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The Devil in Velvet
Professor Nicholas Fenton enters a pact with Satan and goes back in time to bawdy, turbulent Restoration London to prevent a murder that is about to take place. But he falls in love with the intended victim and resolves to alter the course of history. "Breathless pace and ingenious plotting."--New York Times. Reissue.
335 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
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762 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 45 reviews
July 8, 2022
An older title by a prolific and masterful storyteller, this is the spiritual ancestor of Outlander...love, lust, and what happens when the two intersect with foreknowledge. Carr's pithy aperçus and aphorisms, aka dialogue, are a joy to this jaded reader's palate. Expect a tight plot, a heady obsessive love, and political intrigues with dark motives all set in seventeenth-century London.
Some typical lines:
The great age mentioned above? Sixty. *snort*
Some typical lines:
A man of great age sees clearly only the past; that is green, that is bright; and he sees, with helpless clarity, the man he might have been. Perhaps, if you add old thin blood, that is why his emotions are so close to the surface.
–and–
Again, a true booklover requires only that the book be old and full of good-for-nothing lore.
The great age mentioned above? Sixty. *snort*
February 26, 2013
I wrote this review in December and never put a rating on it and so it has just been sitting in the "ether" in Goodreads. It has now seen the light of day!
My husband John recommended this book to me and because I loved it so much, as a result I think I now have all the John Dickson Carr (AKA Carter Dickson) books; over eighty in total. These are wonderful mysteries and quite a few from the Golden Age in the 30s/40s.
I’ve often wondered why this incredible book by John Dickson Carr has never been made into a film. It combines everything: a social document of life in the seventeenth century, great descriptions about the sewage systems, swashbuckling adventures, time travel and a pact with the devil. What else could you possibly want? It’s well-written and I couldn’t put it down from the moment I started it.
The year is 1925 when fifty-eight year old Nicholas Fenton, a History professor at Paracelsus College, Cambridge, casually announces to a much younger friend, Mary Grenville, that he has sold his soul to the devil. He has read a manuscript about the death by poison of Lydia, Sir Nicholas Fenton’s wife, in 1675 and wishes to return to that time, and take over the body of this unrelated person. By doing so he hopes that he can undo history, thus stopping the actual murder. Does he succeed though? Only you the reader can find out.
My husband John recommended this book to me and because I loved it so much, as a result I think I now have all the John Dickson Carr (AKA Carter Dickson) books; over eighty in total. These are wonderful mysteries and quite a few from the Golden Age in the 30s/40s.
I’ve often wondered why this incredible book by John Dickson Carr has never been made into a film. It combines everything: a social document of life in the seventeenth century, great descriptions about the sewage systems, swashbuckling adventures, time travel and a pact with the devil. What else could you possibly want? It’s well-written and I couldn’t put it down from the moment I started it.
The year is 1925 when fifty-eight year old Nicholas Fenton, a History professor at Paracelsus College, Cambridge, casually announces to a much younger friend, Mary Grenville, that he has sold his soul to the devil. He has read a manuscript about the death by poison of Lydia, Sir Nicholas Fenton’s wife, in 1675 and wishes to return to that time, and take over the body of this unrelated person. By doing so he hopes that he can undo history, thus stopping the actual murder. Does he succeed though? Only you the reader can find out.
September 9, 2015
I had no idea what I was getting into when my friend Lynne recommended this to me (see her review here).
My copy is a green penguin from the 1950s so I was expecting a crime novel. And so it is. There’s a murder mystery but there’s also time travel and a pact (or two) with the devil. Add a little romance, a generous dose of intrigue and plenty of swordplay and it all adds up to a lot of fun! I think John Dickson Carr was enjoying himself when he wrote this and that certainly comes through. This doesn’t mean that he didn’t take pains to stage his story set in 1670s London in a manner that lets the reader get a feel for the way in which people talked and carried on their everyday lives as well as the political and religious tensions that dominated the time period.
One my favourite moments in the book was when our time traveler hero tried to introduce his new 17th century servants to the concept of having frequent baths and was faced with near-revolt. It was only after blatant bribery that they all agree with groans to one bath a month. But since ‘tis you, they will shift their undergarments each week to the clean linen you vouchsafe to provide.
My copy is a green penguin from the 1950s so I was expecting a crime novel. And so it is. There’s a murder mystery but there’s also time travel and a pact (or two) with the devil. Add a little romance, a generous dose of intrigue and plenty of swordplay and it all adds up to a lot of fun! I think John Dickson Carr was enjoying himself when he wrote this and that certainly comes through. This doesn’t mean that he didn’t take pains to stage his story set in 1670s London in a manner that lets the reader get a feel for the way in which people talked and carried on their everyday lives as well as the political and religious tensions that dominated the time period.
