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Title: Death Watch by John Dickson Carr ISBN: 0-02-018850-1 Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company. Pub. Date: 01 October, 1984 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $3.50

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent Dialog, Interesting Characters
Comment: Another review posted here is in error. It is not a review of this book. I do not know what happened, but . . . .

Death Watch by John Dickson Carr is one of the most intricately plotted who-done-its that I've read in a while. A policeman is murdered after midnight in a darkened house. The murder weapon is the hour hand of a large hall clock. The hands of the clock had been stolen from the same house two nights before.

Carr assembles a good group of suspects. Some own the house, others are visitors or lodgers in the house.

Carr challenges the reader by amassing detail that the reader is expected to remember, and also, by changing direction just when the reader is beginning to think a suspect is the likely killer.

This novel is from the 1930's -- 1935, to be exact -- and thus comes to us from the golden age of detective fiction. The years of the "Black Mask" magazine, and the era of detective writers such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Carr was one of the masters. One senses considerable quality of writing here.

Carr is a master of dialog, and uses this skill to bring his characters to life. One engine driving the book is the constant bickering and disagreement between Inspector Hadley and Dr. Gideon Fell, both of Scotland Yard. Hadley is something of a straight man, and a foil for Dr. Fell. Inspector Hadley is an experienced and reasonably intelligent policeman, but is somewhat plodding and not very imaginative. Dr. Fell, to the contrary, is highly intuitive and strikes deductions that at times rise to brilliance.

What seems so obvious and clear to Inspector Hadley -- and to the reader most of the time -- is soon shot down and debunked by Fell's unerring analysis.

The whole is great fun. Carr's mysteries often have a strong dash of the "gothic flavor." Spooky houses, secret passages, bizarre appearances and disappearances, sinister characters, the trappings of superstition -- the works! If you enjoy such effects, it's just one more source of enjoyment.

I highly recommend the book. However, it is somewhat demanding. I would not try to read it while half asleep, nor would I begin the book and then lay it aside for several days. Without a real effort to concentrate, it is difficult to remember all the characters, clues, relevant details, or twists of plot.

Many people must be willing to put forth the effort because the John Dickson Carr mysteries continue to be popular many years after the author's death.

Patrick Callahan