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Category: John Dickson Carr
The Bowstring Murders by John Dickson Carr (as Carr Dickson)
Offers up a rather good puzzle with some ingenious features, though a few aspects of the investigation feel underdone.
Originally published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carr Dickson (some later reissues change the author's name to Carter Dickson, the pseudonym the author would use for his Merrivale series).
Dotty old Lord Rayle doted on his priceless collection of medieval battle gear at Bowstring Castle. But some ironic knave who didn't give a hoot about chivalry donned a mail glove and strangled him with his own bowstring. When the dastard also struck down two of Lord Rayle's armor-bearers, things really came unhinged!
Enter John Gaunt
The boozy-but-brilliant sleuth picked up the gauntlet thrown down by the crafty challenger. The clues weren't linked and the facts didn't mesh – but this champion was determined to find the chink in the murderer's armor!
Look here, I may be wrong. But I think that sooner or later something mad and ugly and dangerous is going to blow up in that place. I warn you –!
Bowstring Castle is said to contain one of the country's best collections of medieval armor and weaponry, housed in the building's armory. The castle is owned by Lord Rayle, a somewhat eccentric and forgetful man, whose strangled body is discovered within the armory by his daughter. There were just two possible entrances to the space, one observed at all times by Dr. Tairlaine, the other covered in a thick layer of dust, so how did the killer manage to commit the crime?
The Bowstring Murders was published at a transitional moment in John Dickson Carr's career. It was written a year after the penultimate Henri Bencolin novel (he wouldn't write the final one until 1937) and one year before he introduced Sir Henry Merrivale in The Plague Court Murders. Meanwhile he had recently published the first two Gideon Fell mysteries – Hag's Nook and The Mad Hatter Mystery.
This book therefore seems to herald a move from the Grand Guignol-style of the Bencolin stories set in France to something more puzzle-focused and comedic with an English setting – in other words, the formula for Carr's Merrivale tales. I think you can see Sir John Gaunt, the sleuth in this story, as embodying that transition as the text references he mentions that he has just returned from France himself when he is brought into this case.
Carr's growing interest in English tradition and history seems to be reflected in the design of Bowstring Castle, the setting for this story. Not only is this clearly meant to be a historic building, inhabited by members of the British aristocracy, but it is something of a museum – particularly the wing of the Castle in which the murder will take place which houses a collection of armor and medieval weaponry. While such a setting might seem suggestive of a gothic atmosphere, Carr never really takes it in that direction. Instead he focuses on the history and the eccentricity of the space.
In addition to these physical elements of the past, there is also some discussion of how the world is changing and not, Carr seems to say, for the better. One example of this might be the discussion of how the cinematic hero had changed with Francis bitterly reflecting that Larry Kestevan is successful because he is surly and suggesting that while a hero's masculinity used to be shown by having them punch a villain, in those days they were more likely to punch the heroine.
I think though that the strongest clues to the importance of this theme to Carr lie in the character of his sleuth – John Gaunt. The name, of course, recalls one of the most important figures from England's Middle Ages, Sir John of Gaunt, from whom all of the kings would be descended until the War of the Roses. Shakespeare would depict John of Gaunt in his play Richard II in which he makes the famed 'Scepter'd Isle' speech and so his name has these strong historical and cultural connections with England's past.
This is coupled with the notion that Gaunt, who is shown to possess a brilliant mind, has rejected working with Scotland Yard because of their insistence on utilizing modern, scientific methods rather than deduction. They, in turn, disapproved of his heavy drinking and how he has exercised his own judgment in the past to allow a murderer to get away. In other words, he is an eccentric individual in a world that no longer prizes those qualities, preferring conformity. A theme which Carr would return to again and again in the years to come.
I quite enjoyed getting to know Gaunt and was rather disappointed to realize that this would be the character's only outing. While he is less colorful than H. M., I enjoyed following his thinking as he broke the case down and explained the connections between the multiple murders. Though he enters the story midway through the novel, Carr employs one of his favorite devices of having characters discuss him repeatedly before he does (as he would do with Dr. Fell in Till Death Do Us Part) which gives that moment greater impact and helps us feel that we get to know him by reputation.
Lord Rayle himself is shown to be an eccentric figure, though in his case the depiction is intended to be comical. Much of this worked for me, such as the nonsensical approach he takes to trying to safeguard some of his possessions and his foggy, disconnected dialogue with his guests where he seems to lurch from one topic to another. He makes quite a big impact in just a few pages to the point where, once he is murdered, there is a sense that the novel loses a little of its playfulness and eccentricity. None of the other characters, except perhaps Gaunt himself, feel anywhere near so large.
Happily the puzzle is quite a good one which goes some way toward making up for this. The circumstances of that crime, given that it takes place in a room in which another person is present who says that they didn't see anything, are intriguing and the barriers to using those two exits are explained quite effectively. I was certainly baffled as to what had happened and will confess that I did not come anywhere near the solution beyond guessing the identity of the murderer.
That solution has some rather ingenious elements and I could appreciate, once it was explained, how it came together so neatly. If I had a complaint it was that I felt that, though Carr's descriptions are pretty good, the book would have benefitted from a plan of the armory area. This is actually referenced within the story itself as a character talks about how confusing the space is and a map is made for their benefit. While I do not think that seeing a map would have resulted in me working out the solution, it might have led to me understanding some relational geography a little earlier.
I do have to commend Carr though on many other aspects of his solution. There not only are some pretty interesting ideas used to help explain some oddities in the three deaths, I particularly appreciated that this is one of those cases where perspective proves to be quite important. Aspects of the crimes are mystifying when seen from the detective's perspective but once you understand the sequence of choices from those of the killer everything comes together very tidily indeed.
What keeps it from being perfect is not then the solution but what comes before it. There is some sloppiness in some early parts of the investigation, particularly the lack of consideration that the other character in the room might be the killer. After all, that would be the simplest solution and there is never really any explanation given for why the police do not take that possibility seriously (particularly given the weakness of the first victim).
The other weakness for me was that the killer's identity seems quite apparent from very early in the novel. I don't know if that is because I recognized some behavior on their part as being the sort of thing Carr killers often do or if it reflects that it is hard to take any of the other suspects seriously.
Still, while I think the novel has a few flaws that keep it from being a top-tier Carr, I still found it to be a thoroughly engaging read. It's a very solid puzzle with a few ingenious features that I enjoyed quite a bit more than the other, more lauded Carr title from that same year.
Forgot I hadn't copy-pasted this section when I first posted.
Ben @ The Green Capsule describes this as an 'interesting but brief chapter in Carr's career' which I think is a nice way of summing it up. I agree with everything he put in his spoilers section at the bottom of his excellent review.
Nick @ The Grandest Game in the World also admires the ingenuity of the solution here and makes a good point about the dodgy dialect employed for the servants. The comparison with an Anthony Boucher sleuth makes me interested to try some of those stories!
6 Comments The Bowstring Murders by John Dickson Carr (as Carr Dickson)
Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr
One of the best Carrs I have read to date, this is every bit as good as its reputation offering a scenario full of twists and turns and a very satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended.
Dr. Gideon Fell #15
Preceded by Death Turns the Tables
Followed by He Who Whispers
Crime author Dick Markham is in love again; his fiancée the mysterious newcomer to the village, Lesley Grant. When Grant accidentally shoots the fortune teller through the side of his tent at the local fair – following a very strange reaction to his predictions – Markham is reluctantly brought into a scheme to expose his betrothed as a suspected serial husband poisoner.
That night the enigmatic fortune teller – and chief accuser – is found dead in an impossible locked-room setup, casting suspicion onto Grant and striking doubt into the heart of her lover. Lured by the scent of the impossible case, Dr. Gideon Fell arrives from London to examine the perplexing evidence and match wits with a meticulous killer at large.
Thinking the matter over afterwards, Dick Markham might have seen omens or portents in the summer thunderstorm, in the fortune-teller's tent, in the shooting-range, in half a dozen other things at that bazaar.
In my four years of crime fiction blogging, I cannot recall being as excited about a vintage crime reprint as I was when I heard that Till Death Do Us Part would be reissued as part of the British Library Crime Classics range. I had previously enjoyed the story in the form of the very faithful BBC Radio adaptation starring Donald Sinden but I was looking forward to getting to read the story properly for myself. Little wonder then that when the package arrived on my doorstep last weekend I immediately put everything else to one side and read it cover-to-cover in a single sitting.
Crime writer Dick Markham arrives at a village fête with Lesley Grant, a woman who has only lived in the area for a matter of months. We learn that the couple have just become engaged and are planning to share the good news later that day. Before they do however they decide they will enjoy some of the attractions and they head to the fortune teller's booth where a man billed as The Great Swami promises to tell their fortunes.
