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About the author: John Dickson Carr (1906 – 1977) was an American author, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and is often grouped among "British-style" mystery writers. Most (though not all) of his novels had English settings, especially country villages and estates, and English characters. His two best-known fictional detectives (Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale) were both English. (excerpt from this Wikipedia article.)
Major characters:
At the scene of the crime - the Lawes home, Villa Bonheur:
- Sir Maurice Lawes, deceased collector with the snuff box
- Helena Lawes, his wife
- Horatio "Toby" Lawes, their son
- Janice Lawes, their daughter
- "Uncle Ben" Phillips, Helena's brother
Across the street at Eve Neill's home, Villa Miramar:
- Eve Neill, accused of murder
- Ned Atwood, Eve's ex (but not supposed to be there)
- Yvette Latour, Eve's maid
- Célestine Bouchére, Eve's cook
and
- Mme. Prue Latour, Yvette's sister
- M. Aristide Goron, prefect of police
- Dr. Dermot Kinross
Locale: Two houses straddling the rue des Anges, in La Bandelette, France
Synopsis: Eve Neill is freshly divorced from her flashy cheat of a husband, Ned Atwood. She has since taken up with her neighbor, practical Toby Lawes. One night Atwood, using a key improperly retained, enters her house (Villa Miramar), goes up to her bedroom, and begs for reconciliation. Nothing doing. While there, they look out the window across to the Lawes home (Villa Bonheur). They observe Toby's father, Sir Maurice Lawes, examining items in his collection; in particular a snuff box once owned by Emperor Napoleon. Then another person is seen in the room, and Sir Maurice is struck and killed; the snuff box being shattered in the process.
The tension between Eve and Ned escalates. Eve takes her key back, pushes him, he falls downstairs; suffering a bang on his head and a nosebleed. Some of the blood gets on Eve's nightgown. Exit Atwood to his hotel. Eve wants to go to the Lawes' home, steps out the back door, and the door locks behind her. The police are now arriving, so she decides to stay put. She has the key she took from Atwood, so she just runs around to her front door and uses the key to get back in.
The prefect of police M. Aristide Goron, suspects Eve of the murder. She was seen outside her house in her nightgown - which has blood on it - and was in possession of a key which was found to (also) fit the Lawes' door. She also has a piece of the broken snuff box stuck in her nightgown. Goron is convinced of her guilt, but his friend Dr. Dermot Kinross is convinced of her innocence.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The writing is clear and straight-forward, unlike some of Carr's which I have trouble following. All the action takes place in the two houses, with a brief episode elsewhere.
I enjoyed the catch-22 that Eve and Atwood got themselves into: He being her alibi, but claiming it also means revealing he was in her bedroom at 1 AM. What to do?
There are many statements that Eve's account of the murder contains some small fact which proves her innocence. When that fact is revealed at the end, I (figuratively) slapped myself and wondered why I did not see it before.
I thought I had the killer ID'd all along - but of course, I was wrong.
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