cimorene

Yesterday I sat down to make a consecutive list with ratings (by hand, because it's just nicer to write with a fountain pen) and it took three hours.

I have read a total of 19 by John Dickson Carr, counting the first one a few years ago (Castle Skull) and The Hollow Man, from the bookclub list in Wake Up Dead Man. Several more of his early books have the same irritating features as these, but his later books frequently do not. He has other weaknesses - most strikingly, his focus on surprising puzzle solutions sometimes leads to endings that are flat, thin, and/or ridiculously silly, like in the acclaimed The Judas Window (1938, 4/5, rec) and the less-beloved The Ten Teacups (1937, 3.5/5, rec). I can recommend about half the ones I've read so far. The only ones I would rate 5/5 apart from the previously mentioned Till Death Do Us Part (1944) are 1939's The Black Spectacles, 1944's He Who Whispers, and 1938's To Wake the Dead. I give 4.5/5, however, to 1935's The Red Widow Murders. Yet I nearly DNF 1942's The Emperor's Snuffbox (2/5) and 1935's Death Watch (3/5) and I ranted about 1937's The Burning Court (1/5) for a good ten minutes.