The Emperor's Snuff Box by John Dickson Carr, 1942

 

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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. 

Zadig by Voltaire, 1748

 

The Silent Bullet by Arthur B. Reeve, 1912

 

The Red Castle Mystery by H. C. Bailey, 1932

 

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About the author: Henry Christopher Bailey (1878-1961) was an English author of detective fiction. Bailey wrote mainly short stories featuring a medically-qualified detective Reggie Fortune. Fortune's mannerisms and speech put him into the same class as Lord Peter Wimsey but the stories are much darker. A second series character, Josiah Clunk, is a sanctimonious lawyer who exposes corruption and manages to profit from the crimes. (Fantastic Fiction)

Major characters:

• Josiah/Joshua Clunk, criminal attorney
• Hopley, Clunk's assistant
• --- Pace, Clunk's former client
• David Prior, tutor
• Lady Ann Luel, mistress of Red Castle
• Binks Luel, her 10-year old son
• Godfrey de Caux, her brother-in-law
• Polly, her maid
• Hicks, her butler
• Ritson, her chauffeur
• Inspector Bell, Scotland Yard

Locale: England

Synopsis:  Joshua Clunk (the name is inconsistent, sometimes he is Josiah) is a criminal attorney, despised by judges and the authorities for always getting his clients off. He is also an evangelist, always quoting scripture, singing hymns, and operating his own little chapel on the side. He receives an inquiry from a former client, ---- Pace, who was acquited at trial. He drops in to Pace's shop to find him dead.

David Prior arrives at the Red Castle on the moors, having been hired as a tutor. Red Castle is run down, and the only remaining family are widow Lady Ann Luel, her son Binks Luel, and her brother-in-law, idler Godfrey de Caux. The servant staff is down to saucy maid Polly, her grandfather butler Hicks, and chauffeur Ritson. Prior and de Caux are suspicious of each other. 

The Luels treasure their one heirloom - the Luel Cup - a silver cup with markings stating that as long as they retain the cup, there will always be a male heir to the peerage. 

One night a commotion breaks out - a window broken, a fight occurs, and burglars make off with the Luel Cup.

Joshua Clunk lurks around the castle, and locates clues for the benefit of Inspector Bell. Soon the Luel Cup is found, but also a body.

Review: Joshua Clunk is an interesting character, unlike any I have encountered. He is a little, short, plump, vain type much like Hercule Poirot; working outside law yet seemingly hand-in-hand with the criminal element. He is constantly leading Inspector Bell to the clues and handing them to him as gifts. On top of that, he is a fervent evangelist, quoting scripture and singing hymn selections throughout. 

His young assistant, Hopley, is an enjoyable character as he infiltrates the castle by taking up with the saucy maid Polly.

I enjoyed the scenery: much of the action takes place lurking on the dark, wet moors.

A big surprise to me was David Prior. He starts out as our protagonist, and it was apparent he was going to take up with Polly himself and be the hero. But it wasn't meant to be. 

So I have a new author to look for. He appears in 11 titles.

The Sleeping Sphinx by John Dickson Carr, 1947

 

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:

• Donald Holden, our protagonist, returned from the war
• * Celia Devereux, his former love
• * Margot Marsh, née Devereux, Celia's older sister, now deceased
• * Thorley Marsh, Margot's now former husband
• * Sir Danvers Locke, mask collector
• * Danvers' wife (unnamed)
• * Doris Locke, his daughter
• * Ronnie Merrick, friend of Doris
• * Derek Hurst-Gore, Member of Parliament
• Obey, the Devereux's nurse
• Dr. Eric Shepton, a G.P.
• Dr. Gideon Fell

Locale: England

Synopsis: Donald Holden returns from the war and wants to look up his former love, Celia Devereux, in hopes she is still single, and wants to rekindle their relationship. A possible wrinkle is that he was in intelligence work, and M.I. 5 publicized the "fact" that he was dead. All he knows is that Celia is living with her sister, Margot, at No. 1 Gloucester Gate. He learns Celia may be involved with a M.P., Derek Hurst-Gore.

He goes to Gloucester Gate and meets Margot's (now former) husband, Thorley Marsh. Thorley tells him that Margot has died, and Celia doesn't want to see him; and that she has psychological problems.

He learns Margot died following a party at the Sir Danvers Locke home, Widestairs. The party (attended by those with an asterisk above), was a Murder Game and the participants wore masks from Locke's collection of death masks. After the party, Thorley, Margot, and Celia returned to the Devereux family home, Caswell Moat. Margot reclined on a lounge in her room and was soon dead.

Celia claims Margot had been poisoned, but no one believes her. The others cite this as indicative of her insanity. If murder, motives abound:  Thorley has been in an affair with Sir Danvers' young daughter, Doris Locke; and now plans to marry her. Margot had been in an affair with an unnamed man.

Holden and Celia enlist Dr. Gideon Fell to investigate Margot's death and prove Celia is not insane. First, he inspects the sealed vault where Margot is interred, to find coffins in disarray and the poison bottle. And the bottle has Celia's fingerprints all over it.

Review:

This is pretty much two separate stories in one: Margot's murder, and the restless coffins inside a locked mausoleum. They do connect briefly.

I had a bit of trouble figuring out the three venues of the story, but here they are:

• No. 1 Gloucester Gate, London: home of Thorley and Margot Marsh, and Celia
• Caswell Moat:  Devereux ancestral home
• Widestairs: home of the Lockes

The character Thorley was the most interesting to follow - is he a good husband or a cad? Or maybe a murderer? His marriage is certainly a shambles as he and Margot each have affairs with others.

The story line of the restless coffins looks to me like a verbatim copy of the Chase Vault episode of the 1800's in Barbados, complete with sand spread on the floor to detect footprints (see Wikipedia article). Perhaps that was the inspiration for this story line - the story notes it was a sensation early in the century, and followed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as well.

If you enjoy peeking in cemetery mausoleums, you will enjoy this one. The Sleeping Sphinx of the title is the insignia on Fell's ring, which he uses to seal the mausoleum.