One my favourite moments in the book was when our time traveler hero tried to introduce his new 17th century servants to the concept of having frequent baths and was faced with near-revolt. It was only after blatant bribery that they all agree with groans to one bath a month. But since ‘tis you, they will shift their undergarments each week to the clean linen you vouchsafe to provide.
July 19, 2017
No objectivity here: I did not like this book and found it a drag. I feel the author, instead of writing the clever alternate history mystery that he intended (and which you can see in the events of the book), wrote a confusuing, inharmonious mess. I kept finding myself muttering at the book, " What does that even have to do with anything?" and, "You TOLD us who the murderer is, now staaahp with the b.s." The novel has three different whodunnit reveals, blows the real one early on, then muddies the water just so the author can pack in a few more historical events that he assumes the reader is familiar with, not bothering to ground us at all. It feels like the author forgot how to write a good mystery--forgot about the reader--in order to please himself while writing in a genre (sci fi/fantasy) that he didn't know well. Frustrating. The end of the book, I was like, "I don't even know what the stakes are anymore, let alone how to tell when the plot will be over."
October 13, 2020
I couldn't finish this book, I'm sorry to say. The (I'm sure) authentic 17th Century speech was very hard to get through for this 20th Century reader. And the sword fights were just too long and detailed even down to the (again) authentic technical terms (Sir Nick flung back a half-lunge in quarte). I got about 25% through the book and couldn't take any more. Perhaps it gets better but I didn't want to stay around to find out.
July 10, 2020
Una vera bizzarria.
Una piccola perla barocca.
Non che vada pazza per le scene di duello, che qui abbondano, la ricostruzione d'epoca della Londra di Carlo II però è accuratissima e Dickson Carr, curiosamente, centra un tema nevralgico dei romanzi storici: ma come cavolo parlavano quelli là?
Ovviamente letto in traduzione molto va perso, ma lo scarto fra il linguaggio del colto professore del XX secolo che, fatto un patto col diavolo, riesce a ritrovarsi nel 1675, e quello dei suoi antenati è uno degli aspetti più intriganti del romanzo.
Godibile, insomma, per gli amanti del buon vecchio cappa e spada ma anche per chi subisce il fascino della macchina del tempo.
Una piccola perla barocca.
Non che vada pazza per le scene di duello, che qui abbondano, la ricostruzione d'epoca della Londra di Carlo II però è accuratissima e Dickson Carr, curiosamente, centra un tema nevralgico dei romanzi storici: ma come cavolo parlavano quelli là?
Ovviamente letto in traduzione molto va perso, ma lo scarto fra il linguaggio del colto professore del XX secolo che, fatto un patto col diavolo, riesce a ritrovarsi nel 1675, e quello dei suoi antenati è uno degli aspetti più intriganti del romanzo.
Godibile, insomma, per gli amanti del buon vecchio cappa e spada ma anche per chi subisce il fascino della macchina del tempo.
February 22, 2018
This book is a mystery, a pact with the devil, time travel and historical fiction all rolled into one. The historical fiction is, I think, the strongest element but it's all a bit vague and tries to do too many things. I really wanted to like it and just couldn't get engaged.
July 23, 2013
What a book. An very intricate mystery wrapped up in detailed historical fiction with romance and time travel to boot. Oh yeah. And a pact with Satan.
Nicholas Fenton, a Cambridge professor of history, makes a deal with Satan to travel back to the Restoration--an era of British history that fascinates him. As part of the transaction, he will be transported into the body of wealthy swashbuckling younger man; a man whose wife is destined for a murder Fenton feels he could prevent. Pretty much a dream come true for an elderly don, and Fenton deems it worth offering his soul to Satan in exchange for the chance. Of course, Fenton also resolves to cheat the devil of his due.
I hadn't read a good mystery in a while, and this was a treat. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the final pages. The five central characters are richly drawn and I enjoyed spending time in their company.
Carr had just written a factual history of the period and he admits in the epilogue that the amount of trivia he included had "grown out of hand." I did find the quantity of historial minutiae distracting and a bit awkward at times--particularly in the beginning. However, once the plot got rolling, I became wrapped up in the drama. And the author also made excellent use his scholarship to incorporate historical figures into his narrative in fashion that was both believable and entertaining.
