
I previously covered what I consider to be the first period of John Dickson Carr’s Sir Henry Merrivale mysteries. These novels, published from 1934-1940 lean hard into impossible crimes, which distinguishes them from Carr’s Dr Gideon Fell novels from the time. The focus on impossible crimes is also a dividing factor between the first two periods of the Merrivale novels, and we’ll cover the second period here.
Carr published 22 Merrivale novels over a 19 year span, beginning with The Plague Court Murders in 1934 and finishing with The Cavalier’s Cup in 1953. My split between the era’s of the Merrivale novels takes place in 1940, which coincidentally divides these into two equal groups of 11. The latter 11 novels differ from the first 11 in terms of the focus on impossible crimes, as well as the role of humor in the novels. The first 11 novels are all about the impossible crime (with a few exceptions already covered), whereas impossibilities play a middling role in this second half. The novels also take a step down in quality. Before getting into that, let’s first take a look at the books that make up this second phase.
Continue reading “The Phases of Carr – Second Period Merrivale”