The Crooked Hinge

Starred review from August 5, 2019
Carr (1906–1977) is at his best in this creepy and baffling entry in the American Mystery Classics series, originally published in 1938. The lives of Sir John Farnleigh and his wife are upended when a stranger using the name Patrick Gore appears at their Kent estate and claims that he’s the real Sir John. Gore alleges that as a child he was on the Titanic with another boy, who used the ocean liner’s sinking as a cover to attack him and steal his identity. Gore later believed his assailant and fellow survivor was dead, until learning that the imposter was posing as Sir John. Sir John’s tutor, Kennet Murray, who knew him well as a boy, quizzes Gore, but before Murray can give his opinion as to the man’s veracity, someone’s throat is slashed. Gideon Fell, Carr’s series detective, investigates the murder, the related question of who is the real Sir John, and allegations of witchcraft at the estate. This is an all-time classic by an author scrupulous about playing fair with his readers. Golden age fans won’t want to miss it.

October 15, 2019
Sir John Farnleigh's household is rocked when a visitor claims to be . . . Sir John. Who is the imposter (and whether he even knows himself to be a fake) is the central and most intriguing device of this Titanic-era mystery tackled by Dr. Gideon Fell, whom readers met in Carr's recently rereleased The Mad Hatter Mystery [(2017)?]. Adding to the clever plot are wonderfully melodramatic scenes involving an automaton that once resembled a beautiful woman but is now decrepit, a fainting maid, and, of course, a murder?one of the Farnleighs meets his maker, but how exactly the dead man died, and why, will keep readers turning the pages. By now, fans of the American Mystery Classics series know what to expect: a knowledgeable and in-depth introduction to the work and author, followed by a solid tale. The works sometimes veer into topics or language that are distasteful today?this book's stereotypical depiction of gypsies, for example, and the use of that pejorative term?but those who can overlook that issue will find this a fine next read after Mad Hatter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)