Lesley enters the tent while Dick chats to the Major who is operating the shooting range next to it. He shares his good news but is surprised when Lesley emerges from the tent looking upset. Dick heads inside to speak to the Swami but before he can learn anything a gunshot is fired through the canvas. He emerges to find Lesley asserting that the rifle, which she had not wanted to hold, had fired by accident. It all seems pretty suspicious, particularly when he receives a telephone call from the doctor asking him to visit his patient who has some information to share with him about his bride to be…
This is a really intriguing setup because of the way it plays around with information. There is the information about Dick's engagement which we learn may be distressing to at least one other inhabitant of the village, then there's the information about the Swami's identity and then there's the information he has about Lesley. These opening pages are packed with revelations, each serving to shift our understanding of the situation and what is happening long before the murder even takes place. I love the sense of discovery in these early chapters and would suggest that the best way to enjoy this story is to just throw yourself straight into it and be surprised.
The murder comes pretty early in this one and does present an impossibility of sorts, though I do not want to overplay this element of the story. While it's certainly there and does involve some well-clued details, I think what makes this a compelling story is not so much the mechanics of the crime as the tensions and suspicions it brings about in the various characters.
The story follows Dick's perspective and so we experience his growing doubts and worries about Lesley as he battles with things he comes to learn and suspect. Carr does this well, incorporating some elements of domestic suspense into the story as Dick grapples with whether he can trust Lesley, how his feelings for her might be affected by what he is told and how he should interact with her moving forwards.
The decision to closely follow Dick means that we are kept at a slight distance not only from Lesley but also from Dr. Gideon Fell who enters the story shortly after the body is found though he is talked about several times prior to that. This is an effective technique as it serves to remind us of Fell's reputation as a genius for solving impossible crimes, heightening our anticipation for the moment of his arrival. Even once he does appear our focus remains on Dick with some of Fell's ideas and deductions being kept under wraps until near the end when he swoops in to bring about a resolution. Still, while Fell is utilized in a more limited way than some other of his stories I find him utterly engaging whenever he does appear and would consider this one of his best outings that I have read to date.
One aspect of the novel that I think is very striking is its depiction of life within the confines of an English village. There is of course the depiction of a village festival with their sometimes quite clunky stalls and games as well as the idea that someone might be a bigger celebrity in a small village than they would be in a more urban area hence all of the attention that the villagers pay to Dick. This also feeds into some aspects of the case and in some of the tensions surrounding Dick's relationship with Lesley. After all the village is a small place and people will gossip, adding pressure to an already tricky situation.
The solution, when it is presented, is a clever one though I admit to finding a few of the crucial details a little tricky to visualize at first. Some aspects of this though are very clever, particularly those relating to what is observed around the time that the gunshot is fired. While Carr has been more ingenious, I do appreciate how the story comes together overall.
What I think seals its status for me as one of the best I have read to date is the manner of the resolution. This is not just an exciting scene which follows a little burst of action, I feel that the construction of this sequence is exceptional and makes very good use once again of the distance between Dick and Fell, building up to a really powerful conclusion that provides some solid closure.
Overall then I have to unimaginatively concur with those voices who suggest that this is one of the best Dr. Fell mysteries. While I wish I had something a little more creative to say about it, all I can really offer is my belief that this holds together really well and that it was a joy to experience again even knowing the solution. This is about as highly recommended as they come.
24 Comments Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr
It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr
Henri Bencolin #1
Followed by Castle Skull
The British Library Crime Classics reprint also includes the short story 'The Shadow of the Goat' (1926).
In the smoke-wreathed gloom of a Parisian salon, Inspector Bencolin has summoned his allies to discuss a peculiar case. A would-be murderer, imprisoned for his attempt to kill his wife, has escaped and is known to have visited a plastic surgeon. His whereabouts remain a mystery, though with his former wife poised to marry another, Bencolin predicts his return.
Sure enough, the Inspector's worst suspicions are realized when the beheaded body of the new suitor is discovered in a locked room of the salon, with no apparent exit. Bencolin sets off into the Parisian night to unravel the dumbfounding mystery and track down the sadistic killer.
This story delivers on atmosphere but I felt that it distracted a little from the puzzle parts of the plot.
It will not be best to marry her. I am watching. I have put myself close to you, but you do not know it.
The famed sportsman the Duc de Saligny is about to get married. His bride, Louise, had previously been married to a man who had become mad and tried to murder her, ending up in an insane asylum. In a worrying turn for the couple, Laurent appears to have escaped and may even have changed his appearance with the help of a skilled plastic surgeon. Our sleuth, juge d'instruction Henri Bencolin, suspects that Laurent's actions have been with the intention of returning to Paris to kill the Duc and possibly Louise too.
Bencolin arranges for the couple to be guarded while visiting a gambling house but his fears become reality when, a short while after entering an empty card room, the Duc's decapitated head is found on the floor. The position of his body suggests he intentionally knelt before the murderer, raising the question why he would just meekly submit to that fate, while there is also the problem that no one was seen entering or leaving the room by its only entrance. The crime seems impossible…
It Walks By Night has been on my to read pile for a long time. Long enough that I accidentally purchased two additional copies of it after receiving a review copy when it was first published. Whoops (this would be one of the reasons I created my publicly-accessible TBR pile page).
The novel was Carr's first to be published and while it features an impossible crime and discovering the explanation of that will be key to solving the mystery, I think it would be fair to suggest that this doesn't feel like its focus. Instead I would suggest that Carr is more interested in creating a thick atmosphere of dread using elements of the supernatural, sex and implied gore to unsettle the reader.
The obvious comparison would be with the works of Poe, one of the fathers of the genre who gave us another genius-level French detective in The Murders in the Rue Morgue (and its two sequels). Carr clearly leans into this, referencing the writer repeatedly including in a chapter's title, but it is not simply a question of atmosphere. The character of Bencolin himself possesses an almost diabolic appearance with a Mephistophelean beard and an apparent appreciation for the macabre elements of this case.
Bencolin is the first of Carr's significant recurring sleuths and differs somewhat from his subsequent and more popular creations, Dr. Fell and Sir. Henry Merrivale. Part of this is presentational as each of those characters felt lighter and more comic, but he also fulfills a slightly different role in relation to the investigation. While those characters are typically reacting to a crime that has already been committed, Bencolin begins this story aware of the likelihood of a crime and taking action to try and prevent it. Even once the crime takes place, he seems far more physically active than either Dr. Fell or H. M. and seems to be constantly moving rather than cogitating.
That sense of constant action makes this feel more like a thriller or adventure story than a straightforward detective story. While there certainly are clues that the reader can use to get to much of the solution, the story is peppered with improbable and far-fetched developments. To give just a couple of examples that leap to mind, I think the author has a misplaced idea about precisely what could be achieved with plastic surgery while a visit made to a woman in a darkened room feels rather ridiculous in the context of what had just occurred.
It was all a bit much for me, overwhelming the puzzle aspects of the novel, and I wished that the story had been a little more consice. Perhaps I was just not in the right frame of mind and this was just the wrong book for my mood at the moment. I will note though that I found the additional short story included in the British Library reprint, The Shadow of the Goat, to be significantly more entertaining and engaging. I certainly enjoyed the puzzle elements of the story and found the conclusion to be both logical and satisfying.
I am sure that I will return to Bencolin at some point. I have copies of Castle Skull and The Four False Weapons on my TBR list after all. But for now I suspect my next Carr will likely mean a return to Dr. Fell.
A copy was provided by the publisher, The British Library, for review though I purchased my own additional copies.
7 Comments It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr
The Island of Coffins by John Dickson Carr, edited by Tony Medawar and Douglas Greene
This collection, published by Landru and Crippen, contains radio play scripts that were produced for The Casebook of Cabin B-13 and broadcast between 1948 and 1949.
A limited cloth-bound edition included an additional script for Secret Radio as a pamphlet. As this limited edition is now sold out I will not be discussing this story in the review below.
John Dickson Carr, the grand master of locked room mysteries and impossible disappearances, was also the master of the creepy radio play.
For the first time, all the scripts for the classic 1948 radio series, Cabin B-13, are printed in this volume, and they are classic Carr.
Almost all of the Cabin B-13 stories offer intriguing impossibilities to explore and showcase Carr's imagination and versatility as a writer.
More than 70 years after the series was first broadcast, it is possible to see Cabin B-13 as the final flowering of the truly great days of radio.
From the introduction by Tony Medawar
The Island of Coffins is a collection of radio play scripts that were written by John Dickson Carr for a CBS series Cabin B-13. The show was designed to be an anthology in which a different story with elements of mystery and adventure would be introduced each week by Dr. Fabian, the ship's surgeon aboard the Maurevania, a liner that travels the world. Each adventure would supposedly relate in some way to the destination that the ship was visiting and draw upon Fabian's experiences, though he does not directly feature in all of the plays.
