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Dr. Gideon Fell #4
The Blind Barber
The bunk’s mattress was soaked wit blood.The old-fashioned razor was folded shut.But it had been recently used. It was smeared with blood. A voice broke the terrible stillness in the “The Blind Barber Has Been Here Tonight!”On an Atlantic crossing of the good ship Queen Victoria, a vicious killer is loose, and four high-living characters are hellbent to pin him down. Dr. Gideon Fell soon finds himself up to his chins in misadventure as he wades into a comedy of terrors that boasts a reel of compromising film, an emerald elephant, and a lethal razor for props, murder as the evils deed, and unmitigated mayhem as the comedy relief.
222 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1934
143 people are currently reading
505 people want to read
About the author
John Dickson Carr
424 books496 followersAKA Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn.
John Dickson Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1906. It Walks by Night, his first published detective novel, featuring the Frenchman Henri Bencolin, was published in 1930. Apart from Dr Fell, whose first appearance was in Hag's Nook in 1933, Carr's other series detectives (published under the nom de plume of Carter Dickson) were the barrister Sir Henry Merrivale, who debuted in The Plague Court Murders (1934).
John Dickson Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1906. It Walks by Night, his first published detective novel, featuring the Frenchman Henri Bencolin, was published in 1930. Apart from Dr Fell, whose first appearance was in Hag's Nook in 1933, Carr's other series detectives (published under the nom de plume of Carter Dickson) were the barrister Sir Henry Merrivale, who debuted in The Plague Court Murders (1934).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
August 23, 2015
I was so pleased to see this book reviewed on GR today. I went through a period in the late nineties when I bought every John Dickson Carr (he also went under the name of Carter Dixon) book that I could lay my hands on. Most of them were second-hand from the States. I paid more for the postage than for the books themselves. I built up a very nice collection of about eighty books, a mixture of paperbacks and hardbacks.
I absolutely adored this American author. His best writing was in the 1930s/1940s and he was regarded as "one of the greatest writers of the so-called 'Golden Age'." His mysteries were complex, plot-driven stories in which the puzzle is paramount. But I recall reading a biography on him (I was a true fan at this stage and still am!) and he always said that the clue was in there to discover the murderer. I could only achieve that on one occasion.
These mysteries had wonderful titles, such as "The Punch and Judy Murders", "The Peacock Feather Murders", "The Red Widow Meadows".
This particular book, "The Blind Barber" involves Dr Gideon Fell, who was in many of these books. All I can say is that this book has to be read.
A taster:
"Before the Queen Victoria had docked, she had been turned upside down in an effort to prevent a diplomatic scandal; a girl with a Greek profile had been murdered in her bath.... and only Dr Fell could deduce the identity of the mysterious Blind Barber who seemed to have been wielding one of a set of seven cut-throat razors to such deadly effect."
Addictive reading, well to me anyway.
I absolutely adored this American author. His best writing was in the 1930s/1940s and he was regarded as "one of the greatest writers of the so-called 'Golden Age'." His mysteries were complex, plot-driven stories in which the puzzle is paramount. But I recall reading a biography on him (I was a true fan at this stage and still am!) and he always said that the clue was in there to discover the murderer. I could only achieve that on one occasion.
These mysteries had wonderful titles, such as "The Punch and Judy Murders", "The Peacock Feather Murders", "The Red Widow Meadows".
This particular book, "The Blind Barber" involves Dr Gideon Fell, who was in many of these books. All I can say is that this book has to be read.
A taster:
"Before the Queen Victoria had docked, she had been turned upside down in an effort to prevent a diplomatic scandal; a girl with a Greek profile had been murdered in her bath.... and only Dr Fell could deduce the identity of the mysterious Blind Barber who seemed to have been wielding one of a set of seven cut-throat razors to such deadly effect."
Addictive reading, well to me anyway.
June 6, 2024
A Drunken Farce, without a Locked Room
Review of The Murder Room eBook (November 19, 2012) of the Harper and Brothers hardcover original (October 1, 1934)
The Blind Barber is a particularly weak entry for the Dr. Gideon Fell series and hopefully a one-off with its reliance on drunken comic antics. Dr. Fell is approached at home by his friend, the writer Henry (Hank) Morgan who was a passenger on the Queen Victoria cruise liner due to dock at Southampton after its journey from New York City. Morgan has managed to get ashore ahead of time via a smaller crew vessel as the larger ship awaits a docking berth.
Morgan relates a tale of how he and a group of friends had got themselves mixed-up in the middle of a jewelry heist and then found a body apparently murdered by a cutthroat razor (the single brief tie-in to the title) but when bringing it to the attention of the ship's authorities they found that the body had disappeared. Enormous amounts of alcohol are consumed throughout, adding to the befuddlement of the characters. There were various other irritations such as having 3 characters deliver their dialogue in fake accented dialogue: a Norwegian, a Scot and an Italian.
What might be funny in small doses becomes insufferable when used several dozen times.
There are also extended fake French language passages, usually involving ranting about the alcohol intake.
The front cover of the original 1934 Harper and Brothers hardcover. Image sourced from Goodreads.
To top it off, there are artefacts that demonstrate that a sloppy proofread / copy edit of the text scan was done to produce the eBook edition. Various scan typos were not fixed, even some that should have been caught by spellcheck such as the word: "endorsemHnt" (sic).
Dr. Fell is able to explain it all of course and even to cable a message to the authorities to have the culprit arrested upon docking. Overall, there was too little deduction, even though Fell lists 16 clues which point to the villain during the course of the story-telling. Disappointingly, I thought the bad 'un was apparent fairly early on, unlike most John Dickson Carr books which usually involve confusing puzzles in the so-called "locked room" sub-genre.
Avoid this one, even if you are a Dr. Fell or John Dickson Carr completist.
Bonus Track
Even among the dregs and the dross, I thought this one passage describing inebriation 🥴😵 was rather good:
Trivia and Links
John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) is one of the 99 authors listed in The Book of Forgotten Authors (2017) by Christopher Fowler. He is No. 20 in the alphabetical listing which you can see towards the bottom of my review here.
John Dickson Carr took the inspiration for Dr. Gideon Fell's appearance from that of author G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), writer of the Father Brown mysteries and other works.
Photograph of G.K. Chesterton. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
The source of the name Dr. Fell is apparently from the apocryphal epigram:
Review of The Murder Room eBook (November 19, 2012) of the Harper and Brothers hardcover original (October 1, 1934)
Uninsured jewels belonging to ?!£&/! viscounts were stolen while murdering thieves posed as Harley Street doctors at his table. Blood-stained blankets and razors mysteriously appeared in the cabins; women vanished but did not vanish; the nephews of eminent American administrators first went mad and gibbered of bears and geography then ran amok with bug-powder guns, tried to poison him and finally threatened him with razors. Indeed, an unprejudiced listener would have decided that the situation aboard the Queen Victoria was past hope. - the ship's captain summarizes the mayhem of events on board his ship.
The Blind Barber is a particularly weak entry for the Dr. Gideon Fell series and hopefully a one-off with its reliance on drunken comic antics. Dr. Fell is approached at home by his friend, the writer Henry (Hank) Morgan who was a passenger on the Queen Victoria cruise liner due to dock at Southampton after its journey from New York City. Morgan has managed to get ashore ahead of time via a smaller crew vessel as the larger ship awaits a docking berth.
Morgan relates a tale of how he and a group of friends had got themselves mixed-up in the middle of a jewelry heist and then found a body apparently murdered by a cutthroat razor (the single brief tie-in to the title) but when bringing it to the attention of the ship's authorities they found that the body had disappeared. Enormous amounts of alcohol are consumed throughout, adding to the befuddlement of the characters. There were various other irritations such as having 3 characters deliver their dialogue in fake accented dialogue: a Norwegian, a Scot and an Italian.
“You get somet’ing to gag him wit’ till he cool down, or he call de chief mate and den maybe we iss all in de brig." “do you t’ank we are right, or iss dere a mistake? Dat wass no yoke, what dey tell us. If dey say dere is nobody missing, den ay don’t see how dere is somebody missing. Maybe we talk about a murder and dere is no murder.”
"'Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses,'" announced Dr. Kyle, with a gesture that indicated him to be a local boy and proud of it, "'for honest men and bonnie lasses'! Aye! A statement ye ken, Mr. Morgan, frae the wairks o' the great Scottish poet, Rabbie Burrrns. Sit down Mr. Morgan. And perhaps yell tak a drap o' whusky, eh? 'The souter tauld his queerest stories__.'"
“So! So! You have trieda to de-ceive me, eh? You have a trieda toa deceive Signor Benito Furioso Camposozzi, eh? Sangua della madonne, I feex you! You tella me he eesa all-right, eh? Haah! What you call all-aright, eh? I tell you, signorina, to youra face, he eesa DRUNK!”
