“Any recommendations for good footprint mysteries from authors besides Carr?”
I highly recommend The Footprints Of Satan by Norman Berrow.
A truly prototypical title if ever there was one!
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