To Wake the Dead

Rating:
Summary: Farfetched But Entertaining
Review: Much of his work is now forgotten, but during his lifetime John Dickson Carr was regarded as among the finest of mystery novelists, a writer who counted both Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers among his many fans. Although he wrote novels featuring various detective heroes, the most memorable by far is the rotund Dr. Gideon Fell, and the 1938 TO WAKE THE DEAD finds the erudite detective up to his constant quotations in the sort of "locked room" mystery for which Carr was so famous.

Wealthy young Christopher Kent has undertaken a bet: that he cannot work his way from South Africa to England without recourse to his own bank account. With less than twenty-four hours left before he can reveal himself and win the bet, Kent arrives at a London hotel he knows, hoping to scam a meal--only to find himself trapped in a room with a half open trunk and a dead woman's body.

Already a bit farfetched, the novel's next twist will likely strike readers as very farfetched indeed, and the "real time" style in which the book is written is a form that Carr does not carry quite as well he might. Even so, Carr brings the entire thing up with a good solution, and the book is an enjoyable read. Not among the first rank of Carr's work, but reasonably entertaining just the same.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer