Customer Reviews

The Judas Window: A Sir Henry Merrivale Locked Room Mystery (A Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery)

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4 star:		(1)
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Jimmy Answell is summoned for an audience with Avory Hume. The two men are later discovered after witnesses break into Hume's study - a room with bolted steel shutters and a heavy door locked on the inside. Answell is found lying unconscious and Hume stabbed to death with an arrow. How can young Answell but be guilty? How could Sir Henry Merrivale (H.M.!) be foolhardy enough to undertake his defence at the Old Bailey? And what is the `Judas Window' to which H.M. keeps alluding?

This is John Dickson Carr (aka Carter Dickson), the acknowledged master of the locked room mystery, in top form. The quality of the puzzle in The Judas Window is superior to that in The Three Coffins (popularly regarded as Carr's best book and the most famous locked room murder mystery). The case unfolds through the medium of a riveting courtroom drama that simply ought to have been filmed. The comic touches provided by H.M. as defence counsel are terrific. And the modus operandi of the crime is stunning in its simplicity and the conviction it carries. Less convincing however (and this is what makes the book stop just short of perfection) is the murderer's motive. But this flaw makes only a ripple in the overall masterly construction of the mystery.

Don't miss it!

This is, without a doubt, one of the finest mysteries ever written (and after devouring Agatha Christie, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and Colin Dexter, I should know!). THE JUDAS WINDOW is John Dickson Carr's masterpiece. From the very first page he plunges the reader into one of his most elaborate deceptions ever. In addition to a superbly constructed plot, THE JUDAS WINDOW delivers a wonderfully authentic courtroom drama at the Old Bailey, and plenty of delightful humor (courtesy of Merrivale, of course).

Every strand of the plot is in place; every clue is carefully laid right in front of the reader. But the central mystery is still completely baffling: how did the victim end up dead in a locked room? What exactly is a Judas window? To spoil the secret would be cruelly unfair, suffice it to say that the solution is so ingenious, and yet so simple, that you will hate yourself for not realizing it sooner. This book is excellent--not even THE THREE COFFINS can compare with this.

This is one of the finest mystery novels ever written, and I am more than a bit disappointed not to see more rave reviews of it on this page. It is arguably the high point of the brilliant career of John Dickson Carr (alias Carter Dickson), the greatest writer of "locked room" mysteries and in many people's opinion the greatest writer of the "Golden Age" of mystery novels (the 1930s and 40s). It features the detective H.M. (Sir Henry Merrivale), my personal favorite fictional detective of them all. His brilliance and irascibility is only exceeded by his basic good-heartedness and desire to see the innocent protected. Oh, he is wildly funny, as well.

This novel features an unsurpassably brilliant and baffling crime, and a fantastic assortment of 'red herrings' in the form of untrustworthy potential murderers. Carr/ Dickson really did virtually perfect the form of the mystery novel, and in an era when mystery novels are so popular it is a shame that his contributions to the genre are not more widely recognized, if not worshipped!

I give it 4 stars as a specimen of the genre, 3 stars in a wider literary context, freely acknowledging that I haven't read much "classic" mystery and have less basis for comparison than some reviewers. I greatly enjoyed the curmudgeonly Sir Henry, and admired his methodical deductions. Without revealing any secrets, I found the Judas Window device pretty ingenious, though requiring a deeper knowledge of home construction than this layman possessed. Still, the plot succeeds very well in its central conundrum of "how" was it done. I found the "who" and "why" a bit less convincing, and felt there was plenty of room for alternative scenarios and suspects employing the same method. Nuff said - I'll try another Carr/Dickson soon and see how it grows on me.

I do not think that you should be reading the reviews for this one;only the name of John Dickson Carr as the author should be enough to convince you that this book is worth reading.However,I will tell you that the story presented here contains one of the most ingenious murder plots I have read about and that is was a pleasure to read it from cover to cover.If you have any doubt about reading it,do yourself a favour and get it off your mind now.Just read it...Thanks for taking the time to read this review.

Though it eschews the shuddery atmosphere of many John Dickson Carr novels in favor of relatively straightforward courtroom drama, this 1937 locked room mystery is one of the author's very best and probably the best featuring his second most reknowned series detective, the crotchety Sir Henry Merrivale. The locked room problem is cleverly designed indeed and the clueing to the identity of the murderer is of Agatha Christie quality, which is saying a lot. The courtroom presentation is a tour de force of narrative and "H.M." is not just funny but truly impressive in his reasoning. A true Golden age classic.

well this is simply the best locked room mystery i have ever read
it doesnt get any better its simply too good
john dickson carr at his best
its simply a pity that his works are not well known
in fact this book should be on the shelves of any serious mystery reader
its a gem in its genre
a must buy and highly recommended
not only is it an ingenious whodunit
it also is a howdunit
and the solution leaves you immensely satisfied

The "Locked Box" mystery genre confounded mystery lovers for generations, and Carter Dickson was a master of the craft. For more than forty years Mr. Dickson delighted readers with the magician-like plots. Beginning in 1930, Dickson Carr, aka Carter Dickson began his run with IT WALKS BY NIGHT, followed by HAG'S NOOK in 1933. Dickson trotted out Sir Henry Merrivale in THE PLAGUE COURT MURDERS a year later. Merrivale, or H.M., is sleuth with a medical degree and a law degree. He also holds one of the oldest baronetcies in England. He is a socialist, which is intended to be amusing. Carr himself was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania on November 30, 1906. He graduated from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, but resisted his family's desire that he attend law school. He also wrote a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame.

Young James Answell makes a trip to London to meet his future father-in-law, who greets him well enough, if not exactly enthusiastically. They meet in a room with locked windows; a collection of arrows on the wall; and a sideboard with a decanter of whiskey. Answell has a drink, passes out from an unknown mickey in his drink; and when he comes to his host has been murdered. Enter H.M. Merrivale, barrister extraordinaire. Even as the prosecution smugly presents an apparently unassailable case, Merrivale is working to discover actual events from the night of the murder:

"'Me lord; members of the jury. You're probably wonderin' what sort of defense we're here to offer. Well, I'll tell you,' said H.M. magnanimously.

'First of all, we'll try to show that not one single one of the statements made by the prosecution could possibly be true.'

Sir Walter Storm rose with a dry cough.

'My lord, the assertion is so breathtaking that I should like to be quite clear about it,' he said. 'I presume my learned friend does not deny that the deceased is dead?'"

If THE JUDAS WINDOW, number eleven of thirty-one H.M. Merrivale mysteries, is any indication, hopefully the Rue Morgue Press will republish more. For mystery lovers who enjoy not only a great whodunit, but a clever howdunit, Carter Dickson rocks.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

The novels of H.M., which were written by John Dickson Carr(using the name Carter Dickson), range usually from "Great(The Peacock Feather Murders)", to "Awfull(Seeing is Believing). This is the only H.M. I could rate as "Near Perfect".

Jimmy Answell is on trial for murder. Its belived he murdered his future father-in-law, Avory Hume, by stabbing him with an arrow. Jimmy was invited to Avory's house, and taken into his strong room. Avory comes in, locks the door, prepares a scottch, and shows Jimmy some of his archery trophys, including three arrows nailed in a triangle. Suddenly, Jimmy's head begins to spin. He fall's out cold. When Jimmy wakes up, Avory has been stabbed, one of the arrows has been pryed off the walls.

Suddenly, Jimmy is on trial for murder, and every one thinks he's guilty. Every one, except Sir Henry Merrivale, who see's a Judas Window in the room, a secret exit that only the murderer can see. But can he prove Jimmy inocent?

I feel its the BEST Locked Room Mystery ever! classic Carr humor and wit, constant turns in plotting and one of the best "Why didn't I think of it" solutions I've ever seen