What might be funny in small doses becomes insufferable when used several dozen times.
There are also extended fake French language passages, usually involving ranting about the alcohol intake.
“Eh, bien, eh bien! Encore tu bois! Toujours tu bois! Ah, zut, alors!” She became cutting. “Tu m’a donné votre parole d’honneur, comme un soldat de la France! Et qu’est-ce que je trouve? Un soldat de la France, hein! Non!” She drew back witheringly. “Je te vois en buvant le GIN!”
The front cover of the original 1934 Harper and Brothers hardcover. Image sourced from Goodreads.
To top it off, there are artefacts that demonstrate that a sloppy proofread / copy edit of the text scan was done to produce the eBook edition. Various scan typos were not fixed, even some that should have been caught by spellcheck such as the word: "endorsemHnt" (sic).
Dr. Fell is able to explain it all of course and even to cable a message to the authorities to have the culprit arrested upon docking. Overall, there was too little deduction, even though Fell lists 16 clues which point to the villain during the course of the story-telling. Disappointingly, I thought the bad 'un was apparent fairly early on, unlike most John Dickson Carr books which usually involve confusing puzzles in the so-called "locked room" sub-genre.
Avoid this one, even if you are a Dr. Fell or John Dickson Carr completist.
Bonus Track
Even among the dregs and the dross, I thought this one passage describing inebriation 🥴😵 was rather good:
Each of his trio had consumed exactly one bottle of champagne; and, while he would have scorned the imputation that he could become the least sozzled on a quart of fizz, he could not in honesty deny certain insidious manifestations. For example, it seemed to him that he was entirely without legs, and that his torso must be moving through the air in a singularly ghostly fashion;
Trivia and Links
John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) is one of the 99 authors listed in The Book of Forgotten Authors (2017) by Christopher Fowler. He is No. 20 in the alphabetical listing which you can see towards the bottom of my review here.
John Dickson Carr took the inspiration for Dr. Gideon Fell's appearance from that of author G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), writer of the Father Brown mysteries and other works.
Photograph of G.K. Chesterton. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
The source of the name Dr. Fell is apparently from the apocryphal epigram:
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell,
The reason why – I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.
September 22, 2012
I love John Dickson Carr. I love his sometimes complicated, totally mystifying, seemingly impossible crimes. I love Dr. Gideon Fell and his laughing and chortling when the other protagonists can't figure out the clues. I love the humor and wit. But, I'm afraid, I did not love The Case of the Blind Barber. It is supposedly one of Carr's finest detective comedies, but it just seemed to me that there it was overly slapstick and mad-dash. It's okay--but definitely not my favorite Carr.
What we have is Henry Morgan, spy novelist and featured character in an earlier novel The Eight of Swords, traveling from New York to Southampton aboard the Queen Victoria. Along the way he gets involved with Curtis Warren, nephew of a Very Important Person; Warren's girl, Peggy Glenn; and Capt. Thomassen Valvick (Ret.)--of the very heavy accent of apparent Swedish origin. Warren has managed to get himself robbed of more than half of a can of film that will prove very embarrassing to Uncle V.I.P. if it falls into the wrong hands. This happy band sets out to try and recover the film and along the way wind up bashing Captain Whistler (commander of the ship) over the head a few times, finding and losing an injured (and, quite possibly murdered) woman, stealing and losing and finding again an incredibly valuable emerald elephant....oh, and crossing paths with the Blind Barber, a rather nasty, murdering, thievin' sort of bloke who's in disguise. They spend their time sneaking in and out of compartments, dashing about the decks, and trying to unobtrusively hunt for the missing film, missing emerald, and missing girl. They, of course, have no luck and Morgan comes buzzing to see Gideon Fell before the Queen Victoria gets properly docked--in the hopes that Fell can see some sort of solution to the jolly mess. And, of course, he can.
There are some good scenes--especially at the beginning. I do like the foursome running around madly after Warren has bashed Captain Whistler a good one in the attempt to convince him that they were running to the rescue. And Captain Whistler is rather nice--when ranting he reminds me of Carr's other protagonist, Henry Merrivale, right down to the "Burn me's." But, in the end, the action just seems too over-the-top and silly to me. In fact, it kind of reminds me of a Scooby Doo episode with all the dashing about....and it even ends with the culprit blaming it all on "those meddling kids." And, there's not nearly enough of Fell. We have him at the beginning when Morgan begins his story, in the middle for an intermission, and then the wrap up. I much prefer the stories where Fell is more involved throughout.
Fairly decent mystery. Too much farce. Two stars.
Quote:
His views were based on the forthright principle that, the more respectable they looked, the more likely they were to turn out dastardly murderers. (p. 87)
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
What we have is Henry Morgan, spy novelist and featured character in an earlier novel The Eight of Swords, traveling from New York to Southampton aboard the Queen Victoria. Along the way he gets involved with Curtis Warren, nephew of a Very Important Person; Warren's girl, Peggy Glenn; and Capt. Thomassen Valvick (Ret.)--of the very heavy accent of apparent Swedish origin. Warren has managed to get himself robbed of more than half of a can of film that will prove very embarrassing to Uncle V.I.P. if it falls into the wrong hands. This happy band sets out to try and recover the film and along the way wind up bashing Captain Whistler (commander of the ship) over the head a few times, finding and losing an injured (and, quite possibly murdered) woman, stealing and losing and finding again an incredibly valuable emerald elephant....oh, and crossing paths with the Blind Barber, a rather nasty, murdering, thievin' sort of bloke who's in disguise. They spend their time sneaking in and out of compartments, dashing about the decks, and trying to unobtrusively hunt for the missing film, missing emerald, and missing girl. They, of course, have no luck and Morgan comes buzzing to see Gideon Fell before the Queen Victoria gets properly docked--in the hopes that Fell can see some sort of solution to the jolly mess. And, of course, he can.
There are some good scenes--especially at the beginning. I do like the foursome running around madly after Warren has bashed Captain Whistler a good one in the attempt to convince him that they were running to the rescue. And Captain Whistler is rather nice--when ranting he reminds me of Carr's other protagonist, Henry Merrivale, right down to the "Burn me's." But, in the end, the action just seems too over-the-top and silly to me. In fact, it kind of reminds me of a Scooby Doo episode with all the dashing about....and it even ends with the culprit blaming it all on "those meddling kids." And, there's not nearly enough of Fell. We have him at the beginning when Morgan begins his story, in the middle for an intermission, and then the wrap up. I much prefer the stories where Fell is more involved throughout.
Fairly decent mystery. Too much farce. Two stars.
Quote:
His views were based on the forthright principle that, the more respectable they looked, the more likely they were to turn out dastardly murderers. (p. 87)
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
July 8, 2016
#4 in the Gideon Fell series: and thank goodness I didn’t stumble upon this one first, or it would have been the last John Dickson Carr book I ever read. It is nothing at all like the first three books: Gideon Fell only appears in a narrative frame at the start, middle, and end of the book. Most of the action takes place on board a trans-Atlantic cruise ship, with a minor character from Book #3, the detective writer Henry Morgan, acting as the leader of a group of inane, constantly-drunk characters whom we’re supposed to think are charmingly madcap. Not!
Reading this book is like watching a Three Stooges movie; most of it is one drunken escapade after another which is meant to be funny—Carr even has Dr. Fell say that the best mysteries are founded on jokes. But perhaps this kind of humor simply didn’t survive the passage of time; what was considered funny in 1934 missed\s the mark completely in 2016. Or maybe it’s just me; I didn’t find it funny, I found it tedious and kept waiting for the book to end.
Let’s hope that Book #5 returns to the spirit and mood of the first three.
Reading this book is like watching a Three Stooges movie; most of it is one drunken escapade after another which is meant to be funny—Carr even has Dr. Fell say that the best mysteries are founded on jokes. But perhaps this kind of humor simply didn’t survive the passage of time; what was considered funny in 1934 missed\s the mark completely in 2016. Or maybe it’s just me; I didn’t find it funny, I found it tedious and kept waiting for the book to end.
Let’s hope that Book #5 returns to the spirit and mood of the first three.
