Customer Reviews

The Door to Doom (Library of Crime Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Dickson Carr began his professional writing career, at the age of twenty-five, with his Inspector Bencolin mystery novels. However, M. Bencolin first appeared in some of Carr's earlier college stories published in the school newspaper, "The Haverfordian." (It may surprise you to learn that John Dickson Carr was American). "The Door to Doom" includes four of those short stories, which began to appear in 1926. Bencolin is not quite the suave, Mephistophelian character that he becomes in his full-length novels, but his fans will still want to read these stories for Carr's meticulous set-up of the crime and his supernatural atmospheres.

(Carr didn't actually resort to the supernatural to resolve his mysteries, but his brooding, neo-gothic ambience might lead the reader to expect something ghostly in the works.)

I had always thought that Carr would make a very fine ghost story author if he put his hand to it, and lo-and-behold this volume also includes three of his stories of the supernatural.

To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed in them ("The Man Who Was Dead," "The Door to Doom," and "Terror's Dark Tower") because Carr insisted on explaining everything, even if the explanation did involve a dollop of the ghostly. He couldn't quite make the transition from mystery to true horror, but these three stories are still good for a shudder or two, especially "The Man Who Was Dead." If you read it, you may never want to ride the Underground again.

Those of you who are old enough to have listened to episodes of that grand old radio show, "Suspense" might be interested to learn that this author also wrote for this and other radio programs. Six of his radio plays are included in "The Door to Doom," including the classic "Cabin B-13" which was later made into the movie, "Dangerous Crossing" starring Michael Rennie and Jeanne Crain. CBS also broadcast about twenty Carr plays under the title "Cabin B-13" in 1948. "In each of the episodes the ship's doctor tells of bizarre crimes, often in exotic settings..."

Finally, do not neglect the two Sherlock Holmes parodies and the two essays that appear at the end of this very fine collection. Carr's thoughts on 'the grandest game in the world' (mystery writing) should be exceptionally interesting to all lovers of this genre, and he also includes his choices for the Top Ten mystery novels of all time.

Doug Greene's editorial apparatus deserves five stars, but the book as a whole is slightly disappointing, so I give it a four. The Bencolin stories preceding the French master's first appearance in novel form, aren't as good as the longer works Carr followed them up with. Apprentice stuff, hey're interesting in a way, but none are noteworthy. Odd, too, because Dickson Carr excelled at the short story; many of us prefer at least some of the Fell and Merrivale gems to the novels his sleuths appear in, and the Colonel March stories rule above all others! Greene's subsequent "collected" two volume set is the gold standard for Carr, the double decker FELL AND FOUL PLAY and MERRIVALE, MARCH AND MURDER, both cornerstone volumes of Golden Age Detection.

Here, the pickings are slim. Greene boasts of the first complete printing of Carr's 1940s essay "The Grandest Game in the World," but despite the hype, it ain't "The Grandest Essay in the World,"-- in fact it's remarkably incoherent, has no real argument, just lassoes together some grumpy and belligerent opinions. And the added material, specific comments on "ten of the best" detective novels of all time, is just so-so and barely yawnworthy. Puzzling too, and I wonder how deeply Carr really felt about his selections, particularly the Sayers if, on writing an addendum 20 years later, he couldn't even remember if he had given THE NINE TAILORS or STRONG POISON the nod. And the other resuscitated piece, Carr's essay "Stand and Deliver" is pretty blah. In failing health when he undertook it, Carr attempts another round of cheers for highwaymen and blackguards, but he peters out almost in mid-thought.

The cream of the book are the six radio plays. I'm beginning to think the radio plays are Carr;s finest achievement in any genre, and the six here are ace. (Wonder how they were selected, for it seems that Carr wrote literally dozens of them!) Greene shows us how "Will You Make a Bet with Death" mutated later into Carr's non-series fulllength novel THE NINE WRONG ANSWERS. It's better shorter, like most precious things. My favorites here are "The Bride Vanishes" and "The Devil in the Summer House," both written for SUSPENSE. I think I had a head start having heard MP3s of both plays on line.

All in all a mixed bag of novelties, some excellent, some crumby, but Greene's commentary throughout is a solid gold Cadillac.