Mon 19 Mar 2018
A 1001 Midnights Review: JOHN DICKSON CARR – The Devil in Velvet.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[6] Comments
by Robert E. Briney
JOHN DICKSON CARR – The Devil in Velvet. Harper & Brothers, hardcover, 1951. Bantam F2052, paperback, 1960. Carroll & Graf, paperback, 1987.
Carr’s lifelong fascination with history, specifically that of England, shows up in many ways in his books, from casual excursions to important plot elements. His first completed novel, never published and now lost, was a historical romance “with lots of Gadzookses and swordplay.” In 1934, using the pseudonym Roger Fairbairn, he published Devil Kinsmere, a novel set in the time of Charles II; many years later the book was rewritten and published as Most Secret (1964) under Carr’s own name. Carr’s first novel to merge the detective puzzle with historical construction was The Bride of Newgate (1950), well received by both critic and readers.
The second of Carr’s historical mysteries, The Devil in Velvet, sold better than any of his other novels. Here the detective and historical elements were joined by a third ingredient: the strain of overt fantasy that had cropped up from time to time in his earlier work.
Nicholas Fenton, history professor at Cambridge in the year 1925, makes a deal with the devil to be transported back to the year 1675 in order to solve, and possibly prevent, the murder by poisoning of Lydia, Lady Fenton, the wife of an earlier namesake. Transported back into the body of the Carlie Nicholas Fenton, the protagonist finds himself immediatel3 enmeshed in political intrigue: the efforts of Lord Shaftesbury to subvert the monarchy and solidify the power of Parliament.
Fenton must also juggle the attentions of two lovely women, Lydia and the mysterious and temperamental Meg York. Eventually he comes to realize that he must do something much more difficult than solving a murder: He must outwit the devil himself in order to save his own life and that of the woman he loves.
Bawdy, turbulent Restoration London is re-created with verve and meticulous attention to historical detail, and the events of the story are viewed with a beguiling combination of twentieth- and seventeenth-century sensibilities.
———
Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
March 19th, 2018 at 4:20 pm
This book is on the CWA top 100 mysteries list and gets good reviews on goodreads. Of the 5 Dickson Carr novels I’ve read, this is my least favourite.
March 19th, 2018 at 4:50 pm
My favorite of Carr’s historical mysteries is “Captain Cut-Throat”. It reminded me of Dumas, partly because of its French setting, and partly because of its excellent story telling.
I last read “The Devil in Velvet” as a teenager. At that time found it moderately interesting, but not one of Carr’s best.
March 19th, 2018 at 7:27 pm
I started this one when it first came out in paperback, which would have been my first year of college. I don’t remember if I bought it or just browsed through it after spotting it in the drugstore spinner rack which I visited once a week Either way, I was sorely disappointed when I discovered it wasn’t a new Dr. Fell mystery.
No one can be more disdainful of a book than a disappointed college freshman.
That was then, though, what can I tell you?
March 20th, 2018 at 4:13 pm
It is interesting to compare to FIRE BURN with its similar BERKELEY SQUARE theme of time travel and to THE BURNING COURT with it’s whiff of demonology (both better mixes of the those themes and detection). I agree it is not the best of Carr’s historical mysteries, but it is a delightful romp of a story well told.
I found it a delight then and now, though perhaps less a classic mystery than historical romance.
There was a live adaptation on television, not sure of the year, with Whit Bissell as Fenton I believe.
I can understand the shock though if you were expecting Dr. Fell.
March 20th, 2018 at 4:14 pm
Carr’s pre-1945 works about Dr. Fell are major achievements in mystery fiction.
The Devil in Velvet is not.
The Devil in Velvet is not an impossible crime tale.
I’ve been reaching back into memory, about what my teenage self thought about the book.
The mystery plot is fairly small and simple – for Carr at least.
But it has aspects of cleverness and ingenuity .
Carr picks a killer I did not suspect at all – likely the best feature of the tale.
Carr is a major mystery plotter – and he is not asleep at the switch here.
By contrast, I had little interest in the historical aspects. “Bawdy, turbulent Restoration London” bored me at the time.
And the hero didn’t excite me either, as a character.
Finally, I’ve never been a fan of the supernatural.
Who knows what a real supernatural aficionado might think of these parts of the book.
June 20th, 2023 at 11:16 pm
[…] Mystery*File (reprinted from 1001 Midnights by Pronzini & Muller) […]