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The Invisible Circle
Seven people receive invitations to a ‘singular experience’ during a weekend in Cornwall in a castle reputedly built on the site of King Arthur’s, and situated on an island tenuously connected to the mainland. The sinister host announces that a murder will be committed that night, shows them a sword embedded in a stone (which none of them is able to pull out) and a golden chalice which he claims is the Holy Grail sought by the Knights of the Round Table. Thus begins a nightmarish series of events including impossible murders, the disappearance of the Grail, and communication with the mainland cut off. Has the vengeful king indeed returned? And is there any connection to the recent release of the host’s homicidal half-brother? The plot, one of Paul Halter’s most convoluted, is great fun.‘The Invisible Circle’ is the eighth Paul Halter novel to be published in English by Locked Room International. His previous novel ‘The Crimson Fog’ was named one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Top Mysteries of 2013. The author, a best-selling novelist in his native France, has written over thirty novels, almost all ‘locked room’ or ‘impossible crime,’ and is widely regarded as the successor to John Dickson Carr. He appeared on BBC Radio 4’s program ‘Miles Jupp in a Locked Room,’ broadcast on May 21, 2012. A ninth novel ‘The Riddle of Monte Verita’ by Jean-Paul Torok (“wonderfully captures and evokes the glory days of the detective story”) was published in 2012.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Paul Halter
85 books63 followersPaul Halter is a writer of crime fiction known for his locked room mysteries. Halter pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world. Disappointed with the lack of travel, he left the military and, for a while, sold life insurance while augmenting his income playing the guitar in the local dance orchestra. He gave up life insurance for a job in the state-owned telecommunications company, where he works in what is presently known as France Télécom. Halter has been compared with the late John Dickson Carr, generally considered the 20th century master of the locked room genre. Throughout his nearly thirty novels his genre has been almost entirely impossible crimes, and as a critic has said "Although strongly influenced by Carr and Christie, his style is his own and he can stand comparison with anyone for the originality of his plots and puzzles and his atmospheric writing."
His first published novel, La Quatrieme Porte ("The Fourth Door")was published in 1988 and won the Prix de Cognac, given for detective literature. The following year, his novel Le Brouillard Rouge (Red Mist) won "one of the highest accolades in French mystery literature", the Prix du Roman d'Aventures. He has now published more than thirty novels. Several of his short stories have been translated into English; by June 2010 six will have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; ten were collected and published by Wildside Press as The Night of the Wolf.
His first published novel, La Quatrieme Porte ("The Fourth Door")was published in 1988 and won the Prix de Cognac, given for detective literature. The following year, his novel Le Brouillard Rouge (Red Mist) won "one of the highest accolades in French mystery literature", the Prix du Roman d'Aventures. He has now published more than thirty novels. Several of his short stories have been translated into English; by June 2010 six will have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; ten were collected and published by Wildside Press as The Night of the Wolf.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 6, 2024
This is my fourth Paul Halter book. My favorite so far is The Demon of Dartmoor, which is excellent. I also very much enjoyed The White Lady.
I don't believe any author is immune from stumbling, and I think The Invisible Circle is a bit of a stumble. An assortment of characters are invited to a castle that links to the mainland only by a footbridge. From there it turns into a nightmare: the invitees are trapped on the island amid gruesome murders on the theme of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
While the book moves along at a decent pace, the revelations at the end are mixed. The identity of the culprit is a shock, but the explanation of the machinations on the isle are just too far-fetched. They rely, unfortunately, on most of the cast - which includes a journalist, historian and other intelligent people - lacking said intelligence (and powers of observation).
This may be a matter of plot being prioritized over character, and both should be in some equilibrium for a successful tale.