Nearly all of the recordings appear to have been lost and so this collection will be the first chance for many fans to experience these stories. As an experiment I listened to one of the stories after reading the script and I am happy to report I found it just as involving to read as it was to listen to which I think is a testament both to Carr's engrossing storytelling style and to the care taken in the limited directions he provides.
The show ran for two series, both produced in 1948 though the broadcasts continued until early 1949. The scripts for all twenty-three episodes are collected here and each are presented with illuminating notes that provide background on the story and the way elements were reused in other Carr stories or radio plays. These are excellent and certainly enhanced my enjoyment of the stories, though readers may want to exercise a little caution as they may inadvertantly spoil themselves for other stories.
Almost every story in the collection features some element that could be considered an impossibility, though some are stronger than others. The exception is Death in the Desert, a story from the show's second series, which is a sort of adventure yarn and has no mystery elements at all to speak of. The notes to that story do at least help explain why it is part of this series, though I think that story does feel a little out of place and was probably the one I enjoyed least in the collection.
The other twenty-two stories though present some wonderfully varied and imaginative situations. I think this is particularly true of the eleven stories that constitute the program's first series which feature some of the program's most intriguing problems and impossibilities.
One of my favorites is The Blind-Folded Knife Thrower, the first story in which Dr. Fabian plays a really central part beyond introducing the adventure. In this story a young woman returns to visit a house where her mother had committed suicide years before by drinking acid and receives a message to expect to be visited by her ghost. Carr does a brilliant job of creating an unsettling atmosphere with the use of some very chilling imagery and I thought the solution was quite clever.
I similarly really enjoyed the story that followed it, No Useless Coffin, which is set on the island of Gibraltar a short time before the outbreak of World War II. Dr. Fabian is part of a group who visit a cottage which had been the setting for a miraculous disappearance when one of the party had been a child. She had disappeared from the cottage when all of the doors and windows were locked and fastened from the inside, reappearing several days later without explanation. When she disappears again Dr. Fabian has to work out where she has vanished to and how it was done. I thought it was an interesting concept and enjoyed the explanation of what happened.
Perhaps the most baffling of the stories though is the second, The Man Who Couldn't Be Photographed. In this story a conceited actor throws over his girlfriend causing her to curse him that he will never be able to be photographed again before committing suicide. Several days later he visits a number of photographers in Paris, each of whom tells him that his photographs have not developed and refuse to allow him to visit again. This one is very clever, if perhaps requiring a specialized knowledge that few will have, but I thought it was done very well.
Among the other mysterious offerings from this first series are locked room murders, a murder in the steam room at a Turkish bath, a strangling in an untouched expanse of sand and the activities of a strange jewel thief who always carries a heavy iron box with them when committing their crimes. Most of these stories possessed some point that intrigued me and the only one that didn't work for me at all was Death Has Four Faces, a story about a former pilot who struggles to deal with a nervous condition. I found the action in that story a little hard to follow.
Apparently Carr was struggling to generate enough material by the time he got to series two which means that several stories rework previous scripts for Appointment with Fear and Suspense. Reworking is not a problem of course if you've never encountered the material before which would no doubt be the case for almost all of Carr's audience but in some cases the revised scripts do not feel quite like the scripts around them.
Still, this second series is quite varied in its impossibilities and I appreciate the greater variety of geographic settings (there are several stories set in parts of Africa and the Middle East). Where I have problems with these stories, other than Death in the Desert, it is because those ideas can feel a little rushed or cramped. One examples would be Lair of the Devil-Fish, a story about a diving expedition, which has some clever ideas but seems to rush through some key moments, not giving them enough time to have their full impact.
The other issue that I had with quite a few of this batch of stories is the reliance on the instant love trope. This had been present in the first run of episodes too but by this stage it feels overused and sometimes a little unnecessary – as though Carr is adding it out of an expectation rather than because it is necessary to the plot. This is an issue I have with some of his novels too but it is more noticeable here given the shorter format of the stories. Still, in spite of these grumbles there is still plenty to enjoy here.
One of my favorite stories from this second batch is The Most Respectable Murder, a story about a murder that takes place in a locked room. Dr. Fabian tells the listener in a rather overenthused way that it is a totally new solution to a locked room – possibly hyperbole – but I liked the other aspects of the crime and appreciated the consideration of characters' motives.
Another favorite is the story that opens the series, The Street of the Seven Daggers, in which an American businessman who is keen on debunking superstitutions learns of a street that kills anyone who walks down it after midnight and decides he will walk it himself. The villain's identity will likely jump out at readers but I enjoyed the simplicity and the clarity of the setup as well as a few of the clues that Carr provides.
The other story I really liked was the very last one, The Sleep of Death, which feels rather like a love letter to Poe. While it is perhaps a little out of place in the series – we may question exactly how Dr. Fabian could have heard this story – I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the tone of the piece.
Overall then I thought that this was a really enjoyable collection that read far more easily than I expected it to. While the script format may be daunting to some, Carr does a superb job of setting up intriguing situations and providing the reader with just enough detail to imagine a scene without getting too bogged down in detailled directions. It all makes for an engaging read that I think speaks to the writer's imagination and versatility.
3 Comments The Island of Coffins by John Dickson Carr, edited by Tony Medawar and Douglas Greene
The Bride of Newgate by John Dickson Carr
To inherit her family fortune, beautiful Miss Caroline Ross must marry before her twenty-fifth birthday. But she has found only two breeds of husband: violent drunks and irresponsible dandies. To evade wedded agony, she chooses a spouse not long for this world—a convicted murderer with just a few hours left until his date with the hangman. But clever, cold-hearted Caroline does not yet realize it is her neck around which the noose is tightening and that she risks facing a life sentence far grimmer than one at Newgate jail.
Attempts to blend romance and mystery but does neither well.
It was recently pointed out to me that it has been a while since I last read and reviewed anything by John Dickson Carr on this blog. A quick look back through my posts shows that it has been almost exactly a year since I shared thoughts on The Mad Hatter Mystery and I have added quite a few books to my library since then thanks to the Polygon, British Library Crime Classics and American Mystery Classics reprints.
Unfortunately I chose to overlook all of those other Carr titles I owned in favor of The Bride of Newgate.
The book is a historical mystery set in Georgian England. It opens with a young woman, Miss Caroline Ross, traveling to Newgate Prison to marry a convicted murderer about to be hanged. She is not seeking this marriage for love but rather to fulfil the terms of a will that requires her to marry by her next birthday to inherit a fortune. By marrying Dick Darwent, a condemned man, she hopes to get the fortune without losing her independence. Unfortunately for her Dick's sentence will soon after be quashed and he will turn out to be a rather longer-term investment than she had presumed.
In the process of securing his release, we learn Dick's own story which introduces us to the mystery elements of the story. We hear how he found himself blamed for a murder he did not commit after waking up in a room that subsequently vanishes and we follow as he attempts to find the real guilty party and bring them to justice.
The best bit about the book for me is its opening. While Caroline's complaints about the idea of being married are clearly intended to read rather comically (and establish her as a Katherina-type), her scheme is rather novel and explained well. Similarly the reasons for how Dick comes to escape the noose, however far-fetched they may be, are also extremely easy to follow. Were this a straightforward romance story I could see this as being quite a promising starting point.
The problem is that Carr is writing a murder mystery and those elements of the story never feel quite so clearly explained or defined. There is a reason that the Open Road Media blurb quoted above makes absolutely no mention of the mystery elements of the story – they are much harder to describe consicely. There is a sort of impossibility, in terms of a crime scene that vanishes, and yet that too feels rather vague. The best aspect of it, the idea that the room could not have been disturbed because it is covered in cobwebs, is appealing as an idea and yet feels underutilized as the investigation gets underway.
Not that there is much of an investigation, at least in a structured way. The Bride of Newgate strikes me as a story cut in the adventure mold as there is a heavy focus on the idea of duelling. There are multiple duel scenes laced throughout the story, each featuring different adversaries and all of which left me quite cold. They are neither particularly thrilling, nor are they witty or interesting in some other way, particularly as they feel rather repetitive. Instead they just seem to get in the way of the mystery itself, distracting you from the puzzle that is presumably intended as the story's focus.
Carr's protagonist, Dick Darwent, is neither particularly interesting or relatable. While we may initially sympathize with him as having been convicted of a crime he didn't commit, his aggression towards Caroline, herself not a sympathetic character, comes off as quite bitter and unpleasant. Particularly when he does things like threaten her with exercising his husbandly rights. Caroline's own feelings in the matter are particularly confusing and I never felt I understood exactly why she was drawn to him.
