Mon 14 Aug 2017
Archived Mystery Review: CARTER DICKSON – The Punch and Judy Murders.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[12] Comments
CARTER DICKSON – The Punch and Judy Murders. Sir Henry Merrivale #5. William Morrow & Co., US, hardcover, 1937. Pocket #219, US, paperback; 1st printing, March 1943. Berkley, paperback, April 1964. International Polygonics, paperback, 1988. First published in the UK as The Magic Lantern Murders by Wm Heinemann, hardcover, 1936.
There is no locked room or impossible crime in this early adventure of Sir Henry Merrivale, but there is certainly everything else but. Two men being watched by the police die simultaneously, 70 miles apart, poisoned by strychnine. Psychic research is hinted at.
I really enjoyed this one. On page 185 (of the Pocket edition) even though many of the apparently unexplainable happenings have already been explained, there is what amounts to one final “Challenge to the Reader,” wherein H. M. invites both of his fellow investigators to name the killer. Each of them names another person, and each of them has a finely worked set of motives and opportunities to support their suggestions.
They’re both wrong, of course, but not Merrivale. He’s right on the money. Me, I wasn’t even close. Fooled again, and I think it’s terrific! There are so many things going on, and so quickly, that the short summary that takes up all of page 67 is a must. This is detective fiction for dyed-in-the-wool detective fiction fans at its finest.
What’s more, what I think is also unique about John Dickson Carr’s work is that while he always wrote rationally based detective fiction, his stories always seem to take place in a setting and an atmosphere producing more shivers and chills than any other mystery writer I know.
August 14th, 2017 at 11:13 pm
Carr never forget the Gothic and horror elements of the detective stories origin.
August 15th, 2017 at 1:44 pm
I’m hunting for my copy of the Pocket paperback edition now. Reading this old review of mine convinced me that this is one I ought to read again!
August 15th, 2017 at 4:14 pm
I see I have two copies of this novel in my paperback room. I have the Pocket Book edition shown above. My copy is dated third printing, July 1943. The second copy is the Berkley edition dated April 1964.
I don’t see any notes in either edition which probably means that I’ve not read it yet but like Steve, I now have a desire to do so.
By the way, I see a big difference in the two editions which are separated by about 20 years in paperback publishing history. The Pocket Book edition has a more interesting and eye catching cover and the print appears to be slightly larger and more readable at 221 pages.
The Berkley edition is more compressed at 190 pages and the print is smaller and harder for me to read. The cover is bland compared to the earlier art and not as interesting.
The Pocket Book edition also used a better quality of paper which all these years later is still white. The Berkley paper however is turning brownish.
My conclusion? The Pocket Book copy is better. I also see the price has doubled in 20 years, from 25 cents to 50 cents. Not a surprise really. But we are definitely getting a lower quality product for our money.
August 15th, 2017 at 5:14 pm
I’ve just added the Berkley paperback to the list of various reprint editions at the top of the review. I was sure that there was one, since Berkley did many other Carter Dickson’s around the same time, but I couldn’t find one of PUNCH AND JUDY offered for sale to be positive about it.
And you’re absolutely right, Walker. The books that Pocket published in the early 1940s were on paper that’s never aged at all.
August 15th, 2017 at 10:45 pm
Some of those forties PBs look as good now as then if you are talking paper and binding.
August 16th, 2017 at 8:58 am
One interesting thing I’ve read more than once; apparently FDR was reading THE PUNCH AND JUDY MURDERS when he died. It was on his nightstand with the bookmark on page 73 or thereabout.
August 16th, 2017 at 11:01 am
Little tidbits like this make my day!
August 18th, 2017 at 12:56 pm
I have the Berkley paperbacks with the tiny print. Some of the Carrs were published in quality paperback editions by Collier that have held up well over the years.
August 19th, 2017 at 12:21 pm
This is one of my favorites not for the mystery but for the sheer unadulterated insane sense of fun that runs through the book Oddly not at all addressed in the review above. This is the wackiest of all his mystery novels with a sense of outrageousness it what makes it noteworthy for me. I remember laughing out loud many times while reading it. Vaguely I also recall two vulgar jokes that managed not to get censored.
August 19th, 2017 at 12:51 pm
Now I really am going to have to re-read this one!
August 29th, 2017 at 8:10 pm
Which I’ve just done. I caught one of the vulgar jokes, but if there was a second, I didn’t spot it.
From my earlier reading I didn’t remember a lot of humor in this book. After John’s comment #9, I was expecting a lot of slapstick actions on the part of the characters, particularly Merrivale, as was common in some of his later adventures.
Not so. The humor was more subtle than that, To me, it comes from wacky situations, with one mind-boggling set of circumstances happening right after the one before, with coincidences happening willy-nilly, left and right.
Each one’s quite possible on its own, maybe, but as they accumulate you really begin to wonder how on earth Dickson/Carr is going to explain it all.
And believe it or not, he does.
There’s one thing that bothers me, though, and that’s the fact that Merrivale lets the killer get away. He explains why, but I just can’t make myself swallow it,
May 14th, 2018 at 9:06 pm
According to one of FDR’s biographers, he was on page 78, a chapter titled “Six Feet of Earth.”