I don't believe any author is immune from stumbling, and I think The Invisible Circle is a bit of a stumble. An assortment of characters are invited to a castle that links to the mainland only by a footbridge. From there it turns into a nightmare: the invitees are trapped on the island amid gruesome murders on the theme of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
While the book moves along at a decent pace, the revelations at the end are mixed. The identity of the culprit is a shock, but the explanation of the machinations on the isle are just too far-fetched. They rely, unfortunately, on most of the cast - which includes a journalist, historian and other intelligent people - lacking said intelligence (and powers of observation).
This may be a matter of plot being prioritized over character, and both should be in some equilibrium for a successful tale.
March 7, 2020
FIRST READING 3/7/20: 3 Stars
This time I thought it would be interesting to keep track of my enjoyment level. I’ve noticed with Paul Halter books that my opinions rise and fall from start to finish.
1% Bittersweet anticipation as this is my last translated Halter.
17% This might be the best Halter yet. (I’ve definitely said this to myself on more than half a dozen occasions.)
19% Vibes: Nine Wrong Answers, Ten Little Expletives, Clue, A Murder Is Announced, Once and Future King.
50% So far, so good. Loving the atmosphere: angry seas, rocky cliffs, violent rain, a group of panicked strangers, a sense of doom. Also, Halter is toying with the reader as much as the characters.
60% Halter keeps ratcheting up the tension but sometimes the best way to do that is to let the characters and the story and the reader breathe.
87% High melodrama. Crazy but fun.
94% Obligatory WTF Moment.
95% Obligatory Smile of Appreciative Comprehension aka The Dawning.
97% at the height of the climax, Halter pulls the rug out from under my feet. As with many of his books, the feeling is fun but maybe not as satisfying.
100% Well. Good puzzle, good read, but not the best Halter. A few things let it down, but overall a solid 3-4 stars depending on mood.
SECOND READING 4/16/24 3.5 Stars
Halter sure is subtle!
For the last year or so I’ve been re-reading all of the LRI Paul Halter books, partly because LRI’s output had slowed to almost nothing. And then… nothing, as it turns out. RIP John Pugmire. His contributions to the impossible mystery genre can’t be overstated in my opinion. More than anyone else he’s kept the flame lit and for a long time now. There is definitely a locked room renaissance right now and Pugmire is who we can thank for that. This is a very addictive drug, and the kind of stories Pugmire translated and/or published were the purest forms of the drug. Thank you, Mr. Pugmire, for feeding the one addiction I’ll never have to give up!
It will be interesting to see what happens to LRI, and to Halter, going forward. I would love to see new translations of all of Halters work, which may sound odd given the above eulogy. But as a translator Pugmire was limited. Some of his word choices and the frequent coherency potholes made me even ask a few uncomfortable questions. Regardless, Pugmire was definitely not a stylist, and I’m very curious to know if Halter is.
As for The Invisible Circle: good read, but I sense there’s a great read in here. Maybe a map or diagram of the tower room and its doors would have helped me, but also a few of those “coherency potholes,” the occasional sentence or clause that doesn’t quite make sense, get in the way of the narrative. It takes me out of the story when I’m mentally editing the prose.
The ending kind of cracked me up. Usually the end of a mystery and the villain is swift. So it’s funny to picture the exhausted, exasperated survivors running around the island for two hours chasing the killer.
But it’s a heck of a lot of fun. A pure, unadulterated, impossible crime whodunnit that couldn’t be more of a closed circle. As for my first review up top, that was fun for me to read and tallies with this reading.
FAVORITE TRICK: the sword in the stone and the Holy Grail!
This time I thought it would be interesting to keep track of my enjoyment level. I’ve noticed with Paul Halter books that my opinions rise and fall from start to finish.
1% Bittersweet anticipation as this is my last translated Halter.
17% This might be the best Halter yet. (I’ve definitely said this to myself on more than half a dozen occasions.)
19% Vibes: Nine Wrong Answers, Ten Little Expletives, Clue, A Murder Is Announced, Once and Future King.
50% So far, so good. Loving the atmosphere: angry seas, rocky cliffs, violent rain, a group of panicked strangers, a sense of doom. Also, Halter is toying with the reader as much as the characters.
