Carr, John Dickson - To Wake the Dead (1938)

Review by Nick Fuller

4/5

One of the most under-rated Carr novels, largely due to the fact that it was surrounded by many of Carr's best-known works, and that, while British critics praised the book, American critics disliked it. There is no impossible crime. Instead, the problem is why the murderer should have worn the uniform of a hotel-attendant in order to commit his crimes, one of which was committed in Sussex, the other in a London hotel. Although the characters are not really worth suspecting, there are some good portraits among them, particularly the enigmatic Mrs. Kent, Sir Gyles Gay and Mrs. Reaper. The detection is nicely done, with good clues from face-towels, a trunk, red ink and a bracelet. After the murderer has been captured in a graveyard at midnight, Dr. Fell demonstrates who, how, and why in a great display of logic. There is good misdirection, relying on an ingenious and original alibi and a splendidly Chestertonian gimmick similar to "The Queer Feet": "When is a policeman not a policeman?"