Nicholas Fenton, a Cambridge professor of history, makes a deal with Satan to travel back to the Restoration--an era of British history that fascinates him. As part of the transaction, he will be transported into the body of wealthy swashbuckling younger man; a man whose wife is destined for a murder Fenton feels he could prevent. Pretty much a dream come true for an elderly don, and Fenton deems it worth offering his soul to Satan in exchange for the chance. Of course, Fenton also resolves to cheat the devil of his due.
I hadn't read a good mystery in a while, and this was a treat. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the final pages. The five central characters are richly drawn and I enjoyed spending time in their company.
Carr had just written a factual history of the period and he admits in the epilogue that the amount of trivia he included had "grown out of hand." I did find the quantity of historial minutiae distracting and a bit awkward at times--particularly in the beginning. However, once the plot got rolling, I became wrapped up in the drama. And the author also made excellent use his scholarship to incorporate historical figures into his narrative in fashion that was both believable and entertaining.
April 3, 2011
A deal with the devil, time travel, body-switching, mystery and witchery and a late 17th century setting. I expected horror but it's more mystery and a little romance. This book really struck a note with me and is one of the few that I've taken the time to reread. It was part of a series of JD Carr reprints of historical mysteries (others were BRIDE OF NEWGATE and FIRE, BURN) but this was head and shoulders above the rest. I tracked down a hardcover copy a few years ago and added it to my permanent collection.I tried some of his more conventional mysteries (Gideon Fell, etc.) but didn't care for them.
September 16, 2017
The Devil in Velvet is a historical novel/mystery with a touch of the paranormal thrown in to keep it interesting. Oh, and did I mention time travel?
Author John Dickson Carr first published it in 1951 and it was published again in 2014 as an eBook by Open Road Integrated Media. Carr made a career of writing crime and detective novels and won prestigious awards in both Great Britain and the USA. I came upon this novel courtesy of Early Bird Books, which is a great way to see the good stuff that's new again or to reintroduce favorites from yesteryear.
The convoluted plot begins with our protagonist, a professor and student of history who is a 58 year old bachelor in the year 1925. He confesses to a young lady friend that he has made a deal with the devil and is pretty sure he got the best of him. His desire is to be taken back to a specific date in the 17th century in order that he may prevent a murder. Professor Fenton is very specific with the devil that he must be sent back to inhabit the body of Sir Nicholas Fenton, ironically not a relative of our modern professor, who is a young man and an expert swordsman. He is also the husband of the woman who is poisoned, though history does not reveal who did it.
Amazingly, the devil agrees to his conditions, taking the trouble to explain to him that if Professor Fenton gets angry, this will give the mind of Sir Nick the opening to take over the shared mind, and the professor will not regain control until Sir Nick's rage is spent. The Prof considers that yes, lots can happen during a 10 minute rage, but he knows himself and he just doesn't get angry...and before long he wakes up in 1675 in the body of young Sir Nick, a brash and bold individual given to drink and bawdy behavior.
Fenton is shocked to find out that "bawdy" also includes providing a bedroom to his mistress, not just in his home, but across the hall from his wife's bedroom. Fenton may find out he can get angry too...
This is an interesting and enjoyable read, with a lot of historically accurate information on the manners, customs, dress, even swordplay, of the era of Charles II. The mystery of whether Professor Fenton can prevent the murder or failing that, discover who killed Lydia, and finally, does the Prof win or lose his wager with the devil...I'm guessing your interest won't flag til the last page is turned.
November 13, 2020
Well-known for his locked room mysteries, Mr. Carr was a prolific writer of both short stories and novels. Presented with the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America, in 1963, Carr was one of the most respected and revered writers in his genre, for forty years.
The Devil in Velvet was the second of thirteen historical mysteries the writer penned, the work a mix of mystery, time travel, and historic fiction. The mixture of fiction-based genres is unusual, and as such would be a risky venture in anyone else’s hands- but for Carr, this was just another day at the typewriter. In fact, Carr- at the risk of dropping a spoiler here- would send another character into the past, several years later, with "Fire, Burn!"
On the plus side, Velvet is full of fascinating details about life in pre-Revolution France and Britain, namely the late 1600’s. Everything from intrigue at the highest levels of the government to sword fighting styles, and bedroom etiquette to a typical day in the life of a Frenchman is depicted with meticulous detail. Carr can’t be accused of doing his homework, when it came to the time period involved.
As for action, the book is full of set-pieces that would be welcome fodder for a feature-length film: sword fights, chases, time travel, detective work, and more. Where the story lags is with the endless conversations and backstory that threaten to sink the whole affair- before another superbly staged action sequence saves the day.