October 24, 2022
Ladies and gentlemen such, and as I promised I write a review of John Dickson Carr's "On the Crimes of the Blind Barber." However, first I would like to give some warnings to my followers. I would like several things very much, such as finishing some reviews of my overdue readings. The other thing is two books away from reaching 170 books in this year's Goodreads Challenge, and my idea is to finish reading Roger Peyrefitte's "The Knights of Malta" https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... a very controversial writer, and from what I have heard more anti-Catholic in the vein of André Gide https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , or an Umberto Eco https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , as I told my friend Professor Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (whose wonderful books I recommend as always). Peyferitte had a very morbid history, which my father likes, and is set in the sixteenth century in the time of Pope Gregory XIII. Of a marriage that has no children, and the protagonist wants to annul the marriage to marry another woman, who will give him children, and the wife accuses the Prince of impotence, so the Prince must prove that he is not powerless to be able to marry another woman is entitled "The Nature of the Prince" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... it is these kinds of morally ambiguous stories that Roger Peyferitte writes. So, the shrewd Goodreads user will wonder why am I reading this writer? The answer is that I love the Military Orders, being my favorite Los Hospitalarios de San Juan, which is older than the Templars (although it has more fame), and starred in more glorious weapons events. It is a pity that of the three great Orders the Templars had that process, and now they have fallen, into the hands of Freemasons, and other disgusting secret societies, and the Teutonic Knights that I also like very much fell into Protestantism. So I only have this one left (eye, there are more military orders that of the Dragon, Montesa, Calatrava, Alcántara, Santiago). It's a shame, that with the boom of novels that exists about Vlad Tepes II (Count Dracula) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... the Knights of the Order of the Dragon have not been so successful. So he encouraged any writer, who is reading me to study the fascinating life of Emperor Sigismund I Luxembourg, who was Holy Roman Emperor, and King of Hungary, and Bohemia. You can learn more about this character by reading the novel "Potato Poker" by Laszlo Passuth https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... This is a novel, which along with "Born in the Purple" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... I have tried to achieve, and I have not been able to. But going back to Peyferitte this novel, if you expected something like "The Ottoman" by David Ball, or "Angels in Iron" by Nicholas C. Pratta (which was what I wanted) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... In reality we are facing a novel set after the Second World War. In a novel of Vatican intrigues, and ambitions, and speculation. I will still finish the reading. The second ad is more interesting. This week in addition to finishing some reviews I plan to read, and talk about football. Specifically the best club in the world Real Madrid, and interested Goodreads users will be able to know my football side in the review that I am going to publish of the book that I am going to read "Que bajé Dios, y lo explicaqué" by the journalist, tertullian, economist, and youtuber Don Ramón Álvarez de Mon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... that I plan to dedicate to the great youtuber for whom I feel a great veneration Quillo Barrios. By the way, if you are a fan of Real Madrid I strongly recommend following these youtubers of Madrid Quillo Barrios, Iñaki Ángulo, Miguel Serrano, and Don Ramón Álvarez de Mon himself.
After this announcement communicating my intentions I will deal with the criticism, which concerns us in this case of "The Crimes of the Blind Barber".
This novel is the fourth case of fictional detective Gideon Fell (that brilliant detective inspired by G.K. Chesterton, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., and is perhaps my favorite fictional detective, surpassing Father Brown himself https://www.goodreads.com/series/5560... which is very meritorious, considering the veneration I feel for G.K. Chesterton himself.) Also curiously it is the fourth case that I read to Gideon Fell being "Below Suspicion" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... (where John Dickson Carr, despite the criticism of some fans. He did not write a detective novel to use, but certainly more than detective is a theological novel confronting Butler, and Fell against the most terrible evil of this world Satanism. I recommend the wonderful book by Italian Rino Cammilleri "Monsters of Reason" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... distrust the rating of Goodreads. In spite of everything it is an extraordinary book, and a must read, if it has a rating it is because it has been read by very few people including a server. This book talks about all the utopias put into practice, and which have failed. Indispensable to know the rise of totalitarianisms, and where the future society is going, and highly recommended for lovers of the dystopian genre). At a time when it proliferated in American universities. Carmen Posadas https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... with whom I do not agree on many things, but on this I do. I speak against Satanism. I also read Panic in the C Box and Hag's nook the first case of Gideon Fell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... (here in Spain known as "The Witch's Corner")), and frankly none has disappointed me (at least the novels that have Fell as the protagonist, because the novels that have Harry Merrivale an old curmudgeon inspired by Sir. Winston S. Churchill , https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and the novels of Henri Bencolin, and Gaunts if they are bad). You may wonder if it has, and the answer is no. It is true that it has important flaws, the main one is that it is too complicated (something unforgivable in a detective novel, which has to go to the simple). It is true that there are not many murders (I maintain one thing, that, if the murderer is not a serial killer, or a madman, and is killed in a novel to more than four characters the detective is useless, and must dedicate himself to another trade, because detection is not his thing). The problem is that there are too many subplots. The theft of a piece of film to blackmail the uncle of one of the protagonists, who is an American politician who is achieving some renown. The theft of an elephant, and the murder of a woman with a knife used by a blind barber. It is surprising that a single person is responsible. The quartet of the protagonists is Henry Morgan (who appeared in another novel by Gideon Fell, and who is the narrator, who tells the story to Fell himself, in fact the structure is very similar to seven of Calvary by Anthony Boucher https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... who was a personal friend of John Dickson Carr himself. In my opinion, although this is not a bad novel is inferior to Boucher himself, which has been one of my favorite readings this year), Curtis Warren, Peggy Glen, and a very funny captain named Valvick, who will collide with the other Hector Wisthler, that the poor man only receives sticks, and blows from the protagonists (it would be what is called in slang as the sack of cakes, and the comic character of the novel with Valvick himself, who is Norwegian). They will also have to deal with a drunken puppeteer Uncle Jules Fortinbras. The novel is very complicated, and absurd. I sometimes missed how chaotic I was. Of course, unlike others, he had a sense of humor, and it is very fun to read the dialogues, and contact with other passengers such as the Perrigord, the terror of Bermansdey (a boxing champion), Sparks, Dr. Kyle, Lord Sturton. Although the most hilarious encounters will be with Captain Wishtler. Of all the characters the best is Valvick with his funny stories. That it is not known if they are true, or apocryphal, and that they end absurdly, and their war cry for the fatherland, for the Church, for the law, and Prince Rupert of the Rhine. The problem is that it is very complicated, surreal, and that it has neither feet nor head, and it misses Fell, who is only a listener, but is the one who finds the criminal (Fell's absence, although the story is very entertaining in part to its comedy. This reminded me of a novel by Quaterni, which suffered from the same problem Yatsutaka Mura the village of the 8 tombs of Seishi Yokomizo , https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... that also had the same problem the secondary role of Detective Kosuke Kindaichi. By the way, Yokomizo was more interesting than his teacher Edogawa Rampo https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... was a great admirer of John Dickson Carr). One does not hesitate to agree with Fell that the characters made so many mistakes that they missed the opportunity to capture the criminal. In fact, they create more problems than they solve, this being more than a detective novel a comedy of entanglement. You get to steal, assault, and lie. I've had such a good time, and she's so nice, that she forgave everything. The two endings of Sir Henry Morga's story are very interesting, which will make you laugh a lot. Partly thanks to the orondo Fell, which takes the whole story to Morgan even the most embarrassing moments of the protagonists, and that will produce the hilarity of the reader.
The end of both the resolution of the crime, the motivation of them, and the brutal outcome, but which are the opposite of the novels of S.S. Van Dine https://www.goodreads.com/series/6593... (which is appreciated, because they seem to me extremely immoral, and reveal the deterministic, Darwinist character of S.S. Van Dine, and there's nothing he hates more than that.) In the United States this is not surprising, but in Europe today it is. The non-American user, or whose country does not have the death penalty, must be clear about one thing, that if they catch the criminal he will most likely be sentenced to the death penalty. I like the whole John Dickson Carr ending because of my religious beliefs, and I think it's better than S.S. Van Dine (he is less harsh than the one in "Witch's Corner" due to the nature of the criminal). My grade is (3.5/5). My next criticism will be whether Providence wishes it "Chess Novel" by Stefan Zweig. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5....
After this announcement communicating my intentions I will deal with the criticism, which concerns us in this case of "The Crimes of the Blind Barber".
