The Unicorn Murders

Sir Henry Merrivale #4

by Carter Dickson

The Persons This Mystery Is About:

SIR HENRY MERRIVALE,
otherwise known as H.M., a most invaluable asset to the Secret Service, who has a poker face and a passion for slang.

KENWOOD BLAKE,
a man prepared for the diplomatic service who finds himself working for the Secret Service.

FLAMANDE,
the most picturesque criminal in France and an expert at intrigue, impersonation, and drawing of red herrings across paths of the police.

GASTON GASQUET,
brilliant Chief Inspector of the Sûreté, whom nobody knows, for he is as good at impersonations as Flamande.

EVELYN CHEYNE,
an attractive girl who declares she is interested only in politics, but who greets Kenwood Blake by reciting part of a nursery rhyme about unicorns.

SIR GEORGE RAMSDEN,
a rather tubby Englishman in baggy pepper-and-salt tweeds who is said to be carrying "the unicorn" to London.

Messieurs GILBERT and HARVEY DRUMMOND,
brothers who look so much alike that they confusingly complicate matters.

M. LE COMTE D'ANDRIEU,
the proprietor of the dank château de I'Ile, who is expecting unknown guests and proves to be a genial host.

OWEN MIDDLETON,
a stout, unaggressive American temporarily halted on his way from India to Paris.

ELSA MIDDLETON,
blue-eyed, dark-haired Viennese beauty, presented as the wife of Owen Middleton.

ERNEST HAYWARD,
an American lawyer with a short pompadour of silver hair who looks the part of a butler.

DOCTOR HÉRBERT,
the sallow-faced doctor from Marseilles who knows more about the murder than the newspapers tell and who diagnoses the unicorn nature of the fatal wounds.

KIRBY FOWLER,
an English newspaperman with a lean Norman chin, tangled brows, and quizzical dark eyes.

AUGUSTE, JOSEPH, LOUIS, and JEAN BAPTISTE,
the full staff of servants of the very queer Château de I'lle.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Detective

263 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Carter Dickson is a pen name of writer John Dickson Carr.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't possibly talk about this one without letting several cats out of the bag, so I'm just going to warn you up front and not bother with coded comments. If you haven't read this particular mystery by Dickson/Carr, then, you should probably give my review a pass.

So...I don't think I've ever read such a convoluted mystery by such a good detective novelist. Dickson/Carr likes to have tricky little, intricate little solutions to his seemingly impossible crimes. Those sometimes confuse me. But honestly...there are so many people pretending to be somebody else in this one that I couldn't keep up even if I had a scorecard. We start out with our narrator, Kenwood Blake, pretending to be the secret service agent that Evelyn Cheyne (also an agent) is supposed to hook up with in France so they can stick like glue to Sir George Ramsden who is transporting the "unicorn" some sort of top secret, extra-important something-or-other (we aren't told what until the very end) to England. Why on earth the man is going through France isn't really explained--but, whatever.

Apparently, a thieving bad guy by the name of Flamande (shades of G. K. Chesterton's Flambeau) has vowed to be on the same plane as Ramsden and plans to steal the unicorn. Flamande is super-great at disguise and nobody knows what he looks like, so it's going to be difficult to protect Ramsden and his unicorn. To counter Flamande, we have the super-spiffy French Chief Inspector of the Surete, Gaston Gasquet--who, coincidently is also a master of disguise and nobody knows what he looks like either. And he's vowed to be on the plane to catch Flamande.

So...we have Blake pretending to be the secret service guy. We have the real secret service guy somewhere. We have another guy pretending to be the secret service guy and we have the secret service guy's brother (who looks enough like secret service guy to also pretend to be him if the fancy strikes--it does). We wind up with one these guys (no, I'm not going to completely spoil it and tell you which guy) dead in a French chateau on a island cut off from the main land by a raging river in storm. He was apparently killed in the middle of a stairwell in view of others (albeit by low lamplight) with the horn of a unicorn (you can't make this stuff up--well, you can if your name is Dickson/Carr). Luckily for our hero--whom one of the several guys who claim to Gasquet (don't ask how many--more than we need) accuses him of being Flamande, good ol' H.M. (Sir Henry Merrivale) is also on the spot and will be able to figure out who is who and which one killed who and how and when and where. And, yes, even if I told you all the names and exactly what happened (supposing I could...I'm not sure I can), I don't think you'd be any less confused. Yikes.

The best part of this whole thing is H.M. (and therefore all star points go to him), but, honestly, even he was a bit much. Definitely not my favorite Dickson/Carr novel.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Carter Dickson (I’ve read a few Dickson Carrs) and by Jove was it insane. The lengthy explanation at the end had me in a tizzy. Definitely one of his more unrealistic and ludicrous mysteries but I still enjoyed it.

[Gilgamesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

La mia passione per questo genere di romanzi classici e per John Dickson Carr non poteva mancare in questa mia libreria virtuale. Questo è uno dei romanzi migliori in assoluto del maestro. Oltre al solito mistero, al "delitto impossibile", qui ci troviamo di fronte a un vero guazzabuglio, di quelli davvero appetitosi per chi ama l'intrigo, il mistero e anche un po' certi aspetti della Spy Story.
La sfida "mediatica" fra due geni (un criminale e un poliziotto), di cui nessuno conosce l'identità (quindi oltre all'assassino, c'è da indovinare anche colui che gli dà la caccia da sempre), un castello isolato che sembra una scena preordinata per la sfida che ha del teatrale, e una serie di equivoci e coincidenze pazzesche (senza contare il "tocco" finale di un Henry Merrivale messo con le spalle al muro e che si "vendica" risolvendo tutto nel suo solito modo strepitoso), rendono questo romanzo fra i più avvincenti, di quelli che ti inchiodano, che io abbia mai letto. E ne ho letti proprio tanti!

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad book, it's just not what I read Carr for. This one is heavy on action, chases and fights. Meh. Give me a locked room mystery any time over this.

[Justine Shenton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this one hard to get into but it was good at times
Too many secret identities!

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

James Bond meets Agatha Christie in this odd little number. I had high hopes for it at first, as it got off to a running start and leapt straight into mischance and misdemeanor...but when it turned into the ubiquitous 1930s forced-house-party scenario, it started to feel more and more like I was watching "Clue" or "Murder by Death." Far too much of the text was taken up with speculation on who did what and how, in endless tell-not-show conversations. By the end the plot was more convoluted than the human intestinal tract, which was not helped by the fact that my reading was plagued by interruptions from my own personal Importunate Person from Porlock who just had to talk to me every time I picked up this book and looked like getting a handle on the storyline. The ending felt anticlimactic and silly--or was it just that I couldn't wait for it to be over?

I see from reviews a consensus that this is not the author's best work. I will therefore take heart of grace and try again another day, in hopes I get a better one.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb blend of intriguing mystery and adventure that holds all the way to the denouement, where one must tolerate a detailed and dull explanation. Part of the dullness for me, however, was due to the fact that I figured out the "impossible" crime. Have these mysteries sharpened my wits, or have I simply become too familiar with the formula? A little of both perhaps.

[Naphta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is sort of fun, but reminds me more of a 1930s Hollywood film. It is a light romance with one of Carr's typical impossible situations where a man starts at the top of the stairs and is dead at the bottom of the stairs. Witnesses are all around and yet no one knows how a hole has been drilled in the dead man's forehead.

[John Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Carter Dickson (aka John Dickson Carr) at his brilliant best.

Not only do we have the standard Carr elements of an ingenious impossible mystery and brilliantly drawn characters, but this works equally well as a thriller.

[JDL · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting selection from Monsieur Carr... this, of course, is the H.M. that features a master detective and master thief running amok in France, both masters of disguise. If that wasn't enough hijinks for you, our friend Ken Blake, running into acquaintance Evelyn Cheyne, accidentally gives a code-word and is sucked into a secret British mission to protect Sir George Ramsden, unofficial English diplomat, from thief Flamande through his French trip. After learning of one mysterious murder for which Flamande has taken credit (it's as if the victim was stabbed through the forehead by a unicorn horn...), Blake and Evelyn have an awkward encounter with the real other secret agent, whom Ken knocks out and steals the credentials of, before then running into H.M. while stuck in a muddy ditch. The airplane landing in the middle of nowhere (which happens to be nearby) of the plane containing Ramsden, and ostensibly both Flamande and Inspector Gasquet, turns the action towards the Chateau de l'Ile. On this island castle, owned by the weird Comte D'Andrieu, H.M., Ken, Evelyn, and the passengers are gathered. They know that one amongst them is a god-like sleuth, and the other a demonic criminal. The identity revelations are already underway when another person is killed by the invisible horn of the unicorn, in front of several witnesses from several angles, and no killer is seen there. We're not even halfway through...
Does that sound kind of insane? Because yeah, it mind of is. Gone are the legends of Plague Court and Red Widow, or the simple impossibility of White Priory. The Unicorn Murders gives a complexity or character relations and events beyond any Perry Mason. It may be hard enough to keep track of who's who for some, and then add the question of who's REALLY who and you've got a conundrum. Some of the passages here are kind of long winded and this overall effect around the middle is what makes it lose a star. The revelations are abound everywhere, and sometimes there isn't time to step back and get to know our cast more.
But the mystery here is still top-notch. I had a hunch about the killer's identity, backed up by some half-baked logic, and huzzah, I was right! That makes my third Carr where I have guessed the killer (the others being He Who Whispers and Emperor's Snuff Box.) The identity of the weapon was on the tip of my tongue, and I should have gotten it... Side note: another review here mentions another (more famous) book which uses the same weapon (in a non-spoilery way), so if you've read that one then you'll know what the weapon is here. So don't scroll too far...
The workings of the invisible killer problem of the second death was really nice. It's the kind of thing you expect from Carr at this point, and it relies on some very lucky timing in one key place (then again, when doesn't it...), but I really liked how the impossibility was resolved overall. The one part of the solution which was clunky was figuring out who was who - and by the end, quite a few people are not really who they say they are. It gets complicated.

I would not recommend this as a first Carr at all, but for the seasoned reader, it's a nice outing with the idiosyncratic espionage style.

[Luis Minski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prolífico autor de novelas de misterio, y especialista en los llamados "crímenes de cuarto cerrado" , John Dickson Carr nos ofrece aquí, bajo el seudónimo de Carter Dickson, esta novela publicada en 1935.
Se trata de una novela menor, por momentos tediosa. Y esto es, porque el autor, siguiendo una tendencia propia de la época, donde los escritores se esforzaban en mostrar asesinatos casi imposibles de cometer, dedica muchas páginas, a lo largo de toda la novela, a que los personajes especulen sobre cómo pudo haberse cometido un crimen.
Además, si bien la idea de ubicar la escena en un antiguo castillo aislado en medio de una fuerte tormenta, siempre proporciona un buen marco para cualquier novela de misterio, al involucrar como protagonistas a un famoso ladrón y asesino, que va en busca de"algo", - una especie de MacGuffin, - que posee un diplomático inglés, y a un famoso inspector de la Sureté que le quiere dar caza, - ambos especialistas en disfraces, y por tanto, de identidad desconocida para los demás protagonistas, y para el lector -, y a varios miembros del Servicio Secreto Británico, que van tras la misma presa; hacen de la trama algo confuso, lleno de pistas falsas y de engaños - para los personajes y para el lector -, propios quizás de folletines del siglo XIX o principios del siglo XX , que podrían haber quedado mucho mejor en una comedia de enredos.
En definitiva, una novela sólo disfrutable por algo de la atmósfera que brinda, y nada más, que puede quedar como muestra de un subgénero que no resistió el paso de los años.
https://sobrevolandolecturas.blogspot...

[Alberto Avanzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and drummed them out of town

Questa filastrocca infantile, ispirata alla rivalità fra i regni di Inghilterra (il leone) e Scozia (l’unicorno) fa da fil rouge alla storia, una spy story anni 30 ambientata su un’isola fluviale nella campagna francese, dove per una serie di strani motivo che scoprirete leggendo si trovano i passeggeri di un aereo di linea, un nobile francese con i suoi servitori, una buffa coppia di spie e … Harry Merrivale. Fra loro si nascondono un famoso ladro francese, accusato di una misteriosa uccisione in cui un uomo si trova con il cranio sfondato come se fosse stato colpito dal corno di un unicorno, e il poliziotto francese che gli dà la caccia.
L’atmosfera è suggestiva e inquietante, anche se più bencoliniana che merrivaliana, per me. L’enigma in sé del “come” relativo al delitto impossibile è risolto in modo semplice e ingegnoso. Il resto della storia, cioè l’enigma del “chi è chi” e del “chi l’ha ucciso”, e la parte più propriamente di spionaggio, non sono all’altezza delle aspettative, ma comunque sono piacevoli. Un bel libro, che può tenere compagnia per qualche ora ma che, almeno per me, non rientra fra quelli “memorabili”

[Christopher Law · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read most of the British Library Crime Classics but this 150th celebration edition has to be one of the weakest. First published in 1935, it has an extremely convoluted plot full of coincidences so wacky that they wouldn't be out of place in a classic West End farce only without the humour. There is no mystery about the murderer because we know early on who that is, although there is some detection required to determine the murder method and also to bring the culprit to justice. That said, I wouldn't classify this novel as a police procedural or a "how catch 'em". Whilst it has elements of the "murder in a country house" genre and the "impossible crime" sub-type, I don't think that this novel is a particularly good example of either. It fits in more with the adventure genre, although here again the lead character is hardly Bulldog Drummond and I didn't feel any sense of tension reading this, only a wish that it be over quickly. The best feature of the novel is the classic character of Sir Henry Merrivale who is known from various other novels and short stories some of which have also appeared in the British Library Crime Classics series. Perhaps the biggest mystery is why anyone would choose this oddity for the 150th celebration volume.

[Amy Lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The battel of wits between the detective (Gasquet) and the arch-criminal (Flamande) felt reminiscent to that of Sherlock and Moriarty and I thoroughly enjoyed reading that play out! I also enjoyed the different sub-genres that were pulled beneath this short crime novel (spy thriller, romance, gothic novel, murder mystery) as it gave the story interesting layers throughout, keeping me engaged on every page. It does take some work to keep up with the guesses of Merrivale but the twisty plot kept me guessing right until the end not only who but how the murder was committed. My only complaint is that there should have been more Evelyn and I didn't love how the fact she was a capable government agent was systematically brushed aside (although this was written in the 1930s). Overall an enjoyable classic crime read from the golden age of crime writing.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

How have I got to this stage in my life and never read any John Dickson Carr (aka Carter Dickson)?
The 1930s was the golden age of the crime novel and this 1935 novel, which has spies, a master of disguise murderer, agents of the Sureté and a bloke called Ken geographically imprisoned in a french chateau, is completely bonkers.
I’m still not 100% certain of who did what to whom and when but that doesn’t matter. It was a joy from start to finish. I particularly enjoyed HM’s pronouncement that he wouldn’t be able to show his face in the Diogenes, the only club of which I have ever wanted to be a member.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenwood Blake is a a brawn-over-brains member of the intelligence service. After making a comment at a bar, a woman he has a crush on approaches him and recites a nursery rhyme. When he completes the verse, she thinks he is her counterpart and the two dash off together. Soon, they find themselves trapped in a creepy mansion with their boss, a French detective... and a murderer.

This story was a bit too much action/spy instead of murder mystery for me. It also took me a really long time to remember who all the characters were.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not in the same class as judas or even ten teacups ..but a very compelling read all the same .The setup is somewhat absurd and fantastical but very intriguing and is full of good fun as well.
.The book has complex plotting ,immaculate clue hiding and thoroughly satisfying tying up of the bizarre happenings . The let down is the long and exhausting explanation of the mysteries ....it surely could have been made more succinct.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not on a par with his best; it's OK, and better than many current mysteries, but this is not as good as The Three Coffins, The Problem of the Green Capsule, The Case of the Constant Suicides, et al. The international criminal plot line wasn't that interesting to me, and the whole thing seemed a little farfetched. I prefer his locked rooms. Save this one for near the bottom of the pile if you are working your way through all his novels.

[Gurnoor Walia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly unusual plot than the regular ones featuring Sir Henry Merrivale, involving not just an Impossible crime, but also espionage, action sequences, a plane crash and international theft. The basic plot revolves around an overarching theme of a cat and mouse chase between a gentleman thief Flamande, and gentleman police detective Gasquet, both of whom are in disguise with their identities hidden to the world, a theme which I basically dislike but as the mystery is not solely focused around that the imposter caper is exceedingly tolerable. Things come to a head when due to the connivance of either the thief or police, a plane carrying either or both of them accompanied by various passengers and the tituliar UNICORN becomes stranded near a chateau of a mysterious French Count, who is seemingly prepared for their arrival. They are then joined under contrived circumstances by HM and two of his minions Ken Blake and future Mrs. Blake, who were delightful compared to other drab single male narrators involved by Carr and would go on to feature in further novels.
Then, death strikes the chateau as the victim appears to be killed by a perfect hole bored in the head, giving an appearance of death by Unicorn’s horn, leaving HM with a somewhat supernatural mystery to be solved. The motive, method and solution was both utterly bizarre and gonzo. The setting of rural France perfectly gothic, a forte of Carr coupled with various characters each of whom could be either the thief or policeman disguised. Only drawback of the novel being that the solution is overcomplicated and takes two long to be explained, and the mechanics of the murder although well described very circumstantial and impractical.

[Todayiamadaisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It begins improbably with a secret agent accidentally accepting another secret agent's job, and gets more improbable as it goes on, ending someone impersonating someone impersonating someone. Full of some absolutely wild coincidences; convoluted and exhausting.

And I don't think we ever find out about the missing passport.

[Tayler K]

The jacket blurb caught my eye:
"A unicorn can make itself invisible at will... three people may be present when a man is killed and none of them can say who killed him or how. The wound is a clean round hole: made by the point of a unicorn's horn?"

[Laura Rye · Rating 4 out of 5]

absurd premise...cleverly written

[Gabriele Crescenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un Carr in splendida forma. Trama intricata ma scorrevole, molti colpi di scena e un delitto impossibile spiegato razionalmente. Consigliatissimo.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente !!!! Ingenioso y muy entretenido. Digno de los mejores libros de Carter Dickson !!! Un H.M. sin igual !!!

[Evangéline L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je me suis laissée balader du début à la fin !

[Keith Boynton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The setup is deliciously melodramatic, but the plot seems to stall out, and the final explanation is wildly arbitrary. Such a waste of a wonderful beginning!

[Russell Atwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

good but not great

[Larsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the great joys of an old summer house is finding books you would never have read otherwise and reading them.

The premise of this mystery is a great one, and one that I might borrow at some point in the future for a tabletop roleplaying game. Two masters of disguise, one a brilliant thief and the other a police inspector determined to catch him, are engaged in a duel of sorts, publicly challenging each other again and again to appear in certain locations and risk being found out, with neither able to gain the upper hand. As any of the books characters could be the villainous Flamande or the stolid Gasquet, we are presented with ripe grounds for mystery from the beginning, which early events in the book only serve to heighten.

Sadly, the middle third of the book turns into a somewhat pudgy murder mystery in the British fashion, with conflicting alibis and a map of the second floor of a chateau where the second of the titular murders takes place. This spare tire of a plot is, fortunately, lightened somewhat by a rather clever bit of misdirection which I will not spoil for the potential reader.

By far my greatest complaint is bare-bones characterization, which makes some of the cast of characters a bit difficult to tell from itself. Combined with the fact that this book, part of a series, does precious little to introduce the new reader to recurring characters and their credentials, this makes the book a little irritating at times, with much backtracking to earlier chapters.

That said, Summer is the best time for mysteries, and I feel my time here was well spent.

[Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Gents, I’ve known cases in which two or three points seemed to be wrong, but I never yet met one where every single blasted detail was wrong. ‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When our common-sense we can’t believe.’”

“Lads, you’re both right. And at the same time you’re both wrong.”
“Are you serious?” asked Ramsden.
“Me? Oh, absolutely.”
“But, damn it all, a man is either shot or stabbed, isn’t he? It’s got to be one thing or the other, hasn’t it?”
“Not necessarily, y’see.”

The start is a whole lot of fun, and it's strong evidence that Carr's farcial humor can be quite funny in small doses. The actual murder plot is a little less interesting, the solution to the unusual wounds is genuinely just "The killer has an unusual wound making machine" but I love all the identity theorising, and the false solution scene is so funny.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another twisty,convoluted tale from the master of all things twisty and convoluted.
This is more of a spy related ripping yarn rather than the usual locked room type of mystery,but a fun read nonetheless.It features a master criminal and a top policeman,both masters of disguise,battling wits.You get the idea.
The obligatory impossible crime aspect of the novel involves the way the murder victims are strangely dispatched,gored by a unicorn perhaps?
Have a dabble to find out!