In the dark of the night terror will strike her! Terror’s the least I can do! In the dark of the night evil will brew. Soon she will feel that her nightmares are real. In the dark of the night, she’ll be through! Let’s stalk It Walks by Night, by John Dickson Carr.
Synopsis:
Ten minutes after the Duc de Saligny entered the card room, the police burst in – and found he had been murdered. Both doors to the card room had been watched yet the murderer had gone in and out without being seen by anyone.
Source: Goodreads
SPOILERS BELOW
John Dickson Carr’s most famous detectives are Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale. However, they are not his only creations: his first series actually featured French detective Henri Bencolin. It Walks by Night was his first published novel, the beginning of what would prove to be a very successful career in detective fiction. Let’s take a look.
The plot sees a ruthless killer named Laurent break out of prison. After having plastic surgery to change his face, he sends a letter to Raoul Jourdain, Duc de Saligny, threatening to murder him on his wedding night. The police are present in force, but to no avail: shortly after entering an empty room alone, he is discovered decapitated, despite the police officers watching the doors swearing that no one else entered or exited. It falls to Henri Bencolin to solve this seemingly impossible murder and unmask the identity Laurent is masquerading under.
When I first began the book, I was dubious. If the book is telling us that the culprit is Laurent right off the bat, well, so much for the whodunnit aspect of the mystery. And Laurent being an insane homicidal maniac who kills just because he enjoys it is a pretty disappointing whydunnit. That would only leave the howdunnit; and while Carr is justifiably famous for his locked rooms, that seemed pretty thin to be the basis for a full-length novel. However, I shouldn’t have doubted: Carr, as he nonetheless managed to deliver a highly satisfying mystery with numerous clever twists and turns that completely upended my expectations.
The volume that I read also included a short story at the end, “The Shadow of the Goat”, also featuring Bencolin solving a locked room murder mystery. Though the setup is simpler and the resolution comes quicker due to the limited space, it is nonetheless a strong showing with a clever puzzle and a powerful climax.
It Walks by Night is a powerful debut from Carr, showing off the skills that would win him much-deserved fame as a mystery author: a seemingly-impossible crime theatrically dressed with dramatically macabre elements, and an incredibly clever solution that I didn’t see coming despite all clues being fairly presented. As such, it gets a recommendation from me.
Final Rating: 4/5
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