For lovers of historical fiction, this is the perfect gift, rich in the kind of detail only thorough research could provide. For mystery aficionados, it's a satisfactory novel- though one’s patience will be tried by the detailed descriptions of governmental affairs and historical name-dropping, done on a monumental scale.
If one is looking for a potboiler, the novel is full of romance which sometimes pushes the censor’s envelope, considering this was written in 1951. Let’s just say that there’s passion aplenty, the main character having to juggle both a wife and a mistress- and under the same roof. Same could be said for the violence, which is by turns grisly and gratuitous, given the number of fights that occur.
By the time the story ends, we've been treated to an epic tale whose climax will be as much of a surprise to us as to the hero.
The Devil in Velvet was the second of thirteen historical mysteries the writer penned, the work a mix of mystery, time travel, and historic fiction. The mixture of fiction-based genres is unusual, and as such would be a risky venture in anyone else’s hands- but for Carr, this was just another day at the typewriter. In fact, Carr- at the risk of dropping a spoiler here- would send another character into the past, several years later, with "Fire, Burn!"
On the plus side, Velvet is full of fascinating details about life in pre-Revolution France and Britain, namely the late 1600’s. Everything from intrigue at the highest levels of the government to sword fighting styles, and bedroom etiquette to a typical day in the life of a Frenchman is depicted with meticulous detail. Carr can’t be accused of doing his homework, when it came to the time period involved.
As for action, the book is full of set-pieces that would be welcome fodder for a feature-length film: sword fights, chases, time travel, detective work, and more. Where the story lags is with the endless conversations and backstory that threaten to sink the whole affair- before another superbly staged action sequence saves the day.
For lovers of historical fiction, this is the perfect gift, rich in the kind of detail only thorough research could provide. For mystery aficionados, it's a satisfactory novel- though one’s patience will be tried by the detailed descriptions of governmental affairs and historical name-dropping, done on a monumental scale.
If one is looking for a potboiler, the novel is full of romance which sometimes pushes the censor’s envelope, considering this was written in 1951. Let’s just say that there’s passion aplenty, the main character having to juggle both a wife and a mistress- and under the same roof. Same could be said for the violence, which is by turns grisly and gratuitous, given the number of fights that occur.
By the time the story ends, we've been treated to an epic tale whose climax will be as much of a surprise to us as to the hero.
December 20, 2021
Another well done JDC novel. Not as famous as some of his other works, but that doesn't mean The Devil in Velvet lacks any of the characterizations, atmosphere, or devious mysteries that Carr is known to deliver. However, the reader should know this is not a straightforward mystery. No spoilers here, because the novel starts off with this, but the main character, Professor Nicholas Fenton, enters a pact with the devil and goes back in time to Restoration London to learn about a murder that has haunted him for several years. The devil tells him he cannot alter the past, but (predictably) the Professor falls in love with the intended victim and resolves to heroically alter the course of murderous history.
It's a neat attempt, and JDC is definitely clever with the novel and the rules of this time travel episode, and there are details you'll love along the way and with the murder itself. But! Even though I know how JDC writes and knew how the ending would have to be, I still felt the ending was a cheap cop-out. Your mileage may vary.
One last detail that I just couldn't get behind was the split nature of the Professor. Without giving away much, he inhabits someone's body in the past, and his struggles against the instincts of the person he is "possessing" made it harder for me to enjoy his character or root for him in any way. Honestly, I found both "sides" of his character to be irritating for different reasons, not the least of which was the misogynistic point of view even from "current day" professor.
It's a neat attempt, and JDC is definitely clever with the novel and the rules of this time travel episode, and there are details you'll love along the way and with the murder itself. But! Even though I know how JDC writes and knew how the ending would have to be, I still felt the ending was a cheap cop-out. Your mileage may vary.
One last detail that I just couldn't get behind was the split nature of the Professor. Without giving away much, he inhabits someone's body in the past, and his struggles against the instincts of the person he is "possessing" made it harder for me to enjoy his character or root for him in any way. Honestly, I found both "sides" of his character to be irritating for different reasons, not the least of which was the misogynistic point of view even from "current day" professor.
July 22, 2025
Представьте, вы – профессор британского университета в середине прошлого века. Около трехсот лет назад в вашем роду было совершено убийство, которое так и осталось нераскрытым. У вас есть показания очевидцев, есть все сведения, есть знания криминалистики. Почему бы не вернуться в прошлое и не раскрыть преступление? Для этого все-то нужен обычный советский заключить сделку с дьяволом
Как американский детектив представляет себе Британию XVII века? Это постоянные дуэли, лозунги за короля да за парламент, Оливер Кромвель, поэты-драмматурги, крупные вывески для неграмотных и мрачный Тауэр. Впечатление от текста вырисовывается очень приятное, особенно, когда почтенному профессору на голову сваливаются сразу три роковые женщины. Комичных ситуаций будет достаточно, захватывающих поединков, погони, любовь любовная – буквально нуарный фильм, упакованный в форму книги.
