The Cavalier's Cup

Sir Henry Merrivale #22

by Carter Dickson

Pan Books #G412.

A singular request from the young and delectable Lady Brace starts Sir Henry Merrivale on his most diverting case.
Uneasily teamed with his old rival, Chief Inspector Masters of Scotland Yard, the indefatigable 'H.M.' investigates the extraordinary happenings in the seventeenth-century Oak Room at Old Telford Hall - home of the fabulous Cavalier's Cup.

Genres: Mystery, Detective, Fiction, Crime

Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

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

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a spectacularly, stunningly bad book, to the extent that I gave John Dickson Carr (writing here as Carter Dickson) an extra star for the sheer scale of his mess. Imagine one had read an Edmund Crispin book, wanted to cultivate that air of madcap, literary humor and whimsy, and decided to shape the entire book around a caricature of an American and (to a lesser extent) a caricature of an Italian (named, one must note, Signor Ravioli). The H.M. books only work when Merrivale himself is the whimsical character, playing against straight men; here everyone is off stripping their clothes and shooting arrows off of children's heads, and the result is an astounding mess of misfired jokes and limping plot. Really quite impressive in a way.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Plot

Who: Sir Henry Merrivale (H.M.), currently obsessed with singing lessons; his long-suffering foil Chief Inspector Masters; the caricature Italian singing teacher Signor Ravioli; and the residents of Telford Old Hall, including young Lady Grace and the ghostly presence of Sir Byng Rawdon.

What: A locked-room mystery where the titular cup is locked inside a safe within a sealed room, yet mysteriously moves to a table (and later, other objects move) without the room being breached.

Where: The "Oak Room" at Telford Old Hall.
Why: Ostensibly the pranks of a restless cavalier ghost, but in reality, a contrivance to stump the detectives.

How: A classic "impossible crime" scenario involving keys, windows, and line-of-sight tricks, buried under layers of slapstick.

The Critique

This is a dire, frustrating, and supercilious mystery novel. It represents the nadir of the Sir Henry Merrivale saga—a book composed almost entirely of corn syrup drollery rather than the sharp, atmospheric plotting Carr is famous for.

The narrative is bloated, offering nearly 200 pages of frenetic drawing-room cross-purposes that go nowhere. P.G. Wodehouse could bring off this sort of farce perfectly in 15 pages and actually achieve humor; Carr flails at it for an entire novel. The initial chapters are particularly egregious, setting up jokes that readers can sadly guess miles away, forcing a long wait for readers of good will until the payoffs eventually (and underwhelmingly) arrive. The first 47 pages are essentially dead weight; they could easily be boiled down to a shorter, funnier prologue that does not taste like fluff.

The character work is equally grating. We are subjected to Signor Ravioli, Merrivale’s music teacher—an Italian caricature straight out "Citizen Kane." Then there are the "God awful" cockney plumbers who add nothing but irritation. Even the names annoy, specifically the ghostly ancestor "Sir Byng Rawdon" (a name my inner reading voice inevitably converts to Sir Bing Rotten). Worst of all is Merrivale himself, whose decline into buffoonery is marked by his use of the phrase "my dolly" to describe young Lady Grace—a verbal tic that lands with a creepy thud.

The text tries to justify its existence with high-minded speeches about the nature of detection:

“....We're up against the essential detective problems of who, how, and why. Simply because there was no murder or near-murder, does that make the mystery one bit less baffling?”

Perhaps not less baffling, but certainly less interesting. When the solution is buried under this much forced whimsy and "frustrating" padding, the mystery ceases to be a puzzle and becomes a chore.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered something while reading Carter Dickson's The Cavalier's Cup. I discovered what was missing from The Case of the Blind Barber (written under the author's real name John Dickson Carr)--Sir Henry Merrivale. Merrivale is a marvelous, larger-than-life, almost farcical character who would have been down-right perfect on as a passenger on board the Queen Victoria and taking part in the shenanigans that take place in Blind Barber. That would have worked so much better than having a member of the shipboard group come to Dr. Gideon Fell and tell the story later.

As a fellow GoodReads reviewer has pointed out, Merrivale is very like Mr. Toad of The Wind & the Willows--going full-tilt into various hobbies. In this outing, Merrivale has buried himself in the country and taken up singing. He's hired himself an Italian (a very stereo-typical Italian, mama mia!) singing instructor to help him prepare for his grand debut at the Tuesday Evening Ladies' Church Society. He doesn't want anything to come between him and his singing. So, when Inspector Masters comes calling with Lady Brace to try and get him to investigate the mysterious doings in the Oak Room at Lord & Lady Brace's estate...well, burn me, he just doesn't want to do it. But, Sir Henry doesn't seem to be able to resist a pretty lady....or an intriguing tale...and when he's told that the mystery isn't a case of who stole the Cavalier's Cup and why BUT who didn't steal it and why, the Old Man is hooked.

What has happened is this: Lord Brace's family has an heirloom Cavalier's Cup that relates to a family legend. The Cup isn't normally at home--it usually resides at the bank, but circumstances have brought it the estate for a short period of time. There are a spate of convenient burglaries in the neighborhood which make Lord Brace nervous about the Cup. So, he locks the Cup in a safe and locks himself in with the safe in a room that no one should be able to get into--double-bolted door (only door in) and windows with special locks that slide a metal bolt all the way through the frame. Nobody's going to get that Cup....and Lord Brace will stay awake all night to be sure. Except...he doesn't. He falls asleep and wakes up to find the safe wide open, the doors and windows sill locked, and.....the Cavalier's Cup sitting there coyly on the table in front of him. There's been no hocus-pocus with the Cup itself--the Cup is still the original, jewel-encrusted family heirloom. So, why all the tom-foolery of getting the Cup out of the safe? And how did whoever it was get in and out? Is it really the ghost of the old Cavalier himself playing tricks as has been suggested?

A second performance is scheduled once Masters and Merrivale get involved. This time, it's the good Inspector who sits up in the sealed room. With similar results--only this time the ghost adds a few finer touches, moving not only the Cup, but a 17th C lute that started on the harpsichord and was placed in front of the fireplace and bringing a cup-hilted rapier from the wall outside the room and placing it a Masters's feet. Oh...and bashing Masters over the head when he woke up a little too soon. It begins to look like the ghost means business...maybe even deadly business. And it's up to Merrivale to figure out what the goal of this ghostly prankster is before things get too deadly.

This was a fun romp....perhaps because I was sick when I read it and really in need of something light. I've seen a few other reviews that rate this rather low--saying it's Dickson/Carr at the low end of his writing powers. It's true that it's not quite the intricate story and complicated mystery that one gets used to in the earlier Carr--but it's lots of fun and the whole scene where there are four cars waiting out in the driveway and Lady Brace's father is running about the estate yelling "Tally-ho" had me laughing out loud. It reminded me of Wodehouse. I did spot the culprit--although I couldn't for the life of me figure out how the entrance/exit was accomplished. And I'm still trying to figure out if anything was really stolen. Three stars for a fun, solid read.

This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks!

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Sir Henry Merrivale novel I’ve read. Written by John Dickson Carr, writing as Carter Dickson, these novels always have a chaotic and frenetic (almost P. G. Wodehouse) pace. The Cavalier’s Cup is a locked-door mystery with a twist. The inexplicable event which sets off the investigation isn’t a murder and it isn’t a theft. Indeed, it is the lack of the latter that makes the motive and the event so unclear as to encourage an investigation.

Where Holmes had to deal with his Inspector Lestrade, Sir Henry has to deal with Chief Inspector Masters of Scotland Yard. The latter believes Merrivale to be a public menace, a criminal, and harbors more vitriol for the eccentric old sleuth than mere professional jealousy would warrant. Sir Henry seems to dance on the edge of the law precariously at all times. He seems to live quite comfortably so his mischief is not due to a desire for material resources—rather, chaos seems to spontaneously generate in his capricious presence.

The Cavalier’s Cup is an expensive replica of a supposed English Civil War artifact. Though made of gold and jewel-encrusted, it was cast for purposes of celebrating a legend surrounding a Sussex estate. Although a mere replica, the cup is quite valuable. This is why the characters are curious as to why the cup was removed from a safe in a locked room and placed on a table in the middle of the room rather than being stolen. Is the alleged ghost of Telford Hall whisking through doors and protesting the faux relic? Did a thief switch the cup with another? Is someone trying to drive the lord of Telford Hall to madness such as that alleged of his ancestors? Is some other scheme afoot?

Such mysteries would probably keep most readers going, but Carr (aka Dickson) juggles stacks of distractions throughout. The local Member of Parliament has threatened to sue Sir Henry over an accident which occurred when she fell through a trap door on the stage during a debate with Sir Henry. Though Sir Henry denies any complicity in this event, there is a hint that it might have been premeditated. Meanwhile, a U.S. Congressman is visiting his ex-pat daughter and grandson in an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of the U.S. over the once-proud Empire. Naturally, Sir Henry can’t resist being in the middle of that contest, as well. If that isn’t enough to keep the pot of comedy stock boiling, Merrivale is taking singing lessons from an excellent Italian maestro. Unfortunately, his interest is more in vulgar folk songs and sea shanties than in the arias which Signor Ravioli (no, I didn’t make up the ridiculous last name) wishes to teach him.

When the plot comes together in its final moments, the reader finds that the strangest clues have been scattered throughout the story and both the perpetrator and the motive are somewhat unexpected (even though they shouldn’t have been). Even more fascinating is the fact that on this rare occasion, Chief Inspector Masters seems to have solved the mystery first—though he doesn’t get to upstage Sir Henry due to a somewhat comedic pratfall. The Cavalier’s Cup is rather more vaudeville, more slapstick than other mysteries by the distinguished Mr. Carr, but it was quite enjoyable—even more than some of the humorous cozy mysteries I occasionally consume.

[Sheila Beaumont · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no murder in this mystery, but it's a locked-room puzzler that has one of the author's trademark intricate solutions. While reading it, I was laughing as if it were one of P.G. Wodehouse's hilarious tales about Bertie Wooster or Lord Emsworth, and I wasn't really paying much attention to the mystery itself. Sir Henry Merrivale is one of the funniest sleuths ever created. He's sort of like Mr. Toad of The Wind in the Willows, pursuing one wild enthusiasm after another. This time he's taking singing lessons from an Italian maestro who's a pretty amusing character himself. This is the last in the Merrivale series, and probably the funniest (I haven't read quite all of them yet).

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult in the beginning but if you power through there is a delightful locked room mystery there at the end.

[Naphta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely not John Dickson Carr's best book. As noted elsewhere it is a bit disappointing because it has no murder and resembles a farce or drawing room comedy more than a murder mystery. It's not that a mystery needs a murder, but rather that it needs ample mystery and this book spends much more time on comical antics. The novel does revolve around a locked room puzzle however and thus does offer the reader a chance to try to figure out how an impossible almost-crime has occurred. Readers may know that Carr had two signature detectives, a gruff, overweight "Ironsides" type detective who walked with two canes and the more comical, Churchhillian Sir Henry Merrivale. Merrivale, or HM as he is frequently called, became more and more silly over the years and thus in this, the last of the Merrivale mysteries, he is pompous and as over-the-top as it comes.
I confess, I am a huge fan of John Dickson Carr, so I enjoy anything of his that I read. That being said, I think that this book could have used a bit of editing and that the slapstick humor could have been toned down. Carr was an American writer who lived in England for many years and this book would have improved with a little understated, wry British humour.
If you are new to Carr, I would not recommend starting with this book, but with either The Judas Window if you want the amusing HM at his best, or the Crooked Hinge if you prefer the more earnest Dr. Fell.
I do also want to briefly mention the British/American comparisons being made in the book. Carr was American married to an English wife. Main figures in the book are an American woman married to an English man, and a grumpy, Democrat American senator from Pennsylvania pursuing a statuesque and difficult English woman Labour Party Parliamentarian. I find the characterizations of these figures as culturally and historically appropriate for their times as any stereotype can be. As a farce, Carr paints this book in very broad brush strokes, but does express some valid differences in values and attitudes that have existed, (no need for the reader to agree with any of the viewpoints) and this adds a tiny bit of depth to the characters that saves the book from being completely superficial.
My recommendation is to read all the other Carr books first and to hold off reading this one until you are desperate for a last dose of Carr (before re-reading the ones you liked the best.) The puzzle is good, if improbable. The characters are silly and HM is the "Old Man" who always gets the last word (or in this case song) and solves the puzzle despite the "cussedness" of the world.

[Jameson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beware, there isn’t even any murder in this book. No, I do not consider that a spoiler so much as a time-saver. Your To Be Read pile, dear stranger, is too high and too filled with potential for greatness to slog through this muck. I read John Dickson Carr because I love the thrill of whodunits, and a whodunit just isn’t the same when the whatwasdun is, I don’t know, let’s say a theft. And that’s the core problem here. The Cavalier’s Cup is decent until it becomes obvious there will be no murder (and, so, no reprieve from farce.) What the bejebus was Carr thinking? Here, I’ll let one of my favorite writers defend himself in his own words:

“Let's face it. The thing does have an element of, well, of what some people would call the ridiculous. But does that make the problem any less difficult? If somebody had been murdered or seriously hurt, as Sir Henry asked me, we should be chewing our fingernails and trembling at shadows. Even though that hasn't happened, does it help us?”

Yes! In fact, I bought this book hoping to chew my fingernails and tremble at shadows, the way any red-blooded reader does when reading John Füçking Dickson Carr.

"Put it in terms of the not-too-serious, if you like. Who got into that locked room? And how was it done? And why should the cup have been moved again? We're up against the essential detective problems of who, how, and why. Simply because there was no murder or near-murder, does that make the mystery one bit less baffling?”

Yes, Mr. Carr, I’m sorry to say it does. Because many reasons, unfortunately, least of all that what remains is awful romance and tedious slapstick. A great John Dickson Carr novel gives you that ultra rare feeling of frisson; a bad John Dickson Carr novel gives you that all too common feeling of ennui. The Cavalier’s Cup is decidedly the latter and it is a tragedy that Sir Henry Merrivale goes out on such a sour note. Thank God we can always re-read his earlier misadventures!

[Victor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful...this book is an abomination .Simply avoid it ... better not to complete the series than suffer through this pile of ......#%@/×_@^#%#^&×_#&@£@

Its half pennyworth of locked room mystery wrapped in treasuryworth of sickening farce .If you think the above simile (or metaphor?) is bad,read a few chapters of the book...

[Gabriele Crescenzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimo romanzo con H.M. . Purtroppo una delle opere minori di Carr, in quanto la vicenda gialla è davvero marginale e riguarda solamente un furto impossibile. L'ironia pervade l'intera opera, forse eccessivamente. Comunque molto bella la camera chiusa.

[Bill Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say, I'm a sucker for locked room mysteries, and this is one of his best.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a drawing room comedy than a mystery but still enjoyable.

[Keith Boynton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much more focused on some often-dubious broad comedy than on the actual mystery - but it does have charm, and some fine literary flourishes, and as a document of post-WWII British (and American) culture, the book holds genuine interest.

[Ian Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fun read. It was slapstick in spots and the characters were supremely likable. Just a great read.

[James Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I read it about 10 years ago and the first time probably 30 years ago. The author creates a puzzle. Sir Henry Merrivale is a shrewd funny character. He solves the puzzle but he also gives all the elements so that reader can solve the puzzle. I think that the author really enjoys writing the Sir Henry Merrivals books. It allows him to play with so many items some of which are romantic and many of them are funny. A combination of a mystery and belly laughs for the reader. The reference to the Marx Brothers is a hint. A lot of the humor is slapstick at least to me.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Merrivale books always contain humour,but this is more like a farce at times,with the characters a little annoying.
Not one of Carr's best,but still worth a read.The solution to the locked room is nothing more than satisfactory.This is the last of the Merrivale books i believe,probably the best decision!

[Patrick\ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merrivale, whose jolly and imposing personality goes anywhere, solves any problem, including murder. Sir Henry is a terrific, oddball, irrepressible English character.

[Jeanette Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little lack-lustre...

[Irfan Nurhadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

You wouldn't get the statisfaction until you reached the last chapter (the summation)..

[Ellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last of Sir Henry Merrivale novels, it would have been much better if he didn't have to drag his own increasingly conservative political views into this.

[Janette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very charming book. I laughed out loud several times.