John Dickson Carr

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John Dickson Carr (born November 30, 1906 in Uniontown , Pennsylvania , † February 27, 1977 in Greenville , South Carolina ) was an American writer of crime novels . He also wrote under the pen names Carter Dickson , Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn .

With his complex, storytelling stories that focus on the mystery, he is widely regarded as one of the best writers of the classic crime novel. Most of his many novels and short stories are about the solving of apparently impossible and seemingly supernatural crimes by an eccentric detective . He has been influenced by the works of Gaston Leroux and the Father Brown stories of GK Chesterton . Carr designed his most important detective, the obese and brilliant lexicographer Dr. Gideon Fell to Chesterton.

life and work

Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania to a temporary Democratic Congressman. He attended Hill School and was a mediocre student there, preoccupied with his early attempts at writing crime fiction. While studying abroad, he married Clarice Cleaves of England in 1931 and moved to England. They raised three children there before moving to the United States in 1948. He was fascinated by Europe all his life, which is why most of his books, which were written until the mid-1950s, are set in Germany, France and Great Britain. There was even speculation as to whether Carr was a pseudonym of the famous English humorist PG Wodehouse .

Carr was a master of unsolvable puzzles, stories in which a detective solves seemingly impossible crimes. Examples of such crimes include murder in a locked and sealed room or the discovery of a corpse (strangled or stabbed in hand-to-hand combat) surrounded by snow or wet sand with no footprints other than the victim's. The Dr. Fell thriller The Three Coffins (1935, dt .: The closed space ), usually Carr's masterpiece considered, shows crimes that variations of these two scenarios, and contains a remarkable lecture by Dr. Fell over impossible crimes. It was voted the best locked room crime novel of all time by a panel of crime writers , and Dr. Fell's talk is occasionally published as a stand-alone article.

Many of the Dr. Fell novels are about two or more impossible crimes, including He Who Whispers (1946) and The Case of the Constant Suicides (1941). The novel The Crooked Hinge (1938) combines the seemingly impossible cutting of a throat, witchcraft, a creepy automaton modeled on Johann Mälzel's Chess Turks and a case similar to the Tichborne Claimant to create a story that is often referred to as one of the best classic detective novels. But even Carr's biographer, Douglas G. Greene (John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles), admits that the resolution, like so many in Carr's books, is not very plausible and tests the reader's good faith.

In addition, his novels are characterized by a preference for romantic historical locations. The scenes of the murders are z. B. a defiant Rheinburg or the ruins of an old prison in the high moor . For this purpose, Carr was intensely influenced by the genre of the (German) horror novel with its gloomy castle ruins, enchanted country estates and secluded hamlets whose inhabitants are plagued by old curses, strange rituals or even ghosts.

In addition to Dr. Fell, there are three other series detectives in Carr's crime novels: Sir Henry Merrivale (HM), Henri Bencolin, and Colonel March. Many of the Merrivale novels, written under the pen name Carter Dickson , are among Carr's finest works, including the highly acclaimed The Judas Window (1938). Few of his works have no serial detective - the best known, The Burning Court (1937) is about witchcraft, poisoning and a corpse disappearing from a sealed crypt in a suburb of Philadelphia; she was the template for the French film La Chambre ardente (1962). The book is notable for its seemingly supernatural ending, which contradicts a previous rational explanation of the mysterious events.

Carr also wrote many stories for the radio, especially the BBC , as well as some screenplays. His 1943 radio play Cabin B-13 was expanded into a series on CBS in the early 1950s , for which Carr wrote all of the books, some based on his earlier works or picking up on themes Chesterton used. This radio play was also used as the basis for the script for the film Dangerous Crossing (1953).

In 1950 Carr wrote the novel The Bride of Newgate , which takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and is perhaps the first full-length historical thriller to be called. With the two historical crime novels The Devil in Velvet and Fire, Burn! Carr himself was most satisfied.

With Adrian Conan Doyle , Arthur Conan Doyle's youngest son , Carr wrote the majority of the Sherlock Holmes stories, which were published in the 1952 collection The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes .

Towards the end of his life, Carr began to be interested in his local area in the southern states. A number of his last books are set there. He died in South Carolina.