Как детектив, роман хорошо держит в напряжении – игра постоянно переворачивается, одни и те же факты предстают в совершенно другом свете. Однако никаких дополнительных вводных, мол, «убийца – дворецкий!!!» не присутствует. С кем нас познакомили – с теми и держат, никакого внезапного появления.
Как американский детектив представляет себе Британию XVII века? Это постоянные дуэли, лозунги за короля да за парламент, Оливер Кромвель, поэты-драмматурги, крупные вывески для неграмотных и мрачный Тауэр. Впечатление от текста вырисовывается очень приятное, особенно, когда почтенному профессору на голову сваливаются сразу три роковые женщины. Комичных ситуаций будет достаточно, захватывающих поединков, погони, любовь любовная – буквально нуарный фильм, упакованный в форму книги.
Как детектив, роман хорошо держит в напряжении – игра постоянно переворачивается, одни и те же факты предстают в совершенно другом свете. Однако никаких дополнительных вводных, мол, «убийца – дворецкий!!!» не присутствует. С кем нас познакомили – с теми и держат, никакого внезапного появления.
January 20, 2024
Sometimes a lesser known work of an author can be a real gem. This is a John Dickson Carr, but it’s not really a mystery, certainly not a locked room mystery, with a detective explaining all at the end. Yet it’s a delight, one of the best historical fiction books I’ve read. The characters are so complex, the setting so vivid, it’s as if you’re really there, and for once the time traveling aspect is neither unexplained (this is a history professor who knows in detail how people talked and behaved at this time) nor made to seem perfectly normal (he still makes mistakes.) This time of the English Restoration, right after Charles II took back the country from Oliver Cromwell, is incredibly well researched, and you can see how this issue divided families and cut through society, because each side having won for a time, they could consider themselves completely in the right and the others just temporarily in the lead. Truly a gem.
June 10, 2022
Well, was I glad to get through this one. I had a copy of this gathering dust for decades. I number some of Carr's mysteries (The Three Coffins, Problem of the Green Capsule, The Judas Window) among my favorite reads. But I'd never managed to get into this book of his.
I found reading this to be a chore. Somewhat a mystery, Carr is too besotted with the historical time he sets his story in. I admit I skimmed the sword-fighting parts, since they didn't seem necessary to the plot. I found the book interesting mostly for some of the details I just faulted it for. Contradictory, I know, but I certainly do not recommend this to anyone who loves Carr's (well-written) impossible crime stories. If you are into historical fiction, it will be more to your liking.
I'm just happy to be done with it.
I found reading this to be a chore. Somewhat a mystery, Carr is too besotted with the historical time he sets his story in. I admit I skimmed the sword-fighting parts, since they didn't seem necessary to the plot. I found the book interesting mostly for some of the details I just faulted it for. Contradictory, I know, but I certainly do not recommend this to anyone who loves Carr's (well-written) impossible crime stories. If you are into historical fiction, it will be more to your liking.
I'm just happy to be done with it.
May 9, 2021
Carr was very popular mid-20th century and wrote dozens of mysteries and stand alone novels. This one is a mystery-time travel-historical novel. It opens with Professor Nicholas Fenton in conversation with the devil himself. Fenton has spent a decade trying to find out who killed Lydia, Sir Nick Fenton's wife in London in 1650. There is a document describing the time around the death, but pages are missing. So the Professor makes a deal with the devil to go back to that time, one month before the death. The Professor goes to sleep and wakes the next morning over 250 years earlier. There are great sword fights, nights in London gardens and bars, an audience with the King. I enjoyed this 1951 adventure very much. Unfortunately, the author does not exist in any local libraries. I thank Open Road Media and Amazon for reissuing them with good Kindle formatting an reasonable prices.
May 23, 2017
For my vote, this is John Dickson Carr's finest hour. A breathless romp of a book full of a darkness that shrouds motive, thanks to a beautifully constrained element of the supernatural. Talk about not giving the reader what she or he wants-- Carr is the master of this trick, and he manages it without cheating-- he told you up front what he was about to do and then like the best of magicians, he diverts you and does exactly what he said he would. With history peeking through the doors and windows, this is a remarkable study in a particular time and place, an evocative murder mystery and thriller wrapped up in a cloak while the devil smiles.