As for the historical details, they're fine. I appreciated the author's note at the end in which Carr outlines his sources and it is clear that he enjoyed that aspect of putting together the novel. Some historical details are integrated well into the text, others have a tendency to feel like an author cramming that research onto the page somehow, but I did feel that there was an attempt to evoke a sense of time and place, albeit in a way that felt rather literary in style.
I will say that I appreciated that the details of Dick and Caroline's respective backstories are quite specific to this period of time, meaning that this is an instance where a historical mystery's plot arises out of the period rather than simply transposing a whodunnit onto a historical setting. Given that Carr is one of the earliest authors to play with the idea of writing a historical mystery, I think it is to his credit that he seems to be interested in the storytelling possibilities offered by setting his story in a different time rather than treating it as a novelty.
For all my complaints though, I do have to acknowledge that Carr does at least conclude his story quite tidily. The explanations given do pull all of the various threads of the story together and I was convinced that the trick, although quite a simple one, could have been managed. The problem was that by that point I was all too eager to be done with the book to care…
6 Comments The Bride of Newgate by John Dickson Carr
The Mad Hatter Mystery by John Dickson Carr
Dr. Gideon Fell #2
Preceded by Hag's Nook
Followed by The Eight of Swords
At the hand of an outrageous prankster, top hats are going missing all over London, snatched from the heads of some of the city's most powerful people—but is the hat thief the same as the person responsible for stealing a lost story by Edgar Allan Poe, the manuscript of which has just disappeared from the collection of Sir William Bitton? Unlike the manuscript, the hats don't stay stolen for long, each one reappearing in unexpected and conspicuous places shortly after being taken: on the top of a Trafalgar Square statue, hanging from a Scotland Yard lamppost, and now, in the foggy depths of the Tower of London, on the head of a corpse with a crossbow bolt through the heart. Amateur detective and lexicographer Dr. Gideon Fell is on the case, and when the dead man is identified as the nephew of the collector, he discovers that the connections underlying the bizarre and puzzling crimes may be more intimate than initially expected.
An imaginative crime story that gets bogged down in suspect and witness interviews. Worth a read but there are better Dr. Fell mysteries.
Of all of the American Mystery Classic releases to date, none have excited me quite so much as The Mad Hatter Mystery. It wasn't just the prospect of owning a shiny, fresh hardcover of a Carr work (a novelty after their being out of print for so long) but also a reflection of how appealing I found the blurb.
The Mad Hatter Mystery promises a lot. We get a strange murder at the Tower of London, a curious spate of hat thefts and the missing manuscript of the very first Poe detective story (predating The Murders in the Rue Morgue). The cover of the Penzler reprint even alludes to Carr's reputation for impossible crimes which may set a false expectation since this novel really doesn't fit into that category of crime fiction.
Before I discuss whether it lived up to those expectations I should probably go into a bit more detail about the setup…
London has been terrorized by a prankster who has been dubbed The Mad Hatter. This individual has been stealing hats off the heads of Londoners and putting them in odd places. Among the newspaper reporters following this case is Phil Driscoll who is the man found dead in the mist at Traitor's Gate, a crossbow bolt through his heart and his uncle's oversized top hat pulled over his head.
The guards at the Tower have quietly detained all of the visitors to the Tower that day for questioning but no one appears to have been near or seen what happened clearly through the heavy fog. Fortunately Dr. Gideon Fell is on hands to work through the various accounts and make sense of this baffling crime.
I really appreciate and admire how novel and imaginative the circumstances of this crime are. The idea of a hat thief terrorizing London society makes me smile and I think the question of why the hatter would have placed a hat on a corpse (or possibly killed the man themselves) is a really strong hook for the story.
The initial batch of interviews only makes the circumstances of the murder more baffling. The problems lie in tracking various suspects' movements around the Tower and throughout London and the ways that information affects their alibis for the crime. I particularly enjoyed a evasive interviewee who lived in the same building as the victim and learning more about their reasons for being at the Tower.
The problem with these interviews is that the more information we receive, the harder it becomes to keep in your head exactly who is where and when. I ended up having to switch from the ebook copy to reading the print edition to make it easier to refer back to the map regularly (perhaps the first time I have really found a map to be essential in following the action of a case) and rereading sections to make sure I was sure I was remembering those movements correctly.
As I noted above, readers should be prepared that this is not one of Carr's impossible crime stories. The case reads more like an unbreakable alibi story where no one who could have committed the crime would have done and those who might have a motivation can be shown to be away from the Tower at the time of the crime. As an example of that type of story, it is fairly solid but the complexities of the case can make it a surprisingly heavy read at times.
Carr does try to keep things light by incorporating quite a lot of humorous scenes and elements into his story. Some of these moments land quite well such as the grouchy Police doctor who has the misfortune to share his name with a famous fictional character and the interrogation where Fell decides he needs to project the image of what a lawman is expected to be through some elements of costuming to be taken seriously but others can fall a little flat or might be more entertaining if they could be seen rather than described. For the most part I would describe it as a gently amusing rather than hilarious read.
Though I do have issues with the middle investigative section of the novel, I do think the conclusion to the mystery is really quite cleverly thought out and, after such a complicated investigation, surprisingly simple. I do wonder if one of the reasons that this story seems to be pretty fondly remembered is the cleverness of this resolution.
A revelation shifts our understanding of the basic facts of the case and it is the sort of thing that the reader does have a fair chance of beating the detectives to. I don't happen to love the way we get to that moment, in part because it relies on an unpredictable external event, but I was at least satisfied that Dr. Fell had basically solved the thing prior to that, keeping it from frustrating me too much.
I think the other reason that this story is fondly remembered relates to an event in the final chapter that feels organic and earned. It is, of course, the sort of thing that you can't discuss without spoiling it but I think anyone who has read the book will know the moment I am referring to. It is the type of moment that defines a character and I think it gives us a very clear sense of who exactly Fell is not only as a detective but as a man.
Where does that leave me overall? Well, I liked moments from this story a lot and I certainly liked the ideas but the middle third turned out to be a bit of a slog. I am glad that further Carr stories are getting reprinted, both by Penzler and the British Library, so that this isn't the only of his stories that is widely available as I would not suggest this as a first outing as it is hardly Carr at the height of his powers. Those who have already read and enjoyed books by the author will find there to be enough here to make it a worthwhile and solid, middle-of-the-road sort of read.
Vintage Mysteries Challenge: Title with a literary allusion in it (What)
Nick @ The Grandest Game in the World describes the novel as one of the best in concept, characterization and execution of the Fell novels.
The Green Capsule's review is pretty mixed, praising some of the humor and appreciating the bit of background we get about Fell but noting that the case is a little too open ended and underwhelming on the question of how the murder was done.
The Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery shared his views of this book, noting that it didn't quite match up to his fond memories on a second reading.
21 Comments The Mad Hatter Mystery by John Dickson Carr
Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Once again my busy schedule has struck and I have had to reach for a piece I had penned about a mystery television series. For those whose interests lie solely in the printed page rest assured that book reviews are coming!
Colonel March of Scotland Yard was a television series from the mid-50s based on John Dickson Carr's short stories set in the Department of Queer Events within Scotland Yard. The premise is not dissimilar from Roy Vickers' Department of Dead Ends in that it exists to investigate offbeat, odd and otherwise inexplicable cases.
I should say up front that I haven't read the short stories. Part of the reason that this post has been on the shelf was that I had hoped to track down an affordable copy but having spent months trying I am having to give up. As keen as I am to read it, I can't justify spending close to $200 on a copy right now, particularly as people whose opinions I trust say it's not Carr's best work. Someday I will hope to rectify that.
The star of the show was Boris Karloff who was, of course, most famous for his roles in monster movies several decades earlier. This is a significantly different type of role and he plays his part with a sort of wry, good humor, often needling his colleague Inspector Ames (Ewan Roberts) who appears in most of the episodes and Inspector Goron of the French Surete (Eric Pohlmann) who is a semi-regular guest.
The stories themselves are quite uneven in quality and they do suffer from the limitations of the filming styles and constraints of the period as well as the short running time. As a result of the latter plots can sometimes feel a little flimsy or key elements stand out a little too much but even the episodes that don't work brilliantly as mysteries will usually be quite entertaining in terms of the performances or broader concepts.
Some stories do stand out as being strong however such as the first episode, The Sorcerer, which features a simple idea but a clever and effective one. Fans of Carr's gothic elements will likely enjoy The Talking Head which I think stands up best of the series as a whole and has a very clever explanation. Death and the Other Monkey and The Stolen Crime are also each excellent, particularly the latter which I consider one of the strongest episodes of the show.
I will say that this series does require a little patience with and tolerance for 1950s television. The viewer will often notice the limitations of the studio space (Passage at Arms struck me as somewhat ludicrous), slightly misplayed lines and, of course, somewhat static RP performances. Fortunately the latter is nowhere near as bad as you might expect given the era and fans of British films and television from the era may enjoy some of the before-they-were-famous guest appearances. Of these the Christopher Lee appearance in At Night All Cats Are Gray stands out for his attempts at an extremely questionable French accent.
Though it can be a little rough around the edges, Colonel March of Scotland Yard is frequently imaginative and fun. Episodes zip by and while I sometimes wanted an extra plot element to sink my teeth into, the content is usually good. If you have never sought it out before I would suggest that it is certainly worth a look.
The broadcast order of these episodes differs by territory so I am going by the sequence they are in on Amazon Instant Video. Summaries and comments on every single episode follow after the cut.
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21 Comments Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Crime on the Coast & No Flowers by Request by Members of the Detection Club
Crime on the Coast & No Flowers By Request
Members of the Detection Club
Originally Published 1954/1953
The Detection Club produced several collaborative stories in which members contributed a section making up a part of a bigger mystery story. Perhaps the most famous of these is The Floating Admiral but there were several others including the two efforts contained in this volume.
This book is a very slim volume as each of the stories is only about seventy-five pages long. The list of collaborators is a little less star-studded than the one in The Floating Admiral with the first story featuring few familiar names other than Carr's. No Flowers by Request boasts a more familiar lineup of some of the leading female crime writers of the decade who likely better known to modern readers.
Crime on the Coast
Authors: John Dickson Carr, Valerie White, Laurence Meynell, Joan Fleming, Michael Cronin, Elizabeth Ferrars
The first story in this double-header originally appeared as a serial in the News Chronicle in 1954. Each of the authors gets two consecutive short chapters, just eleven or twelve pages, to make their contribution to the story each picking up from the conclusion of the previous author.
The first two chapters are the work of John Dickson Carr who sets up an interesting adventure scenario in which a mystery author arrives at a seaside fun fair at the urging of his publisher. A 'fat man' urges him to take a ride on Ye Olde Haunted Mill which he declines on the grounds that it is a romantic ride for two and is surprised when a very attractive young woman he had never seen before calls him by name, urges him to take the ride with her telling him that it is a matter of life and death.
The first two chapters are quite amusing in spots and do set up an appropriately mysterious situation for the succeeding writers to work with. Characterization is slight but that seems appropriate for this sort of story where the writers are trying to change directions and introduce new elements and the action is pretty well paced, although I think things get a little tangled towards the end.
I am not familiar with the other contributors' styles having only read Laurence Meynell's work before (and I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't found I already had a tag for him on here) so it is hard to judge the success of the other collaborators. If our measure is whether the works feel consistent enough that a reader might be persuaded they were the work of a single writer then I think it succeeds but personally I think that misses the point of a collaborative story. For me these stories should be about celebrating the differences between the writers rather than an exercise in literary craftsmanship.
As such I feel ambivalent towards this story. It is competent if not particularly exciting work and will do little to make you seek out a story by, for instance, Joan Fleming or Michael Cronin if they are new to you.
No Flowers By Request
Authors: Dorothy L. Sayers, E. C. R. Lorac, Gladys Mitchell, Anthony Gilbert, Christianna Brand
The second story appeared in the Daily Sketch in 1953 and follows a similar format. Each author gets two chapters although there is a little more variation in the lengths – Sayers and Brand each get 18 pages whereas Lorac and Mitchell contribute just 12.
The story concerns a widow whose children have grown and decides that she will work as a housekeeper. She accepts a position working within a house in the country for a couple, an artist and his invalid wife, whose niece lives with them along with an injured airman and a nurse.
Sayers' opening chapters set up the situation in which she and the niece are left alone in the home with the invalid wife and asked to check in on her. When they do they find her in a bad way and try to summon the doctor but are unable to get him to come out. She dies later that night, apparently of digitalis poisoning.
Unlike the previous story here each of the authors is able to put more of their storytelling style into their chapters. For example Mitchell gets to deal with some of the mutual suspicion that develops within the home. Their writing is still clearly a little constrained in scope and style to make sure it fits alongside the others' work but I think it is easier to see that it is the work of multiple writers.
I feel that the story also benefits from the creation of a much stronger central character in the form of Mrs. Merton who is a rather formidable personality. She is not a particularly pleasant character but she is consistently portrayed across each of the chapters and it does feel like she plays a more active role in her story than Philip Courtney ever does in Crime on the Coast.
I found the solution to the puzzle to be more interesting and complex than I expected, holding together pretty well. Brand's final chapter is, perhaps, a little confusing and I did have to reread the final few pages to be sure I understood an aspect of the ending but I think she does manage to pull the clues together to reach a convincing conclusion that fits the situation, clues and characters well.
I do think it is easily the more successful of the two stories here. It is not a perfect work and I can't shake the feeling that any one of these authors given the premise to work with on their own (and an extra hundred pages) might have created something even more imaginative and satisfying but it is a pretty successful collaboration that does at least represent its authors.
When I bought this collected volume I spent no more than a dollar on it and I do not regret that purchase but I do not think I would feel the same if I had spent much more than that. It is an interesting curio and I do think the second tale is a pretty engaging short story. Do be aware that it is a very short volume however and that few of the authors are shown to their best advantage.
Vintage Mysteries Challenge: Written by more than one person (What)
16 Comments Crime on the Coast & No Flowers by Request by Members of the Detection Club
The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories edited by Martin Edwards
The Christmas Card Crime and
Martin Edwards (ed)
I may have mentioned this before but I am terrible when it comes to adhering to schedules. For this reason my week of Christmassy reads is beginning with less than a week to go.
The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories is the latest British Library Crime Classics anthology of seasonal short stories. Last year I reviewed Crimson Snow which I found to be an entertaining and varied collection of stories, albeit one that was a little inconsistent in terms of quality. I am happy to report that I found this to be an even more satisfying collection.
There were a lot of things for me to love about this collection, not least that it features so many authors that are new to me and who write in a variety of styles. There are several inverted stories, a heist tale, an impossible crime or two as well as some more traditional detective stories. It is a good mix of stories!
Some of my favorites from the collection include Selwyn Jepson's By The Sword which is a clever, dark story with a fun kick and Cyril Hare's Sister Bessie which manages to go even darker. I also really enjoyed the title story for the collection The Christmas Card Crime which packs a considerable amount of incident into a small number of pages.
The disappointments here are few. Usually if a story doesn't work for me it is because of their length – there are several which are just a few pages long. The only two that I think failed were Lorac's A Bit of Wire Pulling and Carr's Blind Man's Hood which I just couldn't get into. In the case of the latter there is an argument to be made that my expectations may simply have been too high.
Overall I considered this collection to be a delight and had a wonderful time reading it. The book feels really well balanced and there are several stories in the collection that I can imagine returning to when the season rolls around again. I consider this to be one of the best anthologies the British Library have published to date and highly recommend it.
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11 Comments The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories edited by Martin Edwards
A Graveyard to Let by Carter Dickson
A Graveyard to Let
Carter Dickson (aka. John Dickson Carr)
Sir Henry Merrivale #19
Preceded by The Skeleton in the Clock
Followed by Night at the Mocking Window
Frederick Manning is a successful and respectable businessman but his children have become concerned that he is acting erratically and may be keeping a mistress. There are even rumors circulating that he may be embezzling money from his charitable foundation. When they confront him about it he says he will reveal a secret at a dinner to which he has invited Sir Henry Merrivale with the promise that he will perform 'a miracle'.
At dinner he upsets them by talking about how little he wanted children though he says he will make some provision for them and implies he will be disappearing soon. Then the next morning as the Police sirens approach he calmly dives into the swimming pool fully clothed and when the party look for him in the pool they find he has vanished leaving all of his clothes behind.
Up until now I have stuck tightly to those novels that John Dickson Carr published under his own name because of how much I have enjoyed the character of Dr. Gideon Fell. I never doubted I would get around to trying some of the Sir Henry Merrivale stories but there was always some book I wanted to get to first.
The reason I have deviated from this approach comes down to the premise of this story that grabbed my imagination from the moment I heard Dan describe it on an episode of the impossible crimes mystery podcast The Men Who Explain Miracles. The idea of a disappearance from within a swimming pool seemed an entirely novel take on the idea of someone vanishing from inside an observed room and I was really curious how Dickson would manage it.
Since learning about this novel I have, as it happens, encountered a short story by Ed Hoch with a similar premise albeit that has someone appearing out of a swimming pool. Both stories are excellent and make good use of this concept to create striking moments that appeal to the imagination. I did have a moment's worry that the solutions might be similar too but I was very happy to discover that they take create distinctly different answers to these challenges.
I really admired the way Carr sets a mood and builds up a sense of anticipation in the novel's early chapters. By opening the novel in a moment of conflict we are thrown right into the story and have to make judgments about the characters involved. I certainly was curious what could be driving Manning to be so blunt and cruel to his children and wanted to know more about their relationships with him.
The moment in which he disappears is wonderfully theatrical right down to the detail of his underpants bobbing up to the surface. It is perhaps not one of Carr's trickier puzzles – the method used is quite simple and may occur to some readers pretty quickly – but it is logically worked through and clearly explained at the end.
Even if the reader can work out the way in which the vanishing was worked they will still have plenty of details to pick up on while we may also wonder where he has gone and what he is planning. While the second half of the novel is much less flashy than the first it can be just as exciting and mysterious, packing in some very enjoyable reveals.
I also found the novel to be really quite funny, though I do acknowledge that humor is highly subjective. Not every joke hits and a few of them, such as his reason for visiting Washington, may be predicted but there are amusing moments spread throughout the narrative.
One of my favorite sequences comes near the start of the novel where Sir Henry messes with a police officer near the turnstiles in a subway station by suggesting that he can use a voodoo incantation to walk through turnstyles without paying the fare. It is not only amusingly written, there is a puzzle there that readers may ponder about how a trick was pulled off. That method wouldn't work today but I could still appreciate the cleverness of the idea and the grudge the officer holds is referred to at several later points in the story with amusing effect.
While I can understand why this story isn't more highly rated, given its simpler solution, I found the case to be thoroughly enjoyable. The scenario is bold and imaginative and I enjoyed my time spent with these characters. It is certainly one of the most entertaining experiences I have had reading Carr and I would happily recommend this to anyone who comes across an affordable copy.
24 Comments A Graveyard to Let by Carter Dickson


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The truly magical experience that is the Enchanted Palace combines art, history, performance, dreams and fashion. Installations tell of the secret lives of seven princesses who all lived at Kensington Palace and interprets the hidden stories and powerful women behind them.
The spectacular installations include contributions from designers Vivienne Westwood, Stephen Jones, Boudicca, Echo Morgan, William Tempest and Aminaka Wilmont that really bring the stories alive. Contemporary fashion and the historical setting are juxtaposed to make a unique statement. The designers were challenged to make these installations, inspired by the enthralling stories of the Palace's former residents.
Westwood is known for her use of witty historical referencing, taking inspiration from royalty and British heritage. Her contribution to the British fashion industry makes her an ideal designer to reinterpret the story and create a suitably majestic but fun dress for the rebellious princess.
William Tempest also uses historical inspiration fused with modern technique in his structured, origami-like precision cut creations. His Dress for Dreaming of Freedom, made from 1000 tiny origami birds is a breathtaking and poignant interpretation of the tale of Queen Victoria's unhappy childhood at the Palace.
Another British great, Stephen Jones OBE designed the Hats for the Divine Geometer. His contribution was inspired by the bust of Isaac Newton, and aimed to show the concept of hats as ideas, belonging in the air. Its fusion of science, fashion and history is tongue-in-cheek, the highlight being a sparkly apple headpiece suspended above the bust of Newton.
The Enchanted Palace is a truly unique experience that merges different arts flawlessly. The installations are fun, quirky and a bit mad but stunningly beautiful. You can't fail to be touched by the stories of the Palace and the beauties within.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


What Happens if I Deposit More Than Ten Grand?
You know you're not a money launderer. The government, however, doesn't know that. That's why federal law requires banks to report certain transactions that might be evidence of a money laundering scheme.
Depositing $10,000 or more might trigger just such a report if you bring the money in cash. It is also of not that $10,000 withdrawals trigger similar reporting.
In most cases, deposits of $10,000 or more must be reported to the IRS by the receiving bank in order to make sure money laundering or any other criminal activity is not taking place.
The Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act of 1970 established rules for large bank and business transactions. Most people refer to this law by its more ominous name, the Bank Secrecy Act. The law requires that a bank report any cash transaction of $10,000 or more to the Internal Revenue Service.
That includes deposits and withdrawals, as well as currency exchanges and using cash to buy such things as traveler's checks, cashier's checks or certified checks.
If you deposit $10,000 or more in cash at a bank, no one is going to swoop in and put you in handcuffs. Large transactions are perfectly legal. The bank just takes down your identification and uses it to file a form called a Currency Transaction Report, which it sends to the IRS.
The bank goes ahead and puts the money in your account the same as it would do for any other deposit. When you'll have access to the money depends on your bank's policy about making deposited funds available. The bank doesn't have to wait for an OK from the IRS.
Not surprisingly, the IRS is a bit circumspect about what happens to filed Currency Transaction Reports -- or what it takes to trigger an investigation. All it says is that the reports go into a database, where law enforcement officials have access to them. These reports create a paper trail that helps the IRS make sure taxes are properly paid and cash isn't used to promote illegal activities.
The law also requires banks to report any cash transactions that seem intended to get around the $10,000 rule. All transactions that add up to at least $10,000 in one day will get reported as if they are a single transaction. The law also requires the bank to report multiple transactions that seem related.
If you're consistently depositing, say $9,900, the bank may report that as a so-called "structured" transaction -- actions intended to avoid triggering a Currency Transaction Report. Really, a bank can report any transaction it thinks is fishy.
Plenty of people have legitimate reasons for depositing large sums of cash, and banks can get exemptions for their business customers who regularly do so. A big movie theater, for example, could easily pull in more than $10,000 in cash in a night. Rather than having to fill out a transaction report every day, the bank can obtain an exemption for the theater. The bank must file an exemption after the first large deposit. Some businesses can't get exemptions, though, including law firms, accountants, pawnbrokers, trade unions and others who, for whatever reason, the IRS wants to keep a close eye on.
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Construction industry soon to be a women's world?
Gender equality, a skills-shortage solution or simply increasing profitability in the quest for diversity? Whatever the reason, the proportion of women employed in the historically male-orientated construction industry is growing. Perhaps too slowly? However, a drastic change in mindset, eco-friendly practices and digitalization could just be the game-changers needed.
"A woman can do any job in our industry just as well as man." The man behind this statement is Patrick Liébus, president of Capeb (the French association for artisanal and small-scale businesses in the construction industry), who in 2015 urged us to deconstruct (unfounded) stereotypes that physical force is a prerequisite for working in the construction industry. This type of cliché contributes greatly to the fact that women are largely under-represented in the sector, and its effect is visible even today: on average, 12% of the workforce are women (compared to 9% in 2000). The majority of female workforce are in administrative roles, the smallest share (1.5%) is for laboring roles, and the percentage is pretty poor for management roles (19%).
Recruitment difficulties and changing mindsets
Discrimination in the recruitment process, sexual harassment on the job and difficulties in being accepted in masculine-heavy sectors…. The obstacles are numerous, and the cultural representations conveyed have repercussions on when it comes to choosing one's career path. At ESJDB (École Supérieure des Jeunes Dirigeants du Bâtiment), 25% of the students are female, and (a lot) less women are studying for a BTS or CAP vocational qualification, especially for worksite management and technical roles. However, the FFB (The French building industry federation) recently wrote that "the industry is attracting more women in all jobs and functions," perhaps echoing the sector's sudden reaction in taking the situation seriously. Indeed, diversity is the objective per se, but it also boosts financial performance.
There is an increase in governmental and inter-professional initiatives paving the way for women in the industry, but also from businesses themselves. Professional networks developing female talent are emerging, such as Women Building Futures in Canada, and Built By Her or Chicks With Bricks in the UK. Thanks to initiatives aiming to overcome recruitment difficulties, women can finally prove themselves as the new talent pool. With this in mind, in the United States, young women are being encouraged to launch a career in the construction industry. There is an increase in measures "to create a working environment that is safe and a culture that is welcoming to women," including efforts on improving conditions related to personal protection equipment, sanitation and workplace intimidation.
Businesses are also stepping up their game by helping to attract women to the industry. In 2018 as part of the OPEN program, VINCI Construction lead a mixed interdisciplinary team whose aim was to design solutions to help attract women to the company. Following on from this, VINCI Construction has set ambitious goals for the years to come as part of their plan to boost diversity. In 2019, they will set up a huge coaching program for female managers, to help them reach senior management roles.
Digitalization and green construction: two ways to attract women?
This willingness for change is also the sign of a progressive change in mindsets in our society, where the question of gender equality is becoming a "topic", one industry after another. But apart from this clear change in attitudes, which objective elements will enable us to truly believe that women will be attracted to the sector today and in the future?
As automation makes strides in the construction industry, the common preconception that psychical strength in an essential prerequisite for working in the sector has been rendered meaningless. The digital revolution is helping to create a new landscape for the construction industry, reducing the strenuous nature of tasks and creating new applications. There is an increase in solutions aiming to reduce musculoskeletal conditions and limit physical stress. For example, a group of young French engineers designed an exoskeleton which reduces the stress of repeating the same task. What's more, as robots and automation are becoming more widespread, they show the potential for developing numerous job adapted to women, beyond commercial, management, administration and security roles.
In the future, constructing infrastructure and buildings would entail worksites that are more open to women than ever before. Based on research from the University of Berkeley, some suggest that "women's inclusion in the labor force… with more women on their boards and in executive-level positions are more likely to proactively improve energy efficiency, invest in renewable power, and measure and reduce carbon emissions." Green skills are still hugely under-represented in the sector's whole value chain. However, could they be the pulling power needed for bringing women into the construction industry from now until 2050?
Having more women in the workforce remains fundamentally linked to a change in cultural representations. And that's why it's incredibly important to hear the experiences of those women working in the construction industry and to promote role models.
As part of the Leonard:Paris event "Mission Possible: Women in Construction!" which took place on 8 March this year, we heard from many women detailing their experiences. To watch more videos head to (in French):
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All contents Social Change


As people go about living their everyday lives, some forget 'God's Grandeur' as poet Gerald Manley Hopkins points out. Everyone sees life through only his own eyes, not through the beauty of others. We seem to take advantage of the gift that God has given us: someone who cares. If people look past all their faults, they will see that through the help of God, everything will soon be okay.
The poem begins with a soft entrance before the heartfelt meaning that the reader takes away at the end similar to a roller coaster. Everyone buckles their seatbelts before taking off for an adventurous ride. A simile is the first rhetorical strategy Hopkins uses to give the reader a resemblance of how bright God's light is shining down on us. The sentence "… like shining from shook foil" makes an image pop to the mind of the rays that may cause. Now, put that into everyday life. Many of us struggle with seeing the beauty of things that the world seems to be a cast of darkness; however, with God's light, no one will have to worry about being stranded in the darkness anymore. For instance, I went through rough patches where I lost people who meant the world to me that forced me to think that I would never understand why. It felt as if I was just 'blah' walking around in this beautiful world, but that all changed when I gave my questions to the man upstairs. He gave me a flashlight to see in the dark tunnel I had been traveling through daily. He made every negative thought turn into something positive. Yes, many times we feel as if we cannot do anything right, but through the help of God, he will put us back to where we belong.
As I reached the end of the poem, I noticed the strong imagery used in the final two lines. When reading this line, I instantly think of my sweet friend, Haley Begley, who is soaring her wings as we speak. For me, these sentences have a symbolic meaning that could potentially help anyone. When many people lose loved ones, they blame God for taking that specific person away; however, in the end, that person is still here with them today. Many times people struggle with the thought of letting someone go, which is understandable. However, if people look deeper than what's standing in front of them, they could see that God didn't take that person away. He represents a guardian angel who is now helping God to protect his loved ones at all cost. Sometimes, many of us think of death as heartbreaking or terrible, but maybe sometimes letting go doesn't always mean saying goodbye. God is just protecting them as he does for everyone else, but now, that certain someone is soaring his wings to show everyone that he has no pain and will forever be an angel until we see him again someday.
This article is unique! I also totally agree with what you said, "that through the help of God, everything will soon be okay." Keep up the great work!
Ashli, this article hit home… You did an amazing job writing this! As I wipe tears from my eyes and think of Begs, I know she is watching over us. Even if we do not understand, we all know she is still with us. I love how you explained the things we take for granted at the end. To remind people that life can throw curve balls, but still be thankful for what we do have. Keep writing Ash! Great work!
I agree with a lot of the points you made in this article. I think everyone should trust God when something bad comes their way. This article expresses a lot of emotions, and the emotions show that you feel deeply on this subject. Great article!
This article was so amazing! I was very drawn into it and did not want to stop reading. Every article you write is always so powerful and unique. I definitely agree with almost everything you have stated in this article. Keep up the amazing work Ashli!


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Giving Good Call
November 18, 2004 Andrew Boardman 2 Comments
In the past week, I've had some unexpected success with calling the customer service departments of a few large companies. In contrast to earlier times, like during my customer service caveman era when I spoke with an Apple technical assistant in Bangalore who kept putting me on hold to ask his cubicle-mate questions, these are much brighter days indeed! During this same shadowed era, a call to Washington Mutual to request ATM cards was greeted with a request on their part for us to visit our local WAMU branch office to order these cards ourselves — as they couldn't place ATM card orders over the phone.
First, a call to AT&T to inquire about an extra month's charge. It turned out that they were right and I was wrong. Who knew? I did not. But then the customer service representative said, "Let's see how we can save you money each month" and she actually did: about $40.00 per month with another phone plan. [Why they couldn't have just called me first about this deal, I don't know.]
Second, a call to T-Mobile, my new bad mobile service provider (Sprint was the old bad one). Customer service reps at T-Mobile are nearly always cheerful (even giddy) and cut to the quick. They tracked down an order, made sure the service was good by asking if it was good, and promptly won my well-worn threads of mobile loyalty.
Third, a call to Chase (a.k.a. JP Morgan Chase) to start a new bank account. For some reason, the genius programmers there did not test their Java applets on Safari or Firefox (on Macintosh), so my online application got lost in the digital shuffle. But in calling them, they quickly picked up, put me through to a kindly man named Michael who took down my most personal Federal information and told me that the account would be ready to set up and sign in a few days time.
Are these three examples of good reverse patronage a sign of our times in some way? Do they represent a fearful workforce forced to be smiling at all times at work lest they frown at home forever alone? Do these examples spell the return of jobs to the United States where "friendly Americans" can again cater to our friendly American needs?
More interestingly, perhaps, I wonder if other countries are as equally fond of finding good customer service and, more darkly, I wonder if Americans' fondness for good customer service is connected with our slave-holding past.
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2 thoughts on "Giving Good Call"
Just watch it there buddy – I guess you never saw those news programs (60 Minutes?) where they went to these Indian call centers – in India, of course – and trained these folks to speak with all sorts of regional accents, down to even giving them assumed identities like 'Hilda Gonzales' and 'John Harper'.
I think that your 'presceince' for the return of American call-centers may be a bit premature. Bangalore is still cheaper than Iowa and wherever they used to get those people from.
And many of those Bangalore customer service-types make a daily routine of checking the weather for wherever they're supposed to be in the world…
Only when the spending power of the dollar flattens out completely, will the CFOs even consider bringing those jobs back home. Under Bush, at least.
yup, the 'democracy now' listener again says:
speaking of slavery, did anyone else see or hear the nov. 4 interview of jamie raskin, american university law professor, on 'democracy now'? (i saw it last night because our public access tv channel broadcasts amy goodman on two week delay.) he spoke about the electoral college, and specifically about how it's a remnant of america's slaveholding history, which i didn't know. i found it very interesting. i quote briefly:
AMY GOODMAN: We're joined on the telephone — rather, in the studio in Washington by Jamie Raskin of American University, law professor. Jamie, right now, we're looking at Republican consolidation of power over not only the presidency, Supreme Court, Senate, House, federal judiciary the majority of governorships and state legislatures. Can you talk about the significance of this, and the structural underpinnings?
JAMIE RASKIN: Well, I think that Juan put his finger on what's going on here, which is that our political institutions were structured by a determination to protect slavery in the South. And so, all of our political institutions have a pro-Southern tilt to them. The Electoral College can only be understood as being intertwined with the history of slavery and white supremacy in the country. The Southern states were looking for a way to combine the disproportionate power they got through the US Senate with the House of Representatives where they got disproportionate power through the three-fifths clause, counting the slaves, 60% of the slaves, to inflate the power of the slave masters in their congressional delegations. So the Electoral College worked like a dream for the southern states. Four out of the five first presidents were slave masters. The electoral college, all the way up through the 20th century and today, has operated to give disproportionate power to the South and specifically the most conservative backward forces in the South. We just saw that play out again yesterday. In the 20th century, there were a number of conservative Dixiecrats who left the Democratic Party in presidential elections like George Wallace, like Harry Byrd, like Strom Thurmond and ran for president as independents to send a message to the Democratic Party about how the civil rights movement should not be joined and should not be supported. The Electoral College has always been a lever against civil rights progress. Today is now acts to support the most conservative forces in the country that want to increase corporate power, that don't want to deal with issues like health care for the people, that don't want to deal with environmental protection and so on. And we're getting a kind of one party lockup of the political system through the Republican party control of the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, the federal judiciary, and the different levers of power going to reinforce one another as we saw in 2000 when five-justice majority all appointed by Republicans on the Supreme Court moved to hand Bush a victory in the Electoral College, despite the fact that he was town 500,000 votes. They have been able to use the last four years with their control over the federal budget, with their control over the federal government, with their support in the corporate media, to consolidate their political power. So, if you believe the central insight of our founders about checks and balances, we're in a dangerous situation to have one party control over all of our major political institutions.
for the entire interview, see:


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You are at:Home » Latest Issue » American Merchant to open towel plant in Bristol, Va.: Commonwealth steers 400+ manufacturing jobs Bristol's way
American Merchant to open towel plant in Bristol, Va.: Commonwealth steers 400+ manufacturing jobs Bristol's way
By BJournal Admin on	 January 2, 2018 Latest Issue
Photo above: Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe presents Merchant House International Ltd., Chairwoman and Founder Loretta Lee a flag from the Virginia Capitol Building as company executives, economic development officials and local dignitaries look on.