The characters Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale

The two main detectives Carrs, Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale, on the surface, are very similar. Both are tall, stormy and eccentric English people from the "upper class", somewhere between middle-aged and old. Dr. However, Fell, who is extremely obese due to his preference for beer and can only move with the help of two sticks, was modeled on the British author GK Chesterton and is always a model of courtesy, ingenuity and serious, logical thinking. He has a huge head of unkempt hair, often covered with a "shovel hat", and usually wears a cloak. He lives with his verbally extremely active wife in a modest house and has no official connections to public authorities. Sir Henry Merrivale - whose nickname is HM for His Majesty - on the other hand, albeit stocky and with a strong beer belly, is physically active and feared for his bad mood and loud outbursts of anger. A well-heeled descendant of England's "oldest barons" he is an establishment man (although he often rebels against it) and in the early novels he is the head of British intelligence. Even in the very early books, the bald, glasses-wearing, disgruntled HM is reminiscent of Winston Churchill - a resemblance that is deliberately cultivated in the later novels.

Today the Dr. Fell books viewed as Carr's greatest achievement. In the past, however, HM was preferred by many critics. Howard Haycraft, author of the seminal book Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story , wrote in 1941 that HM, or "The Old Man," was the "current author's favorite among contemporary fictional snoops."

Factory overview

Early publications by John Dickson Carr

(In the monthly college magazine "The Haverfordian").

  • The Red Heels April 1926
  • The Dim Queen May 1926
  • The Blue Garden November 1926
  • The Shadow of the Goat November 1926
  • The Shadow of the Goat, solution December 1926
  • The Old Romance December 1926
  • The Fourth Suspect January 1927
  • Last Lullaby February 1927
  • The New Canterbury Tales March 1927
  • The Inn of the Seven Swords April 1927
  • The Deficiency Expert May 1927
  • The Ends of Justice May 1927
  • The Dark Banner January 1928
  • The Murder in Number Four June 1928
  • Grand Guignol March 1929
  • Grand Guignol, solution April 1929
  • The Blue Garden (republished) January 1932

Novels as John Dickson Carr

  • It Walks By Night (detective Henri Bencolin) - 1930
  • Castle Skull (Bencolin) - 1931
  • The Lost Gallows (Bencolin) - 1931
  • Poison In Jest - 1932
  • The Corpse In The Waxworks (Bencolin) - 1932 (British title: The Waxworks Murder )
  • Hag's Nook (Detective Dr Gideon Fell) - 1933
  • The Mad Hatter Mystery (Fell) - 1933
  • The Blind Barber (Fell) - 1934
  • The Eight Of Swords (Fell) - 1934
  • Death-Watch (Fell) - 1935
  • The Three Coffins (Fell) - 1935 (British title: The Hollow Man )
  • The Arabian Nights Murder (Fell) - 1936
  • The Burning Court - 1937
  • The Four False Weapons, Being the Return of Bencolin (Bencolin) - 1938
  • To Wake The Dead (Fell) - 1938
  • The Crooked Hinge (Fell) - 1938
  • The Problem Of The Green Capsule (Fell) - 1939 (British title: The Black Spectacles )
  • The Problem Of The Wire Cage (Fell) - 1939
  • The Man Who Could Not Shudder (Fell) - 1940
  • The Case of the Constant Suicides (Fell) - 1941
  • Death Turns The Tables (Fell) - 1942 (British title: The Seat Of The Scornful )
  • The Emperor's Snuffbox - 1942
  • Till Death Do Us Part (Fell) - 1944
  • He Who Whispers (Fell) - 1946
  • The Sleeping Sphinx (Fell) - 1947
  • Below Suspicion (Fell) - 1949 (additionally with detective Patrick Butler)
  • The Bride Of Newgate - 1950, historical crime thriller
  • The Devil In Velvet - 1951, historical crime thriller
  • The Nine Wrong Answers - 1952
  • The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes - 1952 (co-author Adrian Conan Doyle)
  • Captain Cut-Throat - 1955, historical crime thriller
  • Patrick Butler For The Defense (Detective Patrick Butler) - 1956
  • Fire, Burn! - 1957, historical crime thriller
  • The Dead Man's Knock (Fell) - 1958
  • Scandal At High Chimneys: A Victorian Melodrama - 1959, historical crime thriller
  • In Spite Of Thunder (Fell) - 1960
  • The Witch Of The Low-Tide: An Edwardian Melodrama - 1961, historical crime thriller
  • The Demoniacs - 1962, historical crime thriller
  • Most Secret - 1964 (This was a version of a novel by Carr published in 1934 as Devil Kinsmere under the pseudonym "Roger Fairbairn")
  • The House At Satan's Elbow (Fell) - 1965
  • Panic In Box C (Fell) - 1966
  • Dark Of The Moon (Fell) - 1968
  • Papa La-Bas - 1968, historical crime thriller
  • The Ghosts' High Noon - 1970 historical crime thriller
  • Deadly Hall - 1971, historical crime thriller
  • The Hungry Goblin: A Victorian Detective Novel - 1972, (Detective Wilkie Collins)

Novels as Carter Dickson

  • The Bowstring Murders - 1934 (originally as published by Carr Dickson, but Carr's publishers complained that the pen name was too similar to the real name, so Carter Dickson was used instead)
  • The Plague Court Murders (Detective: Sir Henry Merrivale) - 1934
  • The White Priory Murders (Merrivale) - 1934
  • The Red Widow Murders (Merrivale) - 1935
  • The Unicorn Murders (Merrivale) - 1935
  • The Magic Lantern Murders (Merrivale) -1936 (British title: The Punch And Judy Murders )
  • The Peacock Feather Murders (Merrivale) - 1937 (British title: The Ten Teacups )
  • Death In Five Boxes (Merrivale) - 1938
  • The Judas Window (Merrivale) - 1938
  • Fatal Descent (in collaboration with John Rhode ) - 1939 (British title: Drop To His Death )
  • The Reader Is Warned (Merrivale) - 1939
  • And So To Murder (Merrivale) - 1940
  • Nine - And Death Makes Ten (Merrivale) - 1940 (British title: Murder In The Submarine Zone )
  • Seeing Is Believing (Merrivale) - 1941
  • The Gilded Man (Merrivale) - 1942
  • She Died A Lady (Merrivale) - 1943
  • He Wouldn't Kill Patience (Merrivale) - 1944
  • The Curse Of The Bronze Lamp (Merrivale) - 1945 (British title: Lord Of The Sorcerors )
  • My Late Wives (Merrivale) - 1946
  • The Skeleton In The Clock (Merrivale) - 1948
  • A Graveyard To Let (Merrivale) - 1949
  • Night At The Mocking Widow (Merrivale) - 1950
  • Behind The Crimson Blind (Merrivale) - 1952
  • The Cavalier's Cup (Merrivale) - 1953
  • Fear Is The Same - 1956, historical crime thriller

Collections of short stories

  • The Department of Queer Complaints (as Carter Dickson) (detective: Colonel March) - 1940
  • Dr. Fell, Detective, and Other Stories - 1947 (Fell)
  • The Third Bullet and Other Stories - 1954
  • The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes , with Adrian Conan Doyle - 1954 (Sherlock Holmes), ISBN 0-517-20338-3
  • The Men Who Explained Miracles (Fell, Merrivale, and more)

Non-fiction

  • The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey - 1936, historical review of a famous murder from 1678
  • The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 1949, the authorized biography

Film adaptations

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Haverford College: The Haverfordian, Vol. 45, 1925-26 . Haverford College, January 1, 1926 ( archive.org [accessed May 26, 2016]).
  2. ↑ Haverford College: The Haverfordian, Vols. 46-47, June 1926-May 1928 . Haverford College, January 1, 1928 ( archive.org [accessed May 26, 2016]).
  3. ↑ Haverford College: The Haverfordian, Vol. 48, June 1928-May 1929 . Haverford College, January 1, 1929 ( archive.org [accessed May 26, 2016]).
  4. ↑ Haverford College: The Haverfordian, Vols. 50-51, Nov. 1930-June 1932 . Haverford College, January 1, 1932 ( archive.org [accessed May 26, 2016]).
personal data
SURNAME Carr, John Dickson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dickson, Carter (pseudonym); Dickson, Carr (pseudonym); Fairbairn, Roger (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Uniontown , Pennsylvania , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1977
Place of death Greenville, South Carolina