This novel is the fourth case of fictional detective Gideon Fell (that brilliant detective inspired by G.K. Chesterton, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., and is perhaps my favorite fictional detective, surpassing Father Brown himself https://www.goodreads.com/series/5560... which is very meritorious, considering the veneration I feel for G.K. Chesterton himself.) Also curiously it is the fourth case that I read to Gideon Fell being "Below Suspicion" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... (where John Dickson Carr, despite the criticism of some fans. He did not write a detective novel to use, but certainly more than detective is a theological novel confronting Butler, and Fell against the most terrible evil of this world Satanism. I recommend the wonderful book by Italian Rino Cammilleri "Monsters of Reason" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... distrust the rating of Goodreads. In spite of everything it is an extraordinary book, and a must read, if it has a rating it is because it has been read by very few people including a server. This book talks about all the utopias put into practice, and which have failed. Indispensable to know the rise of totalitarianisms, and where the future society is going, and highly recommended for lovers of the dystopian genre). At a time when it proliferated in American universities. Carmen Posadas https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... with whom I do not agree on many things, but on this I do. I speak against Satanism. I also read Panic in the C Box and Hag's nook the first case of Gideon Fell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... (here in Spain known as "The Witch's Corner")), and frankly none has disappointed me (at least the novels that have Fell as the protagonist, because the novels that have Harry Merrivale an old curmudgeon inspired by Sir. Winston S. Churchill , https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and the novels of Henri Bencolin, and Gaunts if they are bad). You may wonder if it has, and the answer is no. It is true that it has important flaws, the main one is that it is too complicated (something unforgivable in a detective novel, which has to go to the simple). It is true that there are not many murders (I maintain one thing, that, if the murderer is not a serial killer, or a madman, and is killed in a novel to more than four characters the detective is useless, and must dedicate himself to another trade, because detection is not his thing). The problem is that there are too many subplots. The theft of a piece of film to blackmail the uncle of one of the protagonists, who is an American politician who is achieving some renown. The theft of an elephant, and the murder of a woman with a knife used by a blind barber. It is surprising that a single person is responsible. The quartet of the protagonists is Henry Morgan (who appeared in another novel by Gideon Fell, and who is the narrator, who tells the story to Fell himself, in fact the structure is very similar to seven of Calvary by Anthony Boucher https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... who was a personal friend of John Dickson Carr himself. In my opinion, although this is not a bad novel is inferior to Boucher himself, which has been one of my favorite readings this year), Curtis Warren, Peggy Glen, and a very funny captain named Valvick, who will collide with the other Hector Wisthler, that the poor man only receives sticks, and blows from the protagonists (it would be what is called in slang as the sack of cakes, and the comic character of the novel with Valvick himself, who is Norwegian). They will also have to deal with a drunken puppeteer Uncle Jules Fortinbras. The novel is very complicated, and absurd. I sometimes missed how chaotic I was. Of course, unlike others, he had a sense of humor, and it is very fun to read the dialogues, and contact with other passengers such as the Perrigord, the terror of Bermansdey (a boxing champion), Sparks, Dr. Kyle, Lord Sturton. Although the most hilarious encounters will be with Captain Wishtler. Of all the characters the best is Valvick with his funny stories. That it is not known if they are true, or apocryphal, and that they end absurdly, and their war cry for the fatherland, for the Church, for the law, and Prince Rupert of the Rhine. The problem is that it is very complicated, surreal, and that it has neither feet nor head, and it misses Fell, who is only a listener, but is the one who finds the criminal (Fell's absence, although the story is very entertaining in part to its comedy. This reminded me of a novel by Quaterni, which suffered from the same problem Yatsutaka Mura the village of the 8 tombs of Seishi Yokomizo , https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... that also had the same problem the secondary role of Detective Kosuke Kindaichi. By the way, Yokomizo was more interesting than his teacher Edogawa Rampo https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... was a great admirer of John Dickson Carr). One does not hesitate to agree with Fell that the characters made so many mistakes that they missed the opportunity to capture the criminal. In fact, they create more problems than they solve, this being more than a detective novel a comedy of entanglement. You get to steal, assault, and lie. I've had such a good time, and she's so nice, that she forgave everything. The two endings of Sir Henry Morga's story are very interesting, which will make you laugh a lot. Partly thanks to the orondo Fell, which takes the whole story to Morgan even the most embarrassing moments of the protagonists, and that will produce the hilarity of the reader.
The end of both the resolution of the crime, the motivation of them, and the brutal outcome, but which are the opposite of the novels of S.S. Van Dine https://www.goodreads.com/series/6593... (which is appreciated, because they seem to me extremely immoral, and reveal the deterministic, Darwinist character of S.S. Van Dine, and there's nothing he hates more than that.) In the United States this is not surprising, but in Europe today it is. The non-American user, or whose country does not have the death penalty, must be clear about one thing, that if they catch the criminal he will most likely be sentenced to the death penalty. I like the whole John Dickson Carr ending because of my religious beliefs, and I think it's better than S.S. Van Dine (he is less harsh than the one in "Witch's Corner" due to the nature of the criminal). My grade is (3.5/5). My next criticism will be whether Providence wishes it "Chess Novel" by Stefan Zweig. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5....
February 14, 2018
Quasi una commedia, ricca di gag e situazioni divertenti. Ingegnosa la spiegazione del dottor Fell, basata solo sul racconto di uno dei protagonisti.
March 14, 2020
3.5*
This 4th book in the Gideon Fell series is not typical of the handful of others I have read! It is, as Anthony Boucher says in his introduction, a farce - indeed a plot that would be suitable for Wodehouse or a Marx Brothers movie! Wrapped in this comedy is a murder mystery which is very clever. So why only 3 and half stars? For me, it came down to the fact that despite all the antics, Carr never succeeded in making me laugh. Perhaps it is in the writing style or perhaps it was just my mood but while my brain could see the humor, it just didn't strike my funny bone. And that is odd because it is exactly the sort of shenanigans that do make me laugh in a Wodehouse book...
Carr very effectively used the humor to distract the reader (and most of the characters) from concentrating too hard on the murder. Morgan does try to do so but his companions keep pulling his attention away to deal with their craziness. Even so, I doubt that I would have been able to figure it out! Fell, of course, makes it all sound obvious once he expounds the solution.
This 4th book in the Gideon Fell series is not typical of the handful of others I have read! It is, as Anthony Boucher says in his introduction, a farce - indeed a plot that would be suitable for Wodehouse or a Marx Brothers movie! Wrapped in this comedy is a murder mystery which is very clever. So why only 3 and half stars? For me, it came down to the fact that despite all the antics, Carr never succeeded in making me laugh. Perhaps it is in the writing style or perhaps it was just my mood but while my brain could see the humor, it just didn't strike my funny bone. And that is odd because it is exactly the sort of shenanigans that do make me laugh in a Wodehouse book...
Carr very effectively used the humor to distract the reader (and most of the characters) from concentrating too hard on the murder. Morgan does try to do so but his companions keep pulling his attention away to deal with their craziness. Even so, I doubt that I would have been able to figure it out! Fell, of course, makes it all sound obvious once he expounds the solution.
May 20, 2020
I read a biography about John Dickson Carr the author and I have been waiting to fall in love with his books ever since. But, it's just hasn't happened so far. Carr was known for two principal character's, Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale each having their own series. The Sir Henry Merrivale stories were written under the pen name of Carter Dickson. Carr is also known for his locked room mysteries or, simply put, solving impossible crimes. The Sir Henry Merrival books were often comedic in nature as was the protagonist, Sir Henry Merrivale himself the Dr. Fell books, not so much.
So reading a Dr Fell book, who is almost non-existent in this story. He pops up in the end to solve it, but that's about it. I was expecting a more serious locked room mystery starring Dr. Fell, however it was anything but. It was more of a series of errors comedy, with the aforementioned Dr. Fell all but missing.
Not bad, but not laugh out loud, too drawn out and not what I was expecting, so at this point, I would have to say, John Dickson Carr remains ...just alright with me.
So reading a Dr Fell book, who is almost non-existent in this story. He pops up in the end to solve it, but that's about it. I was expecting a more serious locked room mystery starring Dr. Fell, however it was anything but. It was more of a series of errors comedy, with the aforementioned Dr. Fell all but missing.
Not bad, but not laugh out loud, too drawn out and not what I was expecting, so at this point, I would have to say, John Dickson Carr remains ...just alright with me.
May 14, 2024
I finished The Blind Barber on April Fools Day, which is appropriate as I feel that John Dickson Carr played a prank on me with this book. I was in the mood for Carr's typical mix of impossible crime and eerie tension, but instead I was handed a comical farce. That's not bad in itself, but it is not what I've come to expect from Carr.
The book would have made a great screwball comedy movie back in the time it was written. A quartet of fellow passengers on the Queen Victoria band together to help one of their group find a scandalous film. That in turn leads to a gruesome murder, a mistaken assault, over-consumption of alcohol, a missing jewel, more alcohol, another assault, madcap chases and yes, more drinking. Carr adds to the humorous predicaments our intrepid quartet face by writing the dialogue of some supporting characters to suit their accents (a Swedish captain, a snobby elite socialite, an Italian puppet-master and a Cockney criminal).
I did enjoy the book, although the typical Carr puzzle was buried under so many silly and dramatic events that only Dr. Gideon Fell, from the comfort of his new home, could sort through it all. And he does, as always.
[Note: I do not have the edition shown above; I read The Blind Barber in a collection called Four Complete Dr. Fell Novels; Goodreads does not offer the option of listing each novel separately]
The book would have made a great screwball comedy movie back in the time it was written. A quartet of fellow passengers on the Queen Victoria band together to help one of their group find a scandalous film. That in turn leads to a gruesome murder, a mistaken assault, over-consumption of alcohol, a missing jewel, more alcohol, another assault, madcap chases and yes, more drinking. Carr adds to the humorous predicaments our intrepid quartet face by writing the dialogue of some supporting characters to suit their accents (a Swedish captain, a snobby elite socialite, an Italian puppet-master and a Cockney criminal).
