Tue 8 Nov 2011
Reviewed by Richard & Karen La Porte: JOHN DICKSON CARR – The Bride of Newgate.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
JOHN DICKSON CARR – The Bride of Newgate. Harper & Brothers, hardcover, 1950. Paperback reprints include: Avon 476, 1952; Avon T-391, 1960; Curtis, 1971; Carroll & Graf, 1986.
Dick Darwent is to be hanged in front of Newgate Prison at dawn tomorrow for a murder he did not commit. Caroline Ross must be married in order to collect a legacy, but she does not want a husband. An unholy alliance is made to make her an almost instant widow, and Reverend Horace Cotton, the Ordinary of Newgate, performs the ceremony in Darwent’s cell.
“The Bride of Newgate” returns to her friends and their pre-hanging party across the street from the gallows. But fate in the form of the Battle of Waterloo cuts down Dick’s uncle and two cousins in the prime of their lives and leaves Darwent the family title. Dick, now a Peer, can only be tried in the House of Lords, who forthwith pardon him.
The year is 1815. Now armed with a title, money and property, Darwent can track down the evil “Coachman” responsible for the murder that he was to be hanged for. Caroline, heiress and marchioness, falls one-sidedly in love with Dick. Married in name only, she aids and abets his search to unravel the twisted background of the crime.
Through a set of interlocking puzzles, Dick finds out that he was kidnapped and framed by mistake. With duels, a disappearing room, brawls and arson, the action is fast and violent. The London of 1815 is wrapped around the story until you can almost smell it.
Reverend Cotton is only one of a cast of colorful characters winging in and out of this spectacle. Scenes range from the House of Lords and the gaming clubs of Mayfair to the meanest gin shops in the East End.
Time has not tarnished this tale. John Dickson Carr was as noted for his historical fiction as he was for his locked room stories with Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale. This fresh reprint [from Carroll & Graf] makes another fascinating story available in a handsomely bound paperback.
November 8th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
As I’ve said earlier in one of these comments, I’ve yet to read any of Carr’s historical fiction, even though I’m sure I gave one a try once.
It may even have been this one, but once I realized that it offered something other than what I was looking for (Gideon Fell and a detective puzzle) I don’t believe I got very far with it.
After reading this review by the La Porte’s, however, I have concluded that I may have been in error. (I was, I’m sure, less than 16 at the time, so perhaps I may be forgiven.)
November 11th, 2011 at 9:01 am
I read the AVON edition of THE BRIDE OF NEWGATE when I was around 16. It wasn’t Gideon Fell, but I remember enjoying it.
November 11th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
I’ll admit it sounds interesting, but with so many other books,and so little time (I shudder sometimes at the reality of that phrase) I’ll skip it.
November 11th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
George
I think the Golden Age of Detection occurs between the ages of 14 to 16. If the “bug” hasn’t hit you by then, the chances that it ever will are slim.
November 11th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Richard
“So many books, so little time” may be a cliche, but it wouldn’t have become a cliche if it weren’t true.
November 11th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
I know that I read this, years and years ago, and enjoyed it–but I remember nothing about it. It’s still on the shelf, though. For my money, Carr’s best was the not-quite-fantasy THE DEVIL IN VELVET, which has its own central mystery and is a knockout historical novel to boot.