October 6, 2018
I tried, I really tried, to finish this book. I read 150 pages before I couldn't take it anymore.
On paper it seems right up my alley - time travel, a bit of a supernatural aspect, a murder mystery, set in my favorite period of British history(the Restoration) - what could be more perfect?! It turns out I also need a book that is written well with sharp pacing. The writing! It was like a B movie from the 1950's come to life! But not a fun B movie. Sigh. What a disappointment.
On paper it seems right up my alley - time travel, a bit of a supernatural aspect, a murder mystery, set in my favorite period of British history(the Restoration) - what could be more perfect?! It turns out I also need a book that is written well with sharp pacing. The writing! It was like a B movie from the 1950's come to life! But not a fun B movie. Sigh. What a disappointment.
October 7, 2018
I read this book when I was about 13yrs. On reading again, it's still a good read! An old History professor is obsessed surrounding the death of Sir Nicholas Fenton's wife at the time of the restoration (Charles II). He makes a pack with the Devil, to be able to go back in time to discover the truth, in return for his soul. There is a twist. This would make a brilliant film!
March 1, 2024
This was a little hard to get into, and I wasn't a huge fan of some aspects of it, but I enjoyed the historical setting, and the plotting and action were intriguing. I disliked how the main character was surrounded by beautiful females fawning over him at every turn, and the fact that his most powerful love interest was his real-life colleague's young daughter was skeezy to say the least.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2025
I started to read this book because it was in my grandfather’s library. He was a voracious reader.
Yikes. It’s a DNF for me. Purple prose, indulgent history wallowing, and a plot that’s hard to follow.
I’m so glad he enjoyed it but I need to move on.
Yikes. It’s a DNF for me. Purple prose, indulgent history wallowing, and a plot that’s hard to follow.
I’m so glad he enjoyed it but I need to move on.
August 2, 2018
A wonderful colourful story of a deal wit devil and how to tease him. Set in historical London. Very well written as usual.
September 9, 2020
A surprise find in the genre of historical adventure novels for me. I rather enjoyed the story as a whole, but it was very straight-forward and you could see where it was going from the very beginning. Some of the historical detail is wonderful, but it is sometimes delivered as a lecture to the reader, rather than in the flow of the story. The plotting is a bit messy with side-trails that have little or nothing to do with the main plot (if there even is one).
Also, despite the obvious research that has gone into the detail, there are some surprising mistakes as well: absence of practice swords (they did exist), beaver-skin hats rather than beaver-felt, appearance of lorgnettes in a theatre (they were invented 100 years later) and, last but not least: swordplay itself. The hero often encounters skilled opponents raising their arms in an "old fashioned" slashing attack and manages to thrust his blade into their armpits. In order for this to happen, he would have had to encounter swordsmen from 100+ years earlier: fencing was already far more advanced in the 17th century.
Overall, it was a fun read and I forgive the mistakes on basis of the time in which it was written: nowadays we have a lot more information available at our fingertips and it is much easier to fact-check the above kinds of details.
Also, despite the obvious research that has gone into the detail, there are some surprising mistakes as well: absence of practice swords (they did exist), beaver-skin hats rather than beaver-felt, appearance of lorgnettes in a theatre (they were invented 100 years later) and, last but not least: swordplay itself. The hero often encounters skilled opponents raising their arms in an "old fashioned" slashing attack and manages to thrust his blade into their armpits. In order for this to happen, he would have had to encounter swordsmen from 100+ years earlier: fencing was already far more advanced in the 17th century.
Overall, it was a fun read and I forgive the mistakes on basis of the time in which it was written: nowadays we have a lot more information available at our fingertips and it is much easier to fact-check the above kinds of details.
Read
November 14, 2020Did not finish.
December 16, 2020
difficult, odd book
December 19, 2022
I’ve read this book many times, but it still holds up. It’s a combination of bold historical novel with a wealth of details, romance, and mystery, with more than a touch of eeriness.
November 23, 2023
Carr is my favorite mystery writer of all time. What a brilliant mind. Would love to see this book as a film.
July 2, 2010
In 1926 Cambridge history don and Restoration buff Nicholas Felton does a deal with the Devil to be allowed to go back in time to 1675, to take over the body and temporarily the life of his ancestor, Sir Nick Felton, a staunch Royalist but also, as Felton (to distinguish from Sir Nick) soon discovers, an ogre. Luckily, it's the more urbane Felton who's normally in charge of the proceedings as he swaggers and swordplays his way through the London of Charles II's time; occasionally, however, in times of great emotional stress (usually rage) the monstrous Sir Nick takes over and Felton blacks out, to be told afterwards of what havoc Sir Nick might have wrought.