60% Halter keeps ratcheting up the tension but sometimes the best way to do that is to let the characters and the story and the reader breathe.
87% High melodrama. Crazy but fun.
94% Obligatory WTF Moment.
95% Obligatory Smile of Appreciative Comprehension aka The Dawning.
97% at the height of the climax, Halter pulls the rug out from under my feet. As with many of his books, the feeling is fun but maybe not as satisfying.
100% Well. Good puzzle, good read, but not the best Halter. A few things let it down, but overall a solid 3-4 stars depending on mood.
SECOND READING 4/16/24 3.5 Stars
Halter sure is subtle!
For the last year or so I’ve been re-reading all of the LRI Paul Halter books, partly because LRI’s output had slowed to almost nothing. And then… nothing, as it turns out. RIP John Pugmire. His contributions to the impossible mystery genre can’t be overstated in my opinion. More than anyone else he’s kept the flame lit and for a long time now. There is definitely a locked room renaissance right now and Pugmire is who we can thank for that. This is a very addictive drug, and the kind of stories Pugmire translated and/or published were the purest forms of the drug. Thank you, Mr. Pugmire, for feeding the one addiction I’ll never have to give up!
It will be interesting to see what happens to LRI, and to Halter, going forward. I would love to see new translations of all of Halters work, which may sound odd given the above eulogy. But as a translator Pugmire was limited. Some of his word choices and the frequent coherency potholes made me even ask a few uncomfortable questions. Regardless, Pugmire was definitely not a stylist, and I’m very curious to know if Halter is.
As for The Invisible Circle: good read, but I sense there’s a great read in here. Maybe a map or diagram of the tower room and its doors would have helped me, but also a few of those “coherency potholes,” the occasional sentence or clause that doesn’t quite make sense, get in the way of the narrative. It takes me out of the story when I’m mentally editing the prose.
The ending kind of cracked me up. Usually the end of a mystery and the villain is swift. So it’s funny to picture the exhausted, exasperated survivors running around the island for two hours chasing the killer.
But it’s a heck of a lot of fun. A pure, unadulterated, impossible crime whodunnit that couldn’t be more of a closed circle. As for my first review up top, that was fun for me to read and tallies with this reading.
FAVORITE TRICK: the sword in the stone and the Holy Grail!
July 6, 2015
I am a fan of John Dickson Carr’s books. I have read all his books and was looking for someone who could write similar to him. I have found Paul Halter, a worthy successor to John Dickson Carr. Paul Halter’s books are in French. However, his books are now being translated into English at regular intervals by John Pugmire. Till date 8 novels (including this one) have been translated.
This book is highly suspenseful and definitely a page-turner. It becomes difficult to put down the book till the end is reached.
The novel is set in 1936.
22 year old Madge Pearson living in London receives an invitation from her uncle Gerry Pearson living in Cornwall to spend a weekend at his place for a “very important get-together”. Gerry Pearson lives alone in a castle by the sea on a sort of island connected with the mainland by a short bridge. Madge had last seen her uncle about 13 years back when she had spent two summers in a row at his place and had frightening experiences. However, she decides to go and she is accompanied by her male friend Bill Page. Five other guests are also invited by Gerry Pearson.
After arrival at the castle, the host behaves in a creepy manner. He assigns identities from the King Arthur legend to every guest and reveals that they are to witness a murder. He shows them 2 items which he claims to be the legendary sword of King Arthur and the Holy Grail.
Then the nightmare begins for the guests. There is a locked room murder. Halter piles impossibility upon impossibility. Two further murders take place. At one stage, the guests decide to flee from the place but find that the bridge is broken and they are trapped. Finally, perfectly logical explanations are revealed for all the happenings.
The main locked room murder is really superb. I will not reveal further details as I do not want readers to miss the shock. Readers may feel that there can only be a supernatural explanation, but the solution finally revealed is perfectly rational and really ingenious!
