John Dickson Carr (1906–1977)

Death by the Tarot
Review of the Penzler Publishers American Mystery Classics eBook (July 17, 2019) of the Harper and Brothers hardcover original (1934).

Dr. Fell was not at all disconcerted. “It would seem that for the moment I am in disgrace,” he wheezed affably. “H’mf. No matter. Sexton Blake* will yet be triumphant.

The Eight of Swords is the third of Carr's rel="nofollow" target="_top">Dr. Gideon Fell mysteries. An American ex-pat named Depping is found dead in his English country home, shot with his own gun with the Minor Arcana Tarot card The Eight of Swords in his hand, standing for "condemning justice." Who was the mysterious visitor that Depping had late at night? Why were two shots fired from the gun, but only one bullet found on site? Who ate Depping's dinner but didn't touch his favourite soup? What was burned in the fireplace? How and why did the lights in the house go out at a key moment? Those and many other questions come to light before the case is solved.

See image at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Swords08.jpg/300px-Swo...
The Tarot card "The Eight of Swords". Image sourced from Wikipedia.

I thought there was too little of Dr. Gideon Fell in this book. He disappears off the page for extended periods of time and other self-taught "detectives" propose various solutions to the crime. The interlopers are an Anglican bishop and a detective story writer who seek to match wits with Dr. Fell. Then there are 2 romantic subplots introduced as well in order to further muddy the waters. It is all explained by Dr. Fell in the end of course, and you realize the clues were there, but became lost in the confusion. This was yet another impossible to solve mystery, a 10 out of 10 on the Berengaria Ease of Solving© scale.

See book cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
The front cover of the original 1934 Harper and Brothers hardcover. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Footnote
Sexton Blake (1893-) was a popular Victorian Era fictional detective, who is perhaps not so well known these days. He was created by author Harry Blyth (1852-1898) and after his death there was a regular continuation series with several other writers.

Trivia and Links
This book is in the Public Domain and there are various online sources where it is available to read such as at archive.org

John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) is one of the 99 authors listed in The Book of Forgotten Authors (2017) by Christopher Fowler. He is No. 20 in the alphabetical listing which you can see towards the bottom of my review here.

This edition of The Eight of Swords is part of the Otto Penzler American Mystery Classics series (2018-ongoing). There is a related Goodreads Listopia here with 57 books listed as of late April 2024. There are currently 72 titles listed at the Mysterious Press online bookshop. The official website for the series at Penzler Publishers seems to show only the most recent and upcoming titles.

John Dickson Carr took the inspiration for Dr. Gideon Fell's appearance from that of author G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), writer of the Father Brown mysteries and other works.
See photograph at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Gilbert_Chesterton.jpg...
Photograph of G.K. Chesterton. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
The source of the name Dr. Fell is apparently from the apocryphal epigram:

I do not like thee, Doctor Fell,
The reason why – I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.

… (more)

The first novel featuring the detective Dr. Gideon Fell. It's an enjoyable combination of Gothic thriller in the style of Edgar Wallace and cozy detective novel in the British tradition of the Golden Age of Detection (the author is American, but he's clearly an anglophile).

Very atmospheric descriptions and some horror and humor make it a fast and entertaining read. The insta-love in the central romance and some rushed writing (it reads like pulp fiction) prevents me for giving it 5 stars.

The mystery reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Musgrave Ritual". It centers on a curse against the Starberth family of Chatterham and their ghastly involvement in the hangings at that prison. Their ruthless ancestors, as prison governors, enjoyed mistreating and hanging the prisoners. In turn, they died in a horrible fashion, always with their neck broken. Since then, a family ritual has to be followed by the male heir, and the deaths have returned.

It all started back in 1797 when Anthony Starberth was Governor of Chatterham Prison followed by his descendent, Martin Starberth in 1821. They instituted these merciless hangings without remorse which according to legend brought a curse on the Starberth family. However, the legend actually begins with the untimely death of Timothy Starberth in a most unsettling manner.… (more)