Mayor Kevin Mumpower talks with Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore. Photos by Scott Robertson
Hong Kong-based Merchant House International, Ltd., subsidiary American Merchant will invest $19.9 million in a towel-making plant in Bristol, Va., in 2018. The company plans to create up to 405 new jobs at the former Ball Corp., facility on Old Abingdon Highway.
"Virginia has a rich history of manufacturing textiles for hundreds of years," said Loretta Lee, Merchant House chairwoman and founder. "With retailers increasingly challenged by e-commerce competitors, speed-to-market is vital. Therefore, manufacturing and warehousing in Virginia will be a great advantage, and we are delighted to return our industry to this beautiful state.
"We will produce the best product using American material, because you have beautiful cotton. We will work with American workers and we will sell to the American market. When we produce towels, we want to produce the best towels we can do. We will make this place, our beautiful home, this beautiful land, even more beautiful."
Welcome news
The Dec. 12 announcement was a huge piece of good news for a city that has lost manufacturing jobs and spent itself into a debt crisis chasing retail development over the last several years.
"The city needed this," Mayor Kevin Mumpower said. "This is important."
Mumpower and the Bristol City Council have been working to restructure millions of dollars in bond debt accrued during the rush for retail. At one point, in 2014, Virginia had to step in to provide $10 million to bail out the city. But Governor Terry McAuliffe, who approved that bailout, said at the American Merchant announcement he is pleased to see Bristol stabilizing itself. "I would not have recommended this to Loretta unless the city had their affairs in order because the state has its reputation on the line as well," McAuliffe said. "They do, and I'm very proud of the work Bristol has done."
Chris Piper of the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, added, "I've had the opportunity to learn about the hard times Bristol has faced over the last few years. So when the opportunity came up for Merchant House to come to Bristol with 405 jobs, the members of the commission and our staff were very excited. It's important to understand that what's good for Southwest Virginia is good for the entire Commonwealth."
Mumpower said Bristol has shifted its focus from retail to manufacturing because, "for every manufacturing job you create, you create five additional jobs. You have machine shops. You'll have maintenance and support companies. You'll have supply chain folks. It's good to see this starting to come together."
Mayor Kevin Mumpower poses with a towel like those to be made at the former Ball Corp., plant. Photo by Chris Robertson
Investment in American market share by Hong Kong has been growing over the last few years, with Virginia taking the lead in chasing that foreign investment. The American Merchant deal is an example of the Commonwealth staying diligent in those efforts, McAuliffe said.
"Yeah, this one we have been working on for a while. This has been literally over a year and a half of a lot of people working – VEDP and our Commerce folks. I had Loretta up to the governor's mansion and met with her in my office several times with the local folks, the mayor. She came to see me about three months ago and I believe at that time it was down to about three states. The great workforce here, I think, really pushed it over the top. To come invest $20 million and take over a gigantic plant like this you have to know that community can deliver the workforce."
Mumpower said Bristol was focused on showing American Merchant its ability to deliver the qualified workers it would need. "There was a series of meetings at city hall and here at the facility between summertime and now that led up to the culmination of the deal. We showed them the community. We showed them the training we had available at the Center of Excellence in Abingdon. We showed them the school system. The first thing a company looks at for a site," Mumpower said, "they say, 'Where are the workers? Where are the people with the skill set to support it? A company like this with a lot of automated equipment– the first thing they're going to look at is, 'Where are my industrial maintenance folks going to come from?' Well, with the Center of Excellence, which the Tobacco Commission gave money for, they have the support structure here to train and certify those folks."
In addition to those workforce reassurances, the Commonwealth also provided incentives. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Bristol to secure the project. McAuliffe approved a $300,000 grant from the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund to assist the city with the project. In addition, the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved $590,000 in Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds. American Merchant is also eligible to receive additional grants and state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program and Appalachian Regional Commission, both administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Funding services to support the company's employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
In all, Virginia competed successfully against seven states for the project: Rhode Island, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Timeline moving forward
American Merchant will not employ 405 individuals on day one. The former Ball Corp., plant is currently a shell that must be fitted with equipment for weaving, cleaning, dyeing, cutting, sewing, packaging and shipping towels.
The company will take the first line employees it hires to Germany and China to train on existing machines identical to the ones they'll be working on in Bristol, said Robert Burton, chairman of the board of American Merchant. Those employees will then return to the U.S. to train the rest of the Bristol workforce. The equipment for the plant will begin arriving in early July.
Mumpower, who is better capable of forecasting the actions of an industrial interest than most mayors because of his own experience as vice president of Product Development Engineering at Bristol Compressors, said, "They've got to have a good program management staff. They have to hire somebody to drive this project. There's a lot of technical work that's got to be done on the front end. They have to get this infrastructure ready. They're going to be hiring electrical contractors to drop power. They're going to be hiring mechanical contractors to mark floor, make sure they know exactly where equipment's going, drop air services – they'll take several months planning that out and having that happen. Once they get that equipment in shipment, then it becomes, 'Here we go.' Because once it goes, it goes. They'll have riggers in here moving equipment and powering it up. So for six or eight months, you'll see them getting everything installed, and then they'll spend a couple of months training the new employees. They'll do some hiring and pretraining so folks are ready when the equipment is ready. Then they'll produce their first product and make sure it's to spec – pilot run their process and make sure everything's right. Then they'll turn the switch, say, 'We're ready to ship,' and start taking orders."
In the meantime, the governor said, the American Merchant announcement will catch the eye of other manufacturers, essentially putting Bristol on their map. "This allows you to get other companies. It's a real game-changer for Bristol."


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Home » Antique Motorcycles » Rudge 1921 Multi 500cc 1 cyl ioe 2908
Rudge 1921 Multi 500cc 1 cyl ioe 2908
Rudge Multi 1921 3 ½ HP 499cc IOE single frame # 770143 engine # 18966
With the introduction of the Multi Gear in 1912 Rudge was far ahead of the competition.
They won the 1914 TT races with this system and Rudges were subsequently barred from certain speed events because of their "unfair head start".
The factory turned this to their advantage by using the " barred" logo in a clever company advertising campaign.
The Multi Gear system is based on the possibility to vary the diameters of both front and rear pullies, like the well-known DAF Variomatic system.
By moving a long lever alongside the petrol tank about 18 different gear ratios can be selected. While on the move the rider can choose the engine rpm that gives most engine torque and then he can raise the actual speed of the machine by changing the gear ratio with the "multi- lever" without actually raising the engine rpm, a remarkable experience when being out on a multi for the first time.
The machine on which Cyril Pullin won the 1914 TT had a special lowered frame and this type of frame was also used on the TT models in the 1919 range.
The standard Multi still had the pre-war higher frame with the top tube parallel to the lower tank tube.
The factory noticed that the models with lowered frame were much more in demand so from 1920 on the lowered frame was also used for the standard Multis.
Business went well in 1921; during the first six months the factory was still enjoying a boom period and machines were being produced at a rate of thirty a day, the majority having the Multi gear. After the boom of 1919 and 1920 the motorcycle market reached a point of over-production by the summer of 1921.
For the Rudge factory that meant that by October 1921 the output had gone down to fifteen machines a day.
From 1913 up to including 1921 the single Multis had been available in 499cc (85×88 bore x stroke) and 750cc (85×132 bore x stroke) versions. A 998cc "Multwin" was catalogued from 1915 up to including 1921.
This 499cc machine has been restored some time ago and is in good mechanical condition.
Carburettor is the usual Senspray, magneto is the new-for-1920 ML. A Rudge Multi offers the rare combination of vintage high technology and superb riding comfort.