I did enjoy the book, although the typical Carr puzzle was buried under so many silly and dramatic events that only Dr. Gideon Fell, from the comfort of his new home, could sort through it all. And he does, as always.
[Note: I do not have the edition shown above; I read The Blind Barber in a collection called Four Complete Dr. Fell Novels; Goodreads does not offer the option of listing each novel separately]
August 18, 2025
Although for a while the frame-narrative style and the sheer farcical nature of the plot kept me at bay, it wasn’t long before I was drawn into the story. The hijinks and hilarity ended up making this one of my favorite John Dickson Carr novels. In spite of the topsy-turvy plot, inebriated characters, and seemingly nonsensical events, everything played a part in the mystery, and in Dr. Fell’s unraveling of it. At times, it felt very like a Jeeves and Wooster romp, but the mystery was top-notch. I personally didn’t see the solution coming, and that made it all the more fun.
June 10, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 215 (of 250)
Hook=4 stars: The ocean liner 'Queen Victoria' leaves NY with assorted suspicious characters. Will there be mayhem and murder? Of course! This one really gets off to a very good start.
Pace=2 stars: The days go by, the clues point....nowhere. We veer off course into the unknown.
Plot=3: Murder on a ship. Or not. And it's the 'or not' that makes the difference.
People=2: Lifeless marionettes more interesting than the live characters.
Place=1: We could be anywhere, in a hotel, a country house, doesn't matter. No atmosphere. And we're on the Queen Victoria ocean liner!
Summary=My overall rating is 2.4 This is more of a farce than anything else. I like this author, have read work by Carr which is far better. This is a fluke, and on the irritating side. The first 100 pages or so are promising, then it becomes senseless. Perhaps it is because the characters stay drunk the whole time and no one knows what's going on. Recommendation: Pass this one and select another by the same author.
BOOK 215 (of 250)
Hook=4 stars: The ocean liner 'Queen Victoria' leaves NY with assorted suspicious characters. Will there be mayhem and murder? Of course! This one really gets off to a very good start.
Pace=2 stars: The days go by, the clues point....nowhere. We veer off course into the unknown.
Plot=3: Murder on a ship. Or not. And it's the 'or not' that makes the difference.
People=2: Lifeless marionettes more interesting than the live characters.
Place=1: We could be anywhere, in a hotel, a country house, doesn't matter. No atmosphere. And we're on the Queen Victoria ocean liner!
Summary=My overall rating is 2.4 This is more of a farce than anything else. I like this author, have read work by Carr which is far better. This is a fluke, and on the irritating side. The first 100 pages or so are promising, then it becomes senseless. Perhaps it is because the characters stay drunk the whole time and no one knows what's going on. Recommendation: Pass this one and select another by the same author.
July 14, 2016
This is kinda fun if you are interested in the history of mystery novels. Carr is a witty writer, funnier (to me) than, say, P G Wodehouse. There are also countless cultural references to the 1930's which somehow I mostly recognized. I was startled to see that people used an ironic "heh heh" way back then.
The plot, and sometimes the prose, are pretty convoluted. Carr insists on conveying dialects phonetically (British, Scottish, Norwegian, working class Britain, etc), though the results did not seem accurate to me. There is also quite a lot of French here and there, none of it translated, all of it simple enough for me to understand, but this might annoy those lacking a background in that language.
There are plenty of clues, all of which I missed, but they are sorted out at the end. This is part intellectual journey, part farce and part social commentary. I can't say the result was wonderful, but I did find it entertaining.
The plot, and sometimes the prose, are pretty convoluted. Carr insists on conveying dialects phonetically (British, Scottish, Norwegian, working class Britain, etc), though the results did not seem accurate to me. There is also quite a lot of French here and there, none of it translated, all of it simple enough for me to understand, but this might annoy those lacking a background in that language.
There are plenty of clues, all of which I missed, but they are sorted out at the end. This is part intellectual journey, part farce and part social commentary. I can't say the result was wonderful, but I did find it entertaining.
January 7, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2025
Carr is by far my favourite golden age crime writer, responsible for so many masterpieces it’s ridiculous. He could also write some absolute nonsense - Crimson Blind, I’m looking at you. This is neither. This is a perplexing farce which suggests that Carr hadn’t quite ironed out Sir Henry Merrivale yet, so instead we have sub Wodehouse frolics on a boat (but with an actual murder) and a strangely passive and slightly uncomfortable Fell in the bridging chapters. It for all the world feels like when old Doctor Who episodes had to be made around Troughton or Hartnell having a holiday, with the Doctor offscreen for a couple of episodes. But as a book. So that’s strange enough as it is. Plus the problem is Carr can’t really do farce very well yet, so keeps trying to dazzle us with comic business, dead ends, red herrings and a metric tonne of jarring comedy phonetic accents. The more golden age crime fiction I read and the older I get, the more I realise that any writer using *that many* comedy accents is trying very hard to hide something structurally wrong with the book. And it’s very strange to get to the final chapter, witness Carr being tremendously clever (and citing every time he drops a clue with footnotes) but not really caring because all you really remember is how manic the whole thing is. Not one of the greats
February 21, 2025
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
July 20, 2023
an all-out farce (with murder as the intrusion).
...suprised when he heard something rattle deep down between mattress and bulkhead. He yanked over a corner of the sheet, wound it round his fingers, and groped. “Better not look, old girl,” he said after a pause. “This won’t be pretty.” Shielding the find with his body so that only Captain Valvick could see, he pulled it up in the sheet and turned it over in his palm. It was a razor, of the straight, old-fashioned variety, and closed; but it had recently been used. Rather larger than the ordinary size, it was an elaborate and delicate piece of craftsmanship with a handle so curiously fashioned that Morgan wiped the blood away to examine it. The handle was of a wood that resembled ebony. Down one side ran a design picked out in thin silver and white porcelain. At first Morgan took it for an intricate nameplate, until, under cleaning, it became a man’s standing figure. The figure was possibly three inches high, and under it was a tiny plate inscribed with the word Sunday. “Ay know,” said Captain Valvick, staring at it. “It iss one of a set of seven, one for every day of de week. Ay haff seen dose before. But what iss dat t’ing on it, like a man?” The thin figure, in its silver and white and black, was picked out in a curious striped medieval costume, which recalled to Morgan’s mind vague associations with steel-cut engravings out of Doré. Surgeon, surgeon—barber, that was it! There was the razor in the thing’s fist. But most ugly and grotesque of all, the head of the figure was subtly like a death’s head, and a bandage was across the eyes so that the barber was— “Blind,” said Warren, who was looking over his shoulder. “Put it away, Hank! Put it away. Blind … death and barber … end of the week. Somebody used that, and lost it or left it here. Put it away. Have a drink.” Morgan looked at the evil and smeared design. He looked at the door, then at the white-painted bulkhead in the bunk, the tumbled bedclothes and the spotty brown blanket. Again he tried to picture the girl in the yellow frock lying here under a dim light, while the outside door was opening. So who was the girl, and where was she now, wrapped round in the soaked sheets that were here before? It was five miles to the bottom of the sea. They would never find her body now. Morgan turned round. “Yes,” he said, “the Blind Barber has been here tonight.”
Captain Whistler pointed out and enumerated his afflictions. Masked foreigners, he said, attacked him with stilettos and bottles. Uninsured jewels belonging to ?!£&/! viscounts were stolen while murdering thieves posed as Harley Street doctors at his table. Blood-stained blankets and razors mysteriously appeared in the cabins; women vanished but did not vanish; the nephews of eminent American administrators first went mad and gibbered of bears and geography then ran amok with bug-powder guns, tried to poison him and finally threatened him with razors. Indeed, an unprejudiced listener would have decided that the situation aboard the Queen Victoria was past hope. An unprejudiced listener would have said this boat had been chosen for the annual convention of the Ancient Order of Sorcerers, and that the boys must have been showing off a bit.
