The Eight of Swords

Rating:
Summary: Galumphing farce turns to murder
Review: John Dickson Carr took a heavy-handed turn toward humor in "The Eight of Swords," and almost drove off the edge of the cliff. The characters say "What ho" more times than Bertie Wooster. What starts out as the story of a young man who is afraid to tell his father, the Bishop of Mapleham that he spent his time in America at speakeasies and hanging out with loose women, instead of attending criminology courses at Columbia University, ends in attempted murder and murder. The farcical characters fade from view and we hear no more 'what ho's after about the middle of the book.

Carr's serial detective, the humungous Dr. Gideon Fell, galumphs into view disguised as the Viennese psychiatrist, Dr. Sigismund Von Hornswoggle. He fools no one, least of all his friend Chief Inspector Hadley. In fact, Hadley is glad to see the enormous, eccentrically-dressed detective, as he is being badgered to investigate the case of a bishop who seems to have gone mad, and is caught sliding down banisters, attacking maids, and creeping about on his host's leads in the middle of the night. There is also the mystery of the poltergeist who biffed a vicar in the eye with an inkpot.

While in Hadley's office, Colonel Standish, who is currently hosting the eccentric bishop and the poltergeist, is informed that a man has been murdered on his estate back in Gloucestershire. The deceased was discovered with a tarot card clutched in his hand: the Eight of Swords, a minor arcana, which symbolizes (according to Fell) Condemning Justice.

The eccentric Bishop of Mapleham, his errant son, and Dr. Fell pile into Colonel Standish's tonneau (this book was first published in 1934) and set off for Gloucestershire to investigate the mystery surrounding the dead man.

"The Eight of Swords" leans more toward farce than Carr's usual blend of mystery and ominous, supernatural doom, although there is one rather creepy chase scene toward the end of the book. It is a fun read and one of the author's less complicated mysteries--actually it's the only one of his mysteries where I've been able to correctly pick the murderer before the grand denouement at the end of the story.