“It almost seemed that the murder, if it was a murder, must have been committed by someone who could rise up unsupported in the air…”
When Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club in London, he is met instead with just two other guests and is treated to a strange tale of an impossible crime in France years before; the murder of a man on a tower with only one staircase, under watch at the time at which the murder took place. With theories of levitating vampires abounding, the story comes home to Miles when he realises that the librarian he has just hired for his home is none other than Fay Seton, a woman at the heart of this bizarre and unsolved past murder.
Carr considered this novel one of his best works, and it is easy to see why when experiencing its ingenious plot delivered with an astounding pace and masterfully drawn characters including none other than the great detective Dr. Gideon Fell.
This book takes place between Friday and Sunday nights. Friday sees Miles and a woman called Barbara to attend The Murder Club dinner in London, appearing as guests. The only other person who turns up is Professor Rigaud, who narrates a story from France 6 years previously. A British woman (Fay Seton) goes to work for the Moore family as a secretary. She becomes engaged to the son, the father wants to pay her off to leave. Having taken money out of the bank, Moore Senior is found dying at the top of a tower, despite being alone and no one having approached in the previous 15 minutes.
Following the story, Miles takes the train home, having hired Fay Seton (recently returned from France) to do some library work in his home. Miles’ sister is staying with him in order to run the household. Fay is staying in the house, and whilst everyone has retired to bed, Monica has a catastrophic event, resulting in her being found catatonic in her upstairs bed, with a gun in her hand and a shot in the window.
Professor Rigaud turns up at the house not long after, with Dr Gideon Fell in tow. This is my first Fell story, so his character may have been expanded in earlier books. The main thing expanded here is that he is physically dominating. Riguard manages to stabalise Monica, at least until the doctor arrives. It’s here that the story takes an interesting turn as Rigaud puts forward a supernatural reason not only for the death of Moore, and then what Monica may or may not have seen outside her upstairs bedroom.
Having returned to London, and with the Professor in tow, Dr Fell puts forward an alternative narrative for what happened, The last 100 pages in particular are essential to the alternative view (trying not to give spoilers here!) and which is an appropriate alternative to the initial supernatural version.
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