...suprised when he heard something rattle deep down between mattress and bulkhead. He yanked over a corner of the sheet, wound it round his fingers, and groped. “Better not look, old girl,” he said after a pause. “This won’t be pretty.” Shielding the find with his body so that only Captain Valvick could see, he pulled it up in the sheet and turned it over in his palm. It was a razor, of the straight, old-fashioned variety, and closed; but it had recently been used. Rather larger than the ordinary size, it was an elaborate and delicate piece of craftsmanship with a handle so curiously fashioned that Morgan wiped the blood away to examine it. The handle was of a wood that resembled ebony. Down one side ran a design picked out in thin silver and white porcelain. At first Morgan took it for an intricate nameplate, until, under cleaning, it became a man’s standing figure. The figure was possibly three inches high, and under it was a tiny plate inscribed with the word Sunday. “Ay know,” said Captain Valvick, staring at it. “It iss one of a set of seven, one for every day of de week. Ay haff seen dose before. But what iss dat t’ing on it, like a man?” The thin figure, in its silver and white and black, was picked out in a curious striped medieval costume, which recalled to Morgan’s mind vague associations with steel-cut engravings out of Doré. Surgeon, surgeon—barber, that was it! There was the razor in the thing’s fist. But most ugly and grotesque of all, the head of the figure was subtly like a death’s head, and a bandage was across the eyes so that the barber was— “Blind,” said Warren, who was looking over his shoulder. “Put it away, Hank! Put it away. Blind … death and barber … end of the week. Somebody used that, and lost it or left it here. Put it away. Have a drink.” Morgan looked at the evil and smeared design. He looked at the door, then at the white-painted bulkhead in the bunk, the tumbled bedclothes and the spotty brown blanket. Again he tried to picture the girl in the yellow frock lying here under a dim light, while the outside door was opening. So who was the girl, and where was she now, wrapped round in the soaked sheets that were here before? It was five miles to the bottom of the sea. They would never find her body now. Morgan turned round. “Yes,” he said, “the Blind Barber has been here tonight.”
Captain Whistler pointed out and enumerated his afflictions. Masked foreigners, he said, attacked him with stilettos and bottles. Uninsured jewels belonging to ?!£&/! viscounts were stolen while murdering thieves posed as Harley Street doctors at his table. Blood-stained blankets and razors mysteriously appeared in the cabins; women vanished but did not vanish; the nephews of eminent American administrators first went mad and gibbered of bears and geography then ran amok with bug-powder guns, tried to poison him and finally threatened him with razors. Indeed, an unprejudiced listener would have decided that the situation aboard the Queen Victoria was past hope. An unprejudiced listener would have said this boat had been chosen for the annual convention of the Ancient Order of Sorcerers, and that the boys must have been showing off a bit.
April 14, 2009
I'll give it a 2.5 because the beginning was good.
"The Blind Barber" started out very well. A group of people, including Henry Morgan, the well-known detective fiction writer of previous books in this series, are on an ocean liner returning to England. One of the people, Curtis Warren, is carrying some reels of film that if found would put some members of the US government in a predicament -- and right away he's given a cosh on the head and a few reels are stolen. Then while Warren and his friends are in the cabin next door, waiting for the attacker to return for the rest, a woman calls out to him and the friends go out in the hall to check it out. They find a woman, badly injured and take her in the cabin. They go to get help and return...but she's gone and the bed has been remade. On top of everything else, an emerald elephant of great value goes missing. So with all of this crime going on, the story should have been very interesting.
However, this series of mysteries rapidly devolved into something a bit farcical and silly. It is not until the ship reaches England that Dr. Gideon Fell is brought into the picture -- and then he is able to do his magic.
I didn't really care much for this book, but it started out well and I was sucked in right away. It goes very well until the last few chapters. I didn't care about any of the characters, really -- they seemed to be just silly and unmemorable.
Would I recommend it? Probably not, even though it got sterling ratings on Amazon (but there again, I'm usually among the lone fish swimming upstream there). You can skip this one if you're reading the series and probably not miss much.
"The Blind Barber" started out very well. A group of people, including Henry Morgan, the well-known detective fiction writer of previous books in this series, are on an ocean liner returning to England. One of the people, Curtis Warren, is carrying some reels of film that if found would put some members of the US government in a predicament -- and right away he's given a cosh on the head and a few reels are stolen. Then while Warren and his friends are in the cabin next door, waiting for the attacker to return for the rest, a woman calls out to him and the friends go out in the hall to check it out. They find a woman, badly injured and take her in the cabin. They go to get help and return...but she's gone and the bed has been remade. On top of everything else, an emerald elephant of great value goes missing. So with all of this crime going on, the story should have been very interesting.
However, this series of mysteries rapidly devolved into something a bit farcical and silly. It is not until the ship reaches England that Dr. Gideon Fell is brought into the picture -- and then he is able to do his magic.
I didn't really care much for this book, but it started out well and I was sucked in right away. It goes very well until the last few chapters. I didn't care about any of the characters, really -- they seemed to be just silly and unmemorable.
Would I recommend it? Probably not, even though it got sterling ratings on Amazon (but there again, I'm usually among the lone fish swimming upstream there). You can skip this one if you're reading the series and probably not miss much.
February 19, 2012
It was not a typical Dickson Carr if you ask me, it was more of a comedy then a detective novel. It didn't impress me or anything like that.
There was no locked room murder or an impossible one. In fact the group of friend who are the main characters aren't even sure if what they saw was accurate and if a murder even happened, because all that they could rely on was what they saw after having a few drinks and no passenger was missing after they made inquiries together with the captain of the ship they ware sailing on. Anyway, the murder is like a side-theme. The main plot circles around the impossible and hilarious disappearance and reappearance of a jewel and this hobby detective group that was formed on the Queen Victoria ship. They get in to all kind of silly and hilarious situation with brings them in to a lot of trouble with the captain (one of them even spraying accidentally bug powder all over the captains cabin, in his wardrobe and in the poor mans face).
So it's quite hilarious but not so much a classic Carr Novel with a lot of deduction.
There was no locked room murder or an impossible one. In fact the group of friend who are the main characters aren't even sure if what they saw was accurate and if a murder even happened, because all that they could rely on was what they saw after having a few drinks and no passenger was missing after they made inquiries together with the captain of the ship they ware sailing on. Anyway, the murder is like a side-theme. The main plot circles around the impossible and hilarious disappearance and reappearance of a jewel and this hobby detective group that was formed on the Queen Victoria ship. They get in to all kind of silly and hilarious situation with brings them in to a lot of trouble with the captain (one of them even spraying accidentally bug powder all over the captains cabin, in his wardrobe and in the poor mans face).
So it's quite hilarious but not so much a classic Carr Novel with a lot of deduction.
September 11, 2022
2.5-3 stars. Really not sure what to make of this book. It's a Dr. Fell mystery, and while there is a convoluted mystery and murder (or not) in the novel, it is almost totally subsumed in a swamp of slapstick farce. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't necessarily make for a bad book, just not what I expected, and the slapstick is a major distraction from the mystery at the heart of the novel. And I certainly wouldn't mind if the farce were well written. At times, this is clearly the case, with Carr reaching for Wodehousian heights and nearly attaining them. At other times, however, and in a double denouement which seems tacked on, it sinks closer to Scooby Doo than Wooster (to the point of having the criminal coming within an ounce of saying "if it wasn't for those meddling kids" during the denouement). The fact that the mystery side of the tale was MacGuffin-led didn't help much. It was still fairly enjoyable, but clumsily muddled as a result of never being sure whether it was a comedy or a tragedy and ultimately never really deciding on being either.
October 17, 2019
The idea of John Dickson Carr is better than the reality. Impossible crimes a la Jonathan Creek hugely appeal to me, but the famed master of the locked room mystery is a pretty poor writer of prose. Nevertheless I've generally enjoyed his books before and found the puzzles compensate for the tedious banter and paper-thin characters. Not here - the whodunnit element is cursory and we are instead treated to an ocean-set Scooby Doo farce of numbingly unfunny proportions (there are even complaints about "those pesky kids".) The setup is fun and the solution fairly clever but a little of Carr's leaden farce and comedy accents go a very long way. Contra Dr Fell, it turns out to be far from a pleasure to read a case in which the main clues are all jokes. Not entirely without compensations, but very hard-going by the end.
May 2, 2015
This was a rollicking farce that was almost too much at times. Zany does not begin to describe it. It is a Gideon Fell mystery but the big guy isn't directly involved in the wild ship-board antics. He is called upon to unravel the mystery late in the game, which he does with his customary panache. In spite of the bizarre nature of events, the plot is the usual solid effort by John Dickson Carr. In the end all the clues are presented in logical order and it seems the solution should have been easy to spot if it hadn't been for all the entertaining distractions.
July 20, 2024
Less of a locked room mystery but more of an impossible crime mystery in a broader sense. Razor sharp climax with Fell to the rescue as usual.
The BBC radio adaptation with Donald Sinden playing as Dr Fell, is rather a cracking listen as well! Highly recommended - Dr Gideon Fell: The Complete BBC Radio Drama Collection
My Rating - 3.5/5
The BBC radio adaptation with Donald Sinden playing as Dr Fell, is rather a cracking listen as well! Highly recommended - Dr Gideon Fell: The Complete BBC Radio Drama Collection
My Rating - 3.5/5
January 7, 2015
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Thriller starring Donald Sinden as Dr Gideon Fell, John Hartley as Superintendent Hadley and Patrick Allen as Lord Sturton.