After reading the book once, the reader should reread it to find how fair the author has been in planting clues.
The only flaw in the novel is that some deceptions are unlikely to work and because of this I was inclined to rate it 4star initially. But considering the enchanting spell it cast on me. I finally gave it 5 star. The novel is highly recommended.
Finally, kudos to John Pugmire as usual for the excellent translation.
This book is highly suspenseful and definitely a page-turner. It becomes difficult to put down the book till the end is reached.
The novel is set in 1936.
22 year old Madge Pearson living in London receives an invitation from her uncle Gerry Pearson living in Cornwall to spend a weekend at his place for a “very important get-together”. Gerry Pearson lives alone in a castle by the sea on a sort of island connected with the mainland by a short bridge. Madge had last seen her uncle about 13 years back when she had spent two summers in a row at his place and had frightening experiences. However, she decides to go and she is accompanied by her male friend Bill Page. Five other guests are also invited by Gerry Pearson.
After arrival at the castle, the host behaves in a creepy manner. He assigns identities from the King Arthur legend to every guest and reveals that they are to witness a murder. He shows them 2 items which he claims to be the legendary sword of King Arthur and the Holy Grail.
Then the nightmare begins for the guests. There is a locked room murder. Halter piles impossibility upon impossibility. Two further murders take place. At one stage, the guests decide to flee from the place but find that the bridge is broken and they are trapped. Finally, perfectly logical explanations are revealed for all the happenings.
The main locked room murder is really superb. I will not reveal further details as I do not want readers to miss the shock. Readers may feel that there can only be a supernatural explanation, but the solution finally revealed is perfectly rational and really ingenious!
After reading the book once, the reader should reread it to find how fair the author has been in planting clues.
The only flaw in the novel is that some deceptions are unlikely to work and because of this I was inclined to rate it 4star initially. But considering the enchanting spell it cast on me. I finally gave it 5 star. The novel is highly recommended.
Finally, kudos to John Pugmire as usual for the excellent translation.
July 30, 2015
Yet again I have to be brief, but . . .
This is a glorious romp in the tradition of John Dickson Carr: in fact, all the while I was reading it I had the sense that Carr was applauding raucously from the wings. Nasty Gerry Pearson invites seven guests, including his niece Madge, to his isolated and crumbling Cornwall castle -- a sort of Tintagel in miniature. There he tells them that he's ascribed them Arthurian roles and that, before the night is out, one of them will have murdered him despite having a perfect alibi. The murder duly takes place . . . impossibly, in a locked room at the top of one of the castle's towers. More murders follow, at least one of them equally incomprehensible, before . . .
There's a debt here to Christie's And Then There Were None, obviously, and indeed there's a sly acknowledgement to Christie a couple of pages from the end, but really this is Carr's, Carr's and all Carr's. Of course, there's a difficulty with the method of the most spectacular murder (the killer would've had to be preternaturally strong and possessed of astonishing skin) and also with the plot as a whole: the killer could have achieved the same end by, rather than setting up the grandiloquently elaborate scheme described in the novel, just pushing the victim under a bus.
But, while you're reading this compulsive page-turner, you think of exactly none of these objections. The Invisible Circle is magnificent, fast-moving entertainment -- who could ask for more?
This is a glorious romp in the tradition of John Dickson Carr: in fact, all the while I was reading it I had the sense that Carr was applauding raucously from the wings. Nasty Gerry Pearson invites seven guests, including his niece Madge, to his isolated and crumbling Cornwall castle -- a sort of Tintagel in miniature. There he tells them that he's ascribed them Arthurian roles and that, before the night is out, one of them will have murdered him despite having a perfect alibi. The murder duly takes place . . . impossibly, in a locked room at the top of one of the castle's towers. More murders follow, at least one of them equally incomprehensible, before . . .