Felton's ostensible purpose in coming back to 1675 is to try to solve the mystery of who killed Sir Nick's wife Lydia -- and soon, as he becomes completely infatuated, physically and otherwise, with Lydia, his more important self-appointed task is to prevent the murder happening at all. And at first it seems he has succeeded: he identifies the servant who has been feeding Lydia a slow, subcritical diet of arsenic, and the trick whereby it's being done. Yet he exhibits mercy toward the culprit, knowing she was but someone else's catspaw. Because of his decency in this unmerciful age, he soon becomes and object of devotion for his servants. They approve, too, of his ejecting from the household one Meg York, Sir Nick's unconcealed mistress this past while, and who bears a quite astonishing resemblance to demure Mary Grenville, the daughter of a friend of Felton's back in 1925.
There's lots of swashbucklery, and by book's end all the machinations of the plot to kill Lydia (and other plots, equally murderous) have been exposed and satisfactorily explained.
John Dickson Carr is perhaps my favourite of the classic detective writers, and so obviously I read this book decades ago. All I could remember of it were the vague general setup and that it had taken me quite a time before the novel started gripping me. Exactly the same happened this time. Carr evidently did huge amounts of research for this, his second historical novel (his first, The Bride of Newgate was a straightforward historical; two more timeslip fantasies followed The Devil in Velvet, and I shall be reading them shortly). That research shows, oh gawd does it show. Aside from frequent pauses (at least during the earlier part of the book) to offer minute descriptions of architectural features or niceties of attire, the characters all speak in a vocabulary that I'm sure is filled with lots of authentic flourishes but is a bit bloody boring to wade through. Still, once the author gets over the fact that he needs to impress us with his historical erudition, things start zipping along merrily enough, in true Carr style.
One interesting aspect of the book: Occasionally Felton, using his deep historical knowledge of the period, attempts to warn his new contemporaries -- including Charles II during an audience at Buck House -- of events that lie in their near future; of course, no one believes him, as otherwise history would be altered. Yet such alterations seem permissible in a small way. When Felton warns Charles of the Popish Plot,* that warning actually contributes to making the true plotters' duplicity yet more effective. It's a nice touch: you can't change history except to make it even more so, as it were.
* The Popish Plot was a wheeze dreamt up by unscrupulous politicians/courtiers, primarily Protestants, to cause civil turmoil through making up out of whole cloth a conspiracy by Catholics to overthrow the monarchy. That way they could cruelly persecute Catholics, get rid of a bunch of adversaries whose loyalty to the Catholic Charles was a nuisance, etc. Hello to the FOX News of the 17th century.
Felton's ostensible purpose in coming back to 1675 is to try to solve the mystery of who killed Sir Nick's wife Lydia -- and soon, as he becomes completely infatuated, physically and otherwise, with Lydia, his more important self-appointed task is to prevent the murder happening at all. And at first it seems he has succeeded: he identifies the servant who has been feeding Lydia a slow, subcritical diet of arsenic, and the trick whereby it's being done. Yet he exhibits mercy toward the culprit, knowing she was but someone else's catspaw. Because of his decency in this unmerciful age, he soon becomes and object of devotion for his servants. They approve, too, of his ejecting from the household one Meg York, Sir Nick's unconcealed mistress this past while, and who bears a quite astonishing resemblance to demure Mary Grenville, the daughter of a friend of Felton's back in 1925.
There's lots of swashbucklery, and by book's end all the machinations of the plot to kill Lydia (and other plots, equally murderous) have been exposed and satisfactorily explained.
John Dickson Carr is perhaps my favourite of the classic detective writers, and so obviously I read this book decades ago. All I could remember of it were the vague general setup and that it had taken me quite a time before the novel started gripping me. Exactly the same happened this time. Carr evidently did huge amounts of research for this, his second historical novel (his first, The Bride of Newgate was a straightforward historical; two more timeslip fantasies followed The Devil in Velvet, and I shall be reading them shortly). That research shows, oh gawd does it show. Aside from frequent pauses (at least during the earlier part of the book) to offer minute descriptions of architectural features or niceties of attire, the characters all speak in a vocabulary that I'm sure is filled with lots of authentic flourishes but is a bit bloody boring to wade through. Still, once the author gets over the fact that he needs to impress us with his historical erudition, things start zipping along merrily enough, in true Carr style.
