The Unicorn Murders (Sir Henry Merrivale Golden Age Classic)

Rating:
Summary: The Man Who Explained Miracles
Review: John Dickson Carr, who wrote also under the name Carter Dickson (as he did in The Unicorn Murders) raised ingenuity to the level of genius, as Kingsley Amis once put it in an essay on the genre. Carr, with apologies to Christie and Queen, was, as to constructing a puzzling whodunnit, in a class by himself, a man without peer.

Whether his detective was Gideon Fell (in those mysteries he wrote under his own name of Carr) or Sir Henry Merrivale (Carter Dickson), he was the supreme master of the classic detective story, and The Unicorn Murders is Carter Dickson at his best.

He was adept at creating atmosphere and was expert at both high and low humor (See The Arabian Night's Murders), and he could pace a story with suspense like no one else (I defy anyone to read the first chapter of The Burning Court and say in all honesty he is not compelled to continue), but what he did that nobody achieved to the extent he did was write stories that dealt with impossible murders--either locked room or miracle murders that would later be reveled to have a rational explanation.

At his best, Carr/Dickson was so good that he usually had some other other characters give an explantion that sounded entirely plausible before Fell or H.M. shot it down and gave the real explanation. These wrong solutions would have been lesser writers meat and drink. Read the stuff in the '30's and '40's.

He also wrote a history in detective story fashion in the '30's, The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey, that is a masterpiece. Great history and great detection.

Rating:
Summary: The Man Who Explained Miracles
Review: John Dickson Carr, who wrote also under the name Carter Dickson (as he did The Unicorn Murders) raised ingenuity to the level of genius, as Kingsley Amis once put it in an essy of the genre. Carr, with apologies to Christie and Queen, was, as to constructing a puzzling whodunnit, in a class by himself, a man without peer.

Whether his detective was Gideon Fell (in those mysteries he wrote under his own name of Carr) or Sir Henry Merrivale (Carter Dickson), he was the supreme master of the classic detective story, and The Unicorn Murders is Carter Dickson at his best.

He was adept at creating atmosphere and was expert at both high and low humor (See The Arabian Night's Murders), and he could pace a story with suspense like no one else (I defy anyone to read the first chapter of The Burning Court and say in all honesty he is not compelled to continue), but what he did that nobody achieved to the extent he did was write stories that dealt with impossible murders--either locked room or miracle murders that would later be reveled to have a rational explanation.

At his best, Carr/Dickson was so good that he usually had some other other characters give an explantion that sounded entirely plausible before Fell or H.M. shot it down and gave the real explanation. These wrong solutions would have been lesser writers meat and drink. Read the stuff in the '30's and '40's.

He also wrote a history in detective story fashion in the '30's, The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey, that is a masterpiece. Great history and great detection.

Rating:
Summary: The Man Who Explained Miracles
Review: John Dickson Carr, who wrote also under the name Carter Dickson (as he did The Unicorn Murders) raised ingenuity to the level of genius, as Kingsley Amis once put it in an essy of the genre. Carr, with apologies to Christie and Queen, was, as to constructing a puzzling whodunnit, in a class by himself, a man without peer.

Whether his detective was Gideon Fell (in those mysteries he wrote under his own name of Carr) or Sir Henry Merrivale (Carter Dickson), he was the supreme master of the classic detective story, and The Unicorn Murders is Carter Dickson at his best.

He was adept at creating atmosphere and was expert at both high and low humor (See The Arabian Night's Murders), and he could pace a story with suspense like no one else (I defy anyone to read the first chapter of The Burning Court and say in all honesty he is not compelled to continue), but what he did that nobody achieved to the extent he did was write stories that dealt with impossible murders--either locked room or miracle murders that would later be reveled to have a rational explanation.

At his best, Carr/Dickson was so good that he usually had some other other characters give an explantion that sounded entirely plausible before Fell or H.M. shot it down and gave the real explanation. These wrong solutions would have been lesser writers meat and drink. Read the stuff in the '30's and '40's.

He also wrote a history in detective story fashion in the '30's, The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey, that is a masterpiece. Great history and great detection.

Rating:
Summary: Not on a par with his best
Review: OK, and better than many current mysteries, but this is not as good as The Three Coffins, The Problem of the Green Capsule, The Case of the Constant Suicides, et al. The international criminal plot line wasn't that interesting to me, and the whole thing seemed a little farfetched. I prefer his locked rooms. Save this one for near the bottom of the pile if you are working your way through all his novels.