There's a debt here to Christie's And Then There Were None, obviously, and indeed there's a sly acknowledgement to Christie a couple of pages from the end, but really this is Carr's, Carr's and all Carr's. Of course, there's a difficulty with the method of the most spectacular murder (the killer would've had to be preternaturally strong and possessed of astonishing skin) and also with the plot as a whole: the killer could have achieved the same end by, rather than setting up the grandiloquently elaborate scheme described in the novel, just pushing the victim under a bus.
But, while you're reading this compulsive page-turner, you think of exactly none of these objections. The Invisible Circle is magnificent, fast-moving entertainment -- who could ask for more?
June 9, 2016
Another locked room mystery homage to the Golden Age and Dickson Carr.This one started well,i liked the unusual premise of a madman using Arthurian legends as as an inspiration to murder.
Unfortunately the locked room scenario when revealed is very weak and it's just gets too convoluted and preposterous.
If you're new to Paul Halter,don't start with this one.He's written many fine books,sadly this isn't one of them.
Unfortunately the locked room scenario when revealed is very weak and it's just gets too convoluted and preposterous.
If you're new to Paul Halter,don't start with this one.He's written many fine books,sadly this isn't one of them.
April 2, 2022
Finished and a solid enjoyable, short 150 ish page mystery read. I can see it being similar to And Then There Were None with the group of strangers trapped and being offed one by one. I did guess that Bill was the culprit, partly since he was the "least suspicious" but also convenient things like him losing his wallet and going separate and deducing the clues so readily, etc. I also thought his plan of acting out King Arthur was really stupid, but I like that Ursula followed her women's intuition when she finally realized Bill was Gerry Pearson and warned the others in time to stop him. I also like that this had a happier end than And Then There Were None, though neither had great tricks. The tricks in this one were okay - the Holy Grail cup attaching to the sword as part of the hilt (this was dumb imo - they should've realized when examining the sword and such), breaking a window inward, leaving a window unlocked so wind would eventually blow it then unlocking more windows as they searched the house, masquerading as the fake policemen and others, etc. I do also find it a bit creepy that the 40ish year olds murderer "seduce"d his niece as he said in his words all to off her and get her inheritance money. I find it quite difficult to believe she convenient met him like that and agreed to date him, but eh, it was still a fine mystery read. I don't think I loved it but was an okay solid ish mystery. It helps that it was short 150 ish pages, though stuff like timing the murders can be a smidge hard to believe. Ex if Blake was strong enough to stagger back and even pull the sword out of him, why not write a dying message with his blood on the ground or something? Eh. Same with the idea of scaling to the window with a grappling hook attached on the outside - it was just some rudimentary tricks is all. But still a fine enough read. GR rating 2/5 ish (would prob get a 60/100 for my scale on other sites). Will probably at least consider or look into other Paul Halter mysteries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2018
Agatha Christie Would Be Proud
The book started off well and held my interest. After the impossible murder it seemed to slow and when how it was done was explained and we knew who the murderer was and all that was left to do was to find the murderer I became disappointed. Without giving anything away just let me say Halter gave us a true Agatha Christie ending. I strongly recommend this book. I consider it one of Paul Halter's best.
The book started off well and held my interest. After the impossible murder it seemed to slow and when how it was done was explained and we knew who the murderer was and all that was left to do was to find the murderer I became disappointed. Without giving anything away just let me say Halter gave us a true Agatha Christie ending. I strongly recommend this book. I consider it one of Paul Halter's best.
July 24, 2024
As always with Paul Halter, the locked room mystery elements of this story are very well orchestrated. However, this time I felt the plot required a little too much suspension of disbelief, or too little intelligence/observation on the part of the characters, so this is not as satisfying or clever as his other books I’ve read so far. Not a bad read overall, still very entertaining and full of twists, and definitely hadn’t put me off Paul Halter’s work in any way!
July 16, 2020
Excelente, una de las mejores novelas de Halter. Muy ingeniosa y con final sorprendente.
March 1, 2026
Actually 2,5 stars.
You'd expect so much more from an author of his potential.