One interesting aspect of the book: Occasionally Felton, using his deep historical knowledge of the period, attempts to warn his new contemporaries -- including Charles II during an audience at Buck House -- of events that lie in their near future; of course, no one believes him, as otherwise history would be altered. Yet such alterations seem permissible in a small way. When Felton warns Charles of the Popish Plot,* that warning actually contributes to making the true plotters' duplicity yet more effective. It's a nice touch: you can't change history except to make it even more so, as it were.
* The Popish Plot was a wheeze dreamt up by unscrupulous politicians/courtiers, primarily Protestants, to cause civil turmoil through making up out of whole cloth a conspiracy by Catholics to overthrow the monarchy. That way they could cruelly persecute Catholics, get rid of a bunch of adversaries whose loyalty to the Catholic Charles was a nuisance, etc. Hello to the FOX News of the 17th century.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2016
Here we have a middle-aged nerd from 1920's Cambridge traveling back in time via Satanic pact to the Restoration period, of which he's been the world's biggest fanboy his entire life, in order to star in what I can only describe as seventeenth-century noir complete with femme fatales, impromptu duels, and sinister plots.
He spends a lot of the book internally squeeing his head off about finally getting to see this gone-by-his-lifetime building, or that famous person, or being able to use period-appropriate speech accurately. However, he's in a Crime Story, so his fanboying is often cut short by drama and tragedy -- a juxtaposition I sometimes found difficult to buy. If I were living in some of the circumstances he had to endure, my anxiety would likely prevent me from appreciating all the nerdery around me.
Ultimately, I think the book would have been better had it not suffered from a curious case of trying to be two stories at once. The main storyline is about how he chose the date of his time-travel specifically to prevent the murder of, as a contemporary source reports, a woman by her cousin, with whom the victim's husband was having an affair. This storyline by itself would have made a perfectly serviceable piece of noir, Restoration-style, with periwigs replacing fedoras but the emotions no less familiar. This storyline was full of relationships and tension and twists, and its resolution, while grim, was at least satisfying because it made sense (I get really peeved by twists that either don't make sense or that I can't understand.)
However, the book kept going after that and tried to make sense of a second plot having to do with Restoration politics and the intricacies of Satanic pacts themselves, and at that point he basically lost me. Maybe omitting this bit would have taken away some of the fun of setting it in the Restoration, but I think it would have made a stronger book and still left the reader with plenty of period-piece fannishness.
As a Jew, I appreciate the fact that we seemed to be completely absent from the book--stuff this old, from random British writers, often speaks of us unflatteringly--and as a queer woman I loved the random neutral nod to sex between women (the femme fatale takes something the MC says the wrong way and informs him that no, she only sleeps with men.) However, warning for several uses of the term 'red Indian' (this is a pretty old book but that's still gross) and some violence some of which leads to death, both human and canine.
He spends a lot of the book internally squeeing his head off about finally getting to see this gone-by-his-lifetime building, or that famous person, or being able to use period-appropriate speech accurately. However, he's in a Crime Story, so his fanboying is often cut short by drama and tragedy -- a juxtaposition I sometimes found difficult to buy. If I were living in some of the circumstances he had to endure, my anxiety would likely prevent me from appreciating all the nerdery around me.
Ultimately, I think the book would have been better had it not suffered from a curious case of trying to be two stories at once. The main storyline is about how he chose the date of his time-travel specifically to prevent the murder of, as a contemporary source reports, a woman by her cousin, with whom the victim's husband was having an affair. This storyline by itself would have made a perfectly serviceable piece of noir, Restoration-style, with periwigs replacing fedoras but the emotions no less familiar. This storyline was full of relationships and tension and twists, and its resolution, while grim, was at least satisfying because it made sense (I get really peeved by twists that either don't make sense or that I can't understand.)
However, the book kept going after that and tried to make sense of a second plot having to do with Restoration politics and the intricacies of Satanic pacts themselves, and at that point he basically lost me. Maybe omitting this bit would have taken away some of the fun of setting it in the Restoration, but I think it would have made a stronger book and still left the reader with plenty of period-piece fannishness.
As a Jew, I appreciate the fact that we seemed to be completely absent from the book--stuff this old, from random British writers, often speaks of us unflatteringly--and as a queer woman I loved the random neutral nod to sex between women (the femme fatale takes something the MC says the wrong way and informs him that no, she only sleeps with men.) However, warning for several uses of the term 'red Indian' (this is a pretty old book but that's still gross) and some violence some of which leads to death, both human and canine.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews