tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post4280189666986289286..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: A Mid-Century Mid-Life Crisis: John Dickson Carr's Crime Fiction in the Second Half of the 1900sThe Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-23788726955927531032021-04-02T21:01:19.916-07:002021-04-02T21:01:19.916-07:00The Cavalier's Cup is a full-on comic novel. I...The Cavalier's Cup is a full-on comic novel. It's pretty good, if very broad. The solution to the mystery is first-rate. One of the best of his later work.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07445062429255942534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-53262820916338374202019-12-13T04:33:23.990-08:002019-12-13T04:33:23.990-08:00"Captain Cut-Throat also has Carr's best ..."Captain Cut-Throat also has Carr's best written action/adventure scene in the Field of Balloons."<br /><br />Oh, yes, the balloon scene is fantastic. Anyone who thinks he "can't write" should read that. Splendid.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-83293113678268634812019-12-05T03:39:05.967-08:002019-12-05T03:39:05.967-08:00Sorry for the late response, but lost sight of thi...Sorry for the late response, but lost sight of this comment-thread for a while. <br /><br />"<i>Is this so? I've always regarded him as such and have assumed everyone else thinks likewise.</i>"<br /><br />My impression is that Carr is generally considered as a mystery writer who wrote some historical detective novels without appreciating the part he played in popularizing the historical mystery genre. I've always assumed this was due to Golden Age and historical mysteries having largely separate readers that only partially overlap. <br /><br />"<i>Yes, I definitely share your admiration for Captain Cut-Throat. A rollicking adventure. On the whole I think Carr probably just should have stuck to historicals from the Fifties on, he had a good run at it for a dozen years.</i>"<br /><br /><i>Captain Cut-Throat</i> also has Carr's best written action/adventure scene in the Field of Balloons. From all of his work, <i>Captain Cut-Throat</i> is probably the best fitted for a TV or movie adaptation. You're absolutely right Carr should have stuck with historical adventures/mysteries after the 1940s. Carr was able to largely mask the difficulties he was struggling with in his historical novels. I mean, the very late and flawed <i>The Ghosts' High Noon</i> is a masterpiece compared to the last three Dr. Fell titles. <br /><br />"<i>I'm reading A Graveyard to Let now, which somehow I missed all these years, and I think it's quite good. Maybe not as good as a decade earlier, but impressive withal.</i>" <br /><br />I've read an obscure Dutch translation of <i>A Graveyard to Let</i> with a gorgeous cover and liked it very much. Not one of Carr's best, but definitely an enjoyable read. I loved H.M. standing in the subway being as good as gold, not bothering anybody, when a riot broke out around him. :DTomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-1170144824436629422019-12-04T22:49:14.985-08:002019-12-04T22:49:14.985-08:00Green Capsule likes several better than I did, I i...Green Capsule likes several better than I did, I included a couple of links. Actually I have already reread one on my list and liked it better than I did before, so we'll see. After twenty years or more, there's joy in rediscovery!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-71393382318622127332019-11-30T20:38:54.713-08:002019-11-30T20:38:54.713-08:00I found my copy more quickly than anticipated and ...I found my copy more quickly than anticipated and was relieved/surprised to find I still enjoyed the book quite a lot: a thoroughly entertaining romp. I see that The Green Capsule is in accord with me on this -- again a relief, this time to know I'm not the only one!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12509165214943997679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-10414386878959026312019-11-29T14:42:38.588-08:002019-11-29T14:42:38.588-08:00We'll see! I actually liked The Dead Man'...We'll see! I actually liked The Dead Man's Knock quite a bit better on rereading like two decades later.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-23348889812039538042019-11-28T06:47:40.296-08:002019-11-28T06:47:40.296-08:00'Course, maybe I should reread it too! It'...'Course, maybe I should reread it too! It's been a while. It's not at all impossible I'd find my views on it had changed.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12509165214943997679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-87305243458891133482019-11-27T22:14:23.724-08:002019-11-27T22:14:23.724-08:00Yes, I definitely share your admiration for Captai...Yes, I definitely share your admiration for Captain Cut-Throat. A rollicking adventure. On the whole I think Carr probably just should have stuck to historicals from the Fifties on, he had a good run at it for a dozen years.<br /><br />I think his last books are quite poor, sadly, but he he was laboring under a lot of difficulties and I suppose it's remarkable that he was able to do what he did. It showed a lot of determination.<br /><br />I'll have to take on Blind and Cup. That and Hungry Goblin are about all that's left that I haven't read. I'm reading A Graveyard to Let now, which somehow I missed all these years, and I think it's quite good. Maybe not as good as a decade earlier, but impressive withal.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-90977576767361359742019-11-27T22:09:07.460-08:002019-11-27T22:09:07.460-08:00I tell you what, John, I will reread Patrick Butle...I tell you what, John, I will reread Patrick Butler sometime soon. I actually found on rereading Dead Man's Knock that it was better than I recalled, so who knows?The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-47518537664949860342019-11-27T22:05:05.493-08:002019-11-27T22:05:05.493-08:00Yes, I know you! Thanks for commenting, despite t...Yes, I know you! Thanks for commenting, despite the hassles.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-9897672799065760902019-11-27T22:04:20.852-08:002019-11-27T22:04:20.852-08:00Don't worry, I had my tongue in cheek on the T...Don't worry, I had my tongue in cheek on the Telegraph line! ;)<br /><br />I've got some more plans for Carr in the next few months, so stay tuned. Glad you liked it. I will always recall the great enjoyment his books gave me when I started reading them thirty years ago.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-51096895429929780742019-11-27T21:02:47.682-08:002019-11-27T21:02:47.682-08:00Sadly, Carr is never acknowledged as one of the pi...<i>Sadly, Carr is never acknowledged as one of the pioneers of the historical mystery novel.</i><br /><br />Is this so? I've always regarded him as such and have assumed everyone else thinks likewise.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12509165214943997679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-41379076378787051572019-11-27T21:00:33.648-08:002019-11-27T21:00:33.648-08:00Oh, dang, I forgot: Google managed to disenfranchi...Oh, dang, I forgot: Google managed to disenfranchise me recently. The impertinently "Unknown" commenter above is, well, <i>moi</i>.<br /><br />John Grant/NoirishAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12509165214943997679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-85366525856363754302019-11-27T20:57:45.485-08:002019-11-27T20:57:45.485-08:00A tremendous essay, Curt: many thanks! You've ...A tremendous essay, Curt: many thanks! You've exacerbated my recurrent itch to sit down and read/reread front to back all of the JDC/CD books I own.<br /><br />That said:<br /><br />(a) I'm the person in the room (there's always one) who likes <i>Patrick Butler for the Defence</i>; and<br /><br />(b) <i>and what doesn't the Daily Telegraph know?</i> Just about everything, frankly. I wouldn't trust a word the <i>Telegraph</i> printed. It used to be a quality newspaper even if its politics often stank; it's become a gutter rag that's not much if at all above the <i>Mail</i> or the <i>Express</i> or the <i>Sun</i>.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12509165214943997679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-27097535774372963562019-11-27T04:36:35.336-08:002019-11-27T04:36:35.336-08:00Thank you for this fascinating post, Curt! Glad to...Thank you for this fascinating post, Curt! Glad to see you rate my beloved <i>Captain Cut-Throat</i> so highly. I think it's even better than <i>The Bride of Newgate</i>, <i>The Devil in Velvet</i> and <i>Fire, Burn!</i>. Although the much earlier <i>The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey</i> is his strongest historical novel. You can almost smell the past through Carr's writing in that one! <br /><br />Sadly, Carr is never acknowledged as one of the pioneers of the historical mystery novel. <i>The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey</i> predates Victor Luhrs' <i>The Longbow Murder</i>, Lillian de la Torre's <i>Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector</i> and Agatha Christie's <i>Death Comes as the End</i>, but also wrote them regularly during the 1950s alongside Robert van Gulik – who certainly helped popularize the historical mystery novel. Carr and Van Gulik wrote knowledgeably about the historical settings of their stories and seamlessly integrated it with a modern detective plot, which helped legitimize it as a sub-genre. They both included impossible crimes and hints of the supernatural in their historical mysteries. <br /><br /><i>Behind the Crimson Blind</i> is not as bad some make it out to be. Sure, it's a typically late title in the series with a weak plot and comedy-bits that can be a little forced at times, but still more readable than the last three Dr. Fell novels. I would rather reread it than, let's say, <i>The House at Satan's Elbow</i> or <i>Dark of the Moon</i>. Dr. Fell showed have retired after <i>The Dead Man's Knock</i> and <i>In Spite of Thunder</i>, which still showed why Carr was the Master of the Locked Room Mystery. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.com