This is mediocre at best
You'd expect so much more from an author of his potential.
This is mediocre at best
May 28, 2022
Entertaining but sort of exhausting trying to keep up with the characters and their (seemingly) silly behaviors. OK solution to the mystery of the locked room and a sort of logical killer, but why did he or she go to so much trouble to accomplish his or her goal? Unless he or she wanted to provide a plot for an outlandish murder mystery....
August 29, 2014
SLJ review:
HALTER, Paul. The Invisible Circle. tr. from French by John Pugmire. 152p. Create Space/Lockedroominternational.com. Jun. 2014. pap. $19.99. ISBN 9781497336834.
Halter, the French master of the locked-room mystery, tries his hand at a remake of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, with a bit of Arthurian legend thrown in for good measure. Madge Pearson is summoned by her creepy uncle Gerry to a deserted island-castle in Cornwall where she finds several other seemingly unrelated guests. Her uncle declares the castle to be standing on the ground of the “real” Camelot, gives each guest an Arthurian nickname, and then proceeds to predict that one of them will kill him in an impossible fashion. Sure enough, Gerry is murdered and the guests are trapped on the island, convinced that one of them must be the killer. Perhaps because of the very small cast, Halter’s characterization this time out is much more nuanced, although as always the real treat is the seemingly impossible twists and turns of the mystery as it is solved, unsolved, and solved again. Originally published in 1996, and set 60 years before in 1936, the novel has an air of timelessness while still nicely capturing the milieu of Christie’s and Dorothy Sayers’s great novels of the 1930s, and teen fans of those authors, or Halter’s other locked-room works, should love this one.—Mark Flowers, John F. Kennedy Library, Vallejo, CA
HALTER, Paul. The Invisible Circle. tr. from French by John Pugmire. 152p. Create Space/Lockedroominternational.com. Jun. 2014. pap. $19.99. ISBN 9781497336834.
Halter, the French master of the locked-room mystery, tries his hand at a remake of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, with a bit of Arthurian legend thrown in for good measure. Madge Pearson is summoned by her creepy uncle Gerry to a deserted island-castle in Cornwall where she finds several other seemingly unrelated guests. Her uncle declares the castle to be standing on the ground of the “real” Camelot, gives each guest an Arthurian nickname, and then proceeds to predict that one of them will kill him in an impossible fashion. Sure enough, Gerry is murdered and the guests are trapped on the island, convinced that one of them must be the killer. Perhaps because of the very small cast, Halter’s characterization this time out is much more nuanced, although as always the real treat is the seemingly impossible twists and turns of the mystery as it is solved, unsolved, and solved again. Originally published in 1996, and set 60 years before in 1936, the novel has an air of timelessness while still nicely capturing the milieu of Christie’s and Dorothy Sayers’s great novels of the 1930s, and teen fans of those authors, or Halter’s other locked-room works, should love this one.—Mark Flowers, John F. Kennedy Library, Vallejo, CA
April 3, 2015
The concept of this book intrigued me. Seven people are invited to spend the night at a secluded castle said to be on the site of King Arthur's. Once they arrive, the host announces there will be a murder. It was an entertaining enough read, but thankfully a short one, because the plot was contrived and implausible in the end. However, Paul Halter is a current practitioner of the classic locked room mystery, one of my favorite sub-genres, and for that alone he earns my admiration. It's not an easy thing to pull off. The translation from the French is well done, and I will certainly read other titles by Halter.
December 14, 2015
I like my mysteries with a little deeper characterization, but I eventually got wrapped up in the plot (an admittedly high concept plot) and the atmosphere was well-created as strangers are invited to a remote British island castle and a killer inspired by the legends of King Arthur starts terrorizing the confused guests.
August 9, 2014
Perfect for fans of John Dickson Carr who want an incredibly clever locked-room mystery.
July 14, 2015
Very English, some twists. Kind of vincent Pricey Motif.
September 10, 2015
sorry but i found this book unconvincing and boring
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews