He Who Whispers by John Dickson Carr
I so much enjoyed my read of JDC’s “The Hollow Man” recently that when The Reader is Warned commented and recommended his book “He Who Whispers” I just couldn’t resist tracking down a copy – and a very battered little old green Penguin it is too! Like many readers, I find classic crime a wonderful palate cleanser between books and so I picked this one up after reading a big book for Shiny New Books – yes, I know I’m meant to be reading Elisabeth Von Arnim for April, and hopefully I’ll get there soon! 🙂
“The Hollow Man” was published in 1935; “He Who Whispers” is a later volume from 1946 and as the book opens we are firmly in London just after the end of the war. Our main protagonist, Miles Hammond, is making his way through a bomb-scarred London to an evening gathering of the Murder Club, and he finds himself still adjusting to the fact that the conflict is over. The location – around Shaftesbury Avenue, Dean Street, Soho – is familiar to anyone who haunts the bookshops of Charing Cross Road, but the landscape has been fragmented by the war and Miles (and the reader!) are unsettled by it. The Murder Club (presumably a tongue-in-cheek riff on the Detection Club) are normally very secretive, but Miles and a young woman, Barbara Morell, have been specially invited to hear Professor Rigaud tell the story of an impossible crime (a variant on the locked room mystery where the action doesn’t take place in a locked room but is equally impossible and unsolvable); while in France, he got to know the English Brooke family who were living locally. All seemed calm and happy with the family until the arrival of Fay Seton, a new secretary for father Brooke. Young Harry Brooke, the doted-upon only son of the family, soon fell in love with Fay and they were to be married; however, terrible rumours circulated about Fay and Mr. Brooke received anonymous letters. Determined to break off the relationship, he arranged to meet Fay on top of a local tower (part of a ruined château) and pay her off; however, he was murdered and the money disappeared.
The murder, however, is not straightforward: Mr. Brooke was on top of the tower alone; Rigaud saw his son leave the tower and Brooke was still alive; as Rigaud was leaving a family arrived for a picnic and it was the children of this family that discovered Brooke senior murdered on top of the tower – stabbed in the back. Talk abounds of the supernatural and vampires; accusations are made about Fay; and a crisis is reached as it is revealed that the new librarian Miles has employed to help him sort out his late uncle’s vast library in his country house of Greywood is none other than Fay Seton… As Miles and his sister set off to the country with Fay, there are many questions to be answered: why is Barbara Morell so interested in the case? Who is Jim Morrell? Why is Rigaud convinced the supernatural is involved? And who *did* kill Mr. Brooke? Fortunately, Rigaud is friendly with Doctor Gideon Fell, Honorary Secretary of the Murder Club, and it will take all of Fell’s genius to unravel the case.
“He Who Whispers” was, of course, a wonderful read and I can see why it’s ranked so highly amongst JDC’s books. His scene setting is just brilliant: he captures the atmosphere in France where the family tensions of the Brookes come to a head and the murder takes place; the sense of doom and disaster that surrounds Fay Seton; the genuine sense of creeping menace at Greywood as a dramatic murder attempt occurs; and the shocking twists and turns in the narrative as Miles’ perceptions (and ours!) are challenged, twisted and turned upside down! The solution was one that I never saw coming, and there were some surprisingly dark and complex strands to the behaviour of the characters, and perhaps an unexpected explanation to the reason why Fay ended up with the reputation she had.
A criticism often levelled at Golden Age crime is that there is limited depth of character and development but I didn’t find that the case here. The protagonists in “He Who Whispers” are more than just props to hang a puzzle on; their motivations are crucial to what happens and their actions believable in the context of their lives and the plot. The psychology of the crime is a recurring theme of discussion throughout the book and vital to the detection of the solution. Carr very cleverly shows, too, just how easy it is to misunderstand someone, or to misread their real personality; he also shows how easy it is for the reader of a detective novel to simply accept what the various characters tell them without questioning it, only to have those perceptions turned upside down later on in the book!
So another wonderful classic crime book to add to my collection – I’m trying to resist the temptation to start tracking down more of JDC’s books. And yet again, I stayed up much too late reading this book – truly, Golden Age crime novels, and particularly John Dickson Carr ones, are not good for my sleeping habits…
JacquiWine
Apr 28, 2017 @ 07:40:33
Lovely. You seem to have such a knack for ferreting out these gems from the Golden Age. It sounds excellent.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 09:47:25
I am enjoying JDC – definitely one of the Golden Age greats!
madamebibilophile
Apr 28, 2017 @ 07:43:27
Sounds great! I’ve been on the look out for JDC novels since your review of The Hollow Man but no luck so far in my charity shop haunts – I may have to relent and order a copy 🙂
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 09:47:08
I’m definitely a convert and it’s worth tracking him down – great reads with a slightly spooky element thrown in!
Tina
Apr 28, 2017 @ 07:51:29
Are these greenies reprints ?I ask because i saw a box of Carr books for 50p each recently and thought some Penguins are reproduced from the originals(1960s?)Not for me so i left them.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 09:46:38
This one wasn’t (very old and frail) but I think The Hollow Man was.
Harriet Devine
Apr 28, 2017 @ 07:59:22
Sounds brilliant – must read this!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 09:46:13
It’s another good one – I really am becoming a convert to JDC!
Jane @ Beyond Eden Rock
Apr 28, 2017 @ 11:43:30
I do like the sound of this – there are so many gems among the green Penguins, and I will be looking out for this one. It’s lucky they don’t take up too much shelf space!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 13:45:38
That’s a good point – there *is* something to be said for old, small books! 🙂
Caroline
Apr 28, 2017 @ 14:16:25
It sounds rather delightful. I think I’ve read one of his novels years ago and liked it very much.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 14:26:22
The ones I’ve read have been great fun – and I’m sure I read lots of his work back in the day (and I’m talking 35 years ago!) but I couldn’t tell you which ones! 🙂
heavenali
Apr 28, 2017 @ 15:52:14
This sounds absolutely fantastic I may have to track down a copy myself soon. I love locked room mysteries (and variants upon the theme).
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 20:15:00
Well, if you love locked room you’ll be happy with JDC – you may just have to read all of his books! 😉
heavenali
Apr 28, 2017 @ 23:04:08
Oh my goodness!!😃
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 29, 2017 @ 14:49:33
:))))))
Sarah
Apr 28, 2017 @ 18:49:23
Too tempting! This does sound good – another one to add to my wish list for next year!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 20:14:16
Definitely – the JDC books I’ve read have been really memorable!
BookerTalk
Apr 28, 2017 @ 18:51:45
Sounds really good. I’ve been doing a bit of Golden Age reading myself via John Bude though I’m afraid it does have that problem you mention of lack of character depth.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 28, 2017 @ 20:13:42
Yes, I find too that some of the GA books have substance and some are entertainment only. I’ve enjoyed the Bude books I’ve read but I doubt I’d go back to them, whereas with Carr I probably would.
thereaderiswarned
Apr 28, 2017 @ 21:57:39
Brilliant write up and so so glad you enjoyed this one Kaggy, and that it kept you up! It really is a brilliant piece, and as you say the classic GAD criticism that characters are left behind is really not true of the great works of the genre, and Carr wrote many of them! And you are totally right about his scene setting. Re-reading this novel recently I realised how so many of the locations and scenes were burned into my memory from the absolutely beautiful ways they are described by Carr. Those opening chapters on a bombed London are just so eery and marvellous.
Also he lived in Paris for a number of years before writing detective novels, so his knowledge of the Parisian and French backgrounds for the scenes are strong. His first novel in fact is set in Paris, and features his first series detective, Frenchman Henri Bencolin.
If you are ordering more and wanting more Carr palette cleaners (I hope!) I recommend for you (and for anyone else interested in reading more Carr) – ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ which is an absolute whirlwind of a locked room novel, going at 100 miles an hour, and grips like a thriller, start to finish. You won’t sleep for days with that one.
And then The Problem of the Green capsule, who some very knowledgable people, and big fans of Carr say that it is possibly the best novel of the GAD genre.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 29, 2017 @ 14:50:15
Thank you! I’m certainly going to keep my eyes open for any more Carr’s because I’ve loved reading these two recently – and thanks for the recommendations! 🙂
buriedinprint
Apr 29, 2017 @ 18:48:35
I have never owned one of those charmingly grungy little green Penguins but I admire them whenever I catch a glmpse online and it sounds like this one was especially fun to read. Like you, I’m unsure how well I’ll do with EvonA for April as I have seriously lagged (partly due to being so late with Edith Wharton, with whom I’ve always had a bit of difficulty), but I think we can still manage…eventually.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 29, 2017 @ 18:53:38
Green Penguins, however grungy (and they often are), are a thing of great beauty and pretty much always a reliable read. I do love them. As for EvA, I think I might just squeeze in before the end of the month….
Simon T
May 05, 2017 @ 00:04:33
This sounds SO good – though isn’t, sadly, one of the ones I have by him…
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 05, 2017 @ 08:22:27
Well, on the strength of the two I’ve read so far, I suspect it may not matter which one you read – I imagine they’re all rather good! 🙂
Cavershamragu
May 05, 2017 @ 12:08:59
It is absolutely one of his best and one of my favourites – so glad you liked it too Karen – can’t have too many Carr fans out there!
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 05, 2017 @ 13:42:50
I’m a real convert now!
Cavershamragu
May 05, 2017 @ 13:47:53
I just got a friend of mine hooked – started with JUDAS WINDOW and HE WHO WHISPERS and she is now on to SHE DIED A LADY, EMPEROR’S SNUFFBOX and THE BLACK SPECTACLES (aka PROBLEM OF THE GREEN CAPSULE) – and there are easily another dozen I would want her to read that are just as goo 🙂
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 05, 2017 @ 13:58:57
I better make a list, then…. 😉
Cavershamragu
May 05, 2017 @ 14:39:34
🙂
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