Amateur sleuth, Dr Gideon Fell is an archetypal English eccentric created by American-born John Dickson Carr.
Dramatised by Peter Ling. Director Enyd Williams.
Thriller starring Donald Sinden as Dr Gideon Fell, John Hartley as Superintendent Hadley and Patrick Allen as Lord Sturton.
Amateur sleuth, Dr Gideon Fell is an archetypal English eccentric created by American-born John Dickson Carr.
Dramatised by Peter Ling. Director Enyd Williams.
October 6, 2016
This was a very poor murder mystery. Mr Carr tried to write a deliberately funny detective story and failed. Because so much of the story was given over to supposedly funny incidences, the real murderer was very clear to see. And worst of all, the humour was dreary. Maybe it was funny in 1934, but I doubt it.
November 9, 2021
I'm bored out of my mind!!! I ditched it halfway through. I can't take any more drivel by the four amateur sleuths. Thankfully, other reviewers felt the same way, and I was heartened to read that this is NOT a typical Carr book. As another reviewer commented "if this had been the first book I ever read by Carr, I would not have read any more." [paraphrased].
July 3, 2025
Did people ever find this clumsy slapstick funny? Carr is a wobbly author—very good at spooky atmosphere and puzzles, tragically bad at humor and romance. This book is mainly the latter, and I just got really really tired of most of that, particularly the “humorous” Swedish dialect (“Yumping Yesus!”). I’ve lost interest in the puzzle and can’t appreciate the spooky moments. Moving on.
January 7, 2024
I really wanted to enjoy this book — after all, I've read other John Dickson Carr books, most in the Gideon Fell canon — but although the mystery is sharp and witty, the story itself seemed to have taken over by gremlins.
Anthony Boucher, who wrote the introduction to the edition that I read, cheered it on because it is a farce. I like humor as much as the next guy, but this was a Marx Brothers comedy and I've never understood those movies at all.
Let me explain. The book begins with Henry Morgan, a writer of detective fiction, coming to Dr. Gideon Fell to tell him about a mystery aboard a ship, specifically, the Queen Victoria. Morgan may be the only halfway sane individual in this tale, for most of the case, he keeps his wits about him.
Anyway, Morgan was traveling on the ship along with his fried Curtis Warren, whose uncle is a ranking leader in American government. Warren himself works in the consular service and has a budding hobby of recording things with a video camera. In fact, Warren recently was at a party being hosted by his uncle and is asked if they can have some fun with his camera. Well, these government officials proceeded to make phone speeches and sing silly songs into the camera. If you have watched any political or spy thriller movies, you know what's about to happen. Warren travels with the compromising film, and is attacked and the film is stolen.
Warren and Morgan have to get the film back. Somehow they are joined by Margaret "Peggy" Glen, the secretary and general manager for his uncle Jules Fortunbras, an owner of a swank marionette theatre; and Thomassen Valvick, a retired Norwegian skipper who is a friend of the Queen Victoria's Commander Sir Hector Whistler. There are others who come in and out of this tale, but these are the major characters. There's also on board a well-known Dr. Kyle, a pschologist by the description; Charles Woodcock, a bug spray salesman; and Viscount Sturton, the wealthy "Hermit of Jermyn Street" who seems to be traveling with numerous valuables, including a valuable jade elephant; and Jules Fortunbras.
Well, let's just say, in trying to figure out who took the film, the friends also get entangled with the jade elephant and somehow in the midst of a story (in which those who aren't deadly seasick are drinking like fish), they attack Commander Whistler and grab the elephant he had gotten from Sturton to place in a safe place. Not wanting to get found with the elephant — or to be discovered as the thugs who attacked Whistler — the elephant is thrown into a porthole! Whose room is it in? Queries are not helpful, no one admits that they had something fly into their room in the middle of the storm.
More silliness ensues and soon they have what they think is a murder, only they can't find the body when reporting it, and unsurprisingly, more of the compromising film disappears too. Every time these people turn around they cause mayhem instead of finding clues. And none of them come up with the slightest idea of the man — or woman — they are seeking. I did, and I can't tell you exactly how I did.
The characters for the most part are written to be silly, thoughtless and pretty inept. I often wondered how these people lived day to day, especially considering that they seemed to always be throwing down their throats cheap liquor.
Enough said. I think John Dickson Carr is a masterful writer and there is a bit of humor in many of his stories, but this one went out on a limb and then sawed it from the tree.
Anthony Boucher, who wrote the introduction to the edition that I read, cheered it on because it is a farce. I like humor as much as the next guy, but this was a Marx Brothers comedy and I've never understood those movies at all.
Let me explain. The book begins with Henry Morgan, a writer of detective fiction, coming to Dr. Gideon Fell to tell him about a mystery aboard a ship, specifically, the Queen Victoria. Morgan may be the only halfway sane individual in this tale, for most of the case, he keeps his wits about him.
Anyway, Morgan was traveling on the ship along with his fried Curtis Warren, whose uncle is a ranking leader in American government. Warren himself works in the consular service and has a budding hobby of recording things with a video camera. In fact, Warren recently was at a party being hosted by his uncle and is asked if they can have some fun with his camera. Well, these government officials proceeded to make phone speeches and sing silly songs into the camera. If you have watched any political or spy thriller movies, you know what's about to happen. Warren travels with the compromising film, and is attacked and the film is stolen.
Warren and Morgan have to get the film back. Somehow they are joined by Margaret "Peggy" Glen, the secretary and general manager for his uncle Jules Fortunbras, an owner of a swank marionette theatre; and Thomassen Valvick, a retired Norwegian skipper who is a friend of the Queen Victoria's Commander Sir Hector Whistler. There are others who come in and out of this tale, but these are the major characters. There's also on board a well-known Dr. Kyle, a pschologist by the description; Charles Woodcock, a bug spray salesman; and Viscount Sturton, the wealthy "Hermit of Jermyn Street" who seems to be traveling with numerous valuables, including a valuable jade elephant; and Jules Fortunbras.
Well, let's just say, in trying to figure out who took the film, the friends also get entangled with the jade elephant and somehow in the midst of a story (in which those who aren't deadly seasick are drinking like fish), they attack Commander Whistler and grab the elephant he had gotten from Sturton to place in a safe place. Not wanting to get found with the elephant — or to be discovered as the thugs who attacked Whistler — the elephant is thrown into a porthole! Whose room is it in? Queries are not helpful, no one admits that they had something fly into their room in the middle of the storm.
More silliness ensues and soon they have what they think is a murder, only they can't find the body when reporting it, and unsurprisingly, more of the compromising film disappears too. Every time these people turn around they cause mayhem instead of finding clues. And none of them come up with the slightest idea of the man — or woman — they are seeking. I did, and I can't tell you exactly how I did.
The characters for the most part are written to be silly, thoughtless and pretty inept. I often wondered how these people lived day to day, especially considering that they seemed to always be throwing down their throats cheap liquor.
Enough said. I think John Dickson Carr is a masterful writer and there is a bit of humor in many of his stories, but this one went out on a limb and then sawed it from the tree.
July 30, 2021
На борту лайнера «Королева Виктория», плывущего из Америки в Европу, собирается компания молодых людей — родственник влиятельного политика Кертис, писатель Генри и родственница владельца кукольного театра Пегги. У Кертиса при себе случайно оказывается кинопленка, запись на которой может погубить карьеру его родственника-политика. Причем Кертис узнаёт об этой пленке только в тот момент, когда ее у него украли. Трое друзей пытаются разыскать пленку не привлекая внимания к расследованию, но постоянно влипают в неприятности.
Карр не чурался юмора в своих романах. Почти в каждом его раннем романе были какие-то шутейки — где-то больше, где-то меньше. (Совсем уж фарсовые ситуации были у Карра в серии про Генри Мерривейла, но эту серию издавали под псевдонимом Картер Диксон. Под своим именем Карр сохранял «остатки приличия».) И уж не знаю, из каких соображений, но в «Охоте на Цирюльника» Карр дал волю своему чувству юмора. Потому как этот роман — фарс, комедия ошибок, комедия положений.
В течении пары дней планы трех друзей регулярно проваливаются. Они попадают в глупейшие ситуации. Становятся причиной того, что капитана корабля (ни в чем не виноватого) дважды избивают и обливают инсектицидом. Участвуют в спектакле театра марионеток. Кертис от лица рыцаря Карла Великого толкает восхищенной публике доклад на французском об экспорте сардин из Лиссабона. Пассажиры корабля лишаются своей обуви. Драгоценный камень большой стоимости регулярно крадется и возвращается.
Это восхитительно. Это, конечно, не Вудхауз, но уровнем выше Хмелевской и иже с ними. Я не знаю больше ни одного романа Карра, над которым я так смеялся. Смеялся долго — на протяжении почти всей книги.
Но это всё-таки детектив. Доктор Фелл не может не раскрывать преступления. В «Охоте на Цирюльника» Фелла очень мало — он вставлен только для того, чтобы свести все хвосты в одну кучу. По сюжету, к Феллу приходит Генри, рассказывает историю о событиях на корабле и Фелл, не выходя из комнаты, вычисляет преступника. Лучше бы было вообще без Фелла обойтись, но серийность — бич литературы, что в 20-м веке, что в 21-м. А Карру, когда он писал этот роман, еще не было и 30 — так что особо спорить с издателем он не мог.
Оригинальное название романа — «The Blind Barber«, переводится, как «Слепой цирюльник». Но впервые роман был издан Центрполиграфом в 2004 году (и им же переиздавался в 2009 году) под нелепым названием «Охота на Цирюльника». И только в 2016 году харьковский КСД переиздал роман с новым переводом и правильным названием «Слепой Цирюльник».
9/10
Оригинал отзыва - https://cahier.ru/carr-blind-barber-1...
Карр не чурался юмора в своих романах. Почти в каждом его раннем романе были какие-то шутейки — где-то больше, где-то меньше. (Совсем уж фарсовые ситуации были у Карра в серии про Генри Мерривейла, но эту серию издавали под псевдонимом Картер Диксон. Под своим именем Карр сохранял «остатки приличия».) И уж не знаю, из каких соображений, но в «Охоте на Цирюльника» Карр дал волю своему чувству юмора. Потому как этот роман — фарс, комедия ошибок, комедия положений.
В течении пары дней планы трех друзей регулярно проваливаются. Они попадают в глупейшие ситуации. Становятся причиной того, что капитана корабля (ни в чем не виноватого) дважды избивают и обливают инсектицидом. Участвуют в спектакле театра марионеток. Кертис от лица рыцаря Карла Великого толкает восхищенной публике доклад на французском об экспорте сардин из Лиссабона. Пассажиры корабля лишаются своей обуви. Драгоценный камень большой стоимости регулярно крадется и возвращается.
Это восхитительно. Это, конечно, не Вудхауз, но уровнем выше Хмелевской и иже с ними. Я не знаю больше ни одного романа Карра, над которым я так смеялся. Смеялся долго — на протяжении почти всей книги.
Но это всё-таки детектив. Доктор Фелл не может не раскрывать преступления. В «Охоте на Цирюльника» Фелла очень мало — он вставлен только для того, чтобы свести все хвосты в одну кучу. По сюжету, к Феллу приходит Генри, рассказывает историю о событиях на корабле и Фелл, не выходя из комнаты, вычисляет преступника. Лучше бы было вообще без Фелла обойтись, но серийность — бич литературы, что в 20-м веке, что в 21-м. А Карру, когда он писал этот роман, еще не было и 30 — так что особо спорить с издателем он не мог.
Оригинальное название романа — «The Blind Barber«, переводится, как «Слепой цирюльник». Но впервые роман был издан Центрполиграфом в 2004 году (и им же переиздавался в 2009 году) под нелепым названием «Охота на Цирюльника». И только в 2016 году харьковский КСД переиздал роман с новым переводом и правильным названием «Слепой Цирюльник».
9/10
Оригинал отзыва - https://cahier.ru/carr-blind-barber-1...
September 7, 2024
5/5
The Case Of The Blind Barber is the 4th book in the illustrious Dr. Gideon Fell Series. I went into this book with mixed expectations, on one hand, I expected it to be a great mystery; on the other, the previous books did leave something to be desired. I'm happy to say that this entry surpassed my expectations. This was such a fun book to read, fun of hilarity, mishaps and shenanigans. Simply unputdownable.
I fancy narratives that feature an arm-chair detective instead of an active one as it forces the author to create such a tight script that the watchful reader doesn't figure out the mystery. This book features one of the best deductions I've seen from Dr. Fell. The way he pieced together all the information about the murderer from the mundane points that I had glossed over made me giddy. The fact that Carr could write such a gripping narrative with developments more akin to a comedy movie and still make the mystery satisfying solidified him as a genius in my eyes.
With the obvious out of the way, let's rate this book as we usually do:
The Detective and the Method of Detection : 5/5
The Criminal : 5/5
The Method of Crime : 5/5
In this book, both the criminal and the detective are in their A-game. Both of them have no faults as characters. They both serve their purpose, move the story forward and challenge each other at every step. Even though they never meet each other until the very end, it was still genuinely brilliant to see Dr. Fell grow to respect the orchestrator of such a dastardly plot. The criminal is not your typical mastermind, though he is quite intelligent in his own rights; but rather a strategist who can make even the direst situations result in him coming out on top.
Brilliantly executed. Rakishly sharp. I'm afraid I'll lessen the impact of this masterpiece by talking more about it. Even if you are a little bit interested in the story, I recommend you read it ASAP.
Can't wait to read more!!!
The Case Of The Blind Barber is the 4th book in the illustrious Dr. Gideon Fell Series. I went into this book with mixed expectations, on one hand, I expected it to be a great mystery; on the other, the previous books did leave something to be desired. I'm happy to say that this entry surpassed my expectations. This was such a fun book to read, fun of hilarity, mishaps and shenanigans. Simply unputdownable.
I fancy narratives that feature an arm-chair detective instead of an active one as it forces the author to create such a tight script that the watchful reader doesn't figure out the mystery. This book features one of the best deductions I've seen from Dr. Fell. The way he pieced together all the information about the murderer from the mundane points that I had glossed over made me giddy. The fact that Carr could write such a gripping narrative with developments more akin to a comedy movie and still make the mystery satisfying solidified him as a genius in my eyes.
With the obvious out of the way, let's rate this book as we usually do:
The Detective and the Method of Detection : 5/5
The Criminal : 5/5
The Method of Crime : 5/5
In this book, both the criminal and the detective are in their A-game. Both of them have no faults as characters. They both serve their purpose, move the story forward and challenge each other at every step. Even though they never meet each other until the very end, it was still genuinely brilliant to see Dr. Fell grow to respect the orchestrator of such a dastardly plot. The criminal is not your typical mastermind, though he is quite intelligent in his own rights; but rather a strategist who can make even the direst situations result in him coming out on top.
Brilliantly executed. Rakishly sharp. I'm afraid I'll lessen the impact of this masterpiece by talking more about it. Even if you are a little bit interested in the story, I recommend you read it ASAP.
Can't wait to read more!!!
October 29, 2025
Renowned as the master of the impossible crime and/or locked room mystery, Carr tries his hand at comedy here with (to my mind at least) catastrophic results. The Blind Barber barely even features the headlining detective Dr. Gideon Fell; the story is narrated to him by his young friend Henry Morgan.
What unfolds is a drunken fever dream involving the theft of incriminating films and priceless gems on an ocean liner, with a possible murder thrown in for good measure. Morgan and his merry band of inebriated idiots lurch from one improbable and farcical situation to another, with much of the action being too cartoonish and over-the-top to really land for me in a comedic sense. Indeed, the story rapidly begins to resemble a Scooby-Doo episode, with the culprit even coming dangerously close to muttering "you meddling kids" after being unmasked. A lot of this would undoubtedly translate better to a screen adaptation - particularly given Carr's unfortunate attempts to render various accents into written dialogue - but in any case this is hardly what one expects from a Carr novel.
Fell tries gamely to salvage the situation by extracting a series of cryptic clues from all the insanity, and then unravelling them for Morgan at the end. Unfortunately, a few of these are tenuous at best - the one relating to a radiogram I found especially egregious - and collectively they are hardly worth putting up with 180 pages of bad slapstick. Throw in a villain whose motivations and actions ultimately prove to be in large part nonsensical, and you have a novel I absolutely struggled to get through from start to finish.
What unfolds is a drunken fever dream involving the theft of incriminating films and priceless gems on an ocean liner, with a possible murder thrown in for good measure. Morgan and his merry band of inebriated idiots lurch from one improbable and farcical situation to another, with much of the action being too cartoonish and over-the-top to really land for me in a comedic sense. Indeed, the story rapidly begins to resemble a Scooby-Doo episode, with the culprit even coming dangerously close to muttering "you meddling kids" after being unmasked. A lot of this would undoubtedly translate better to a screen adaptation - particularly given Carr's unfortunate attempts to render various accents into written dialogue - but in any case this is hardly what one expects from a Carr novel.
Fell tries gamely to salvage the situation by extracting a series of cryptic clues from all the insanity, and then unravelling them for Morgan at the end. Unfortunately, a few of these are tenuous at best - the one relating to a radiogram I found especially egregious - and collectively they are hardly worth putting up with 180 pages of bad slapstick. Throw in a villain whose motivations and actions ultimately prove to be in large part nonsensical, and you have a novel I absolutely struggled to get through from start to finish.
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