| The Corpse in the Waxworks | [The Waxworks Murder] | (1932) |
| Author: Carr | Detective: Bencolin | Type: CD |
Publisher's Blurb
Monsieur Bencolin was most assuredly not looking for murder in the sepulchral gloom of Augustin's famous wax musee. His surprise, then, was formidable when he discovered the body of the young girl, stabbed in the back, lying grotesquely in the wax arms of the Satyr of the Seine. From the eerie green light of Augustin's, the peer of French detectives is led across the Paris night to the notorious club of the Silver Key, whose masked members revel in carefully planned orgies. In the connection between the musty wax museum and these nocturnal debauches lies an astounding and terror-filled revelation. [Collier edition] |
Comment 1 (Grobius)
Set in Paris; Grand Guignol and well evoked; the best of the Bencolins with great 1920s-30s.
Parisian atmosphere as one would like to imagine it. One can almost regard this as an 'historical' novel set in some never-never-land like Ruritania. I am a sucker for mysteries that take place in wax museums and in private clubs where people wear masks. And the true heroine here is not a girlfriend but a really admirable non-entity. This novel is beautifully done even if it is totally unrealistic.
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Comment 2 (Dr G)
This was, from the Bencolin novels, the one I found to be the best; and even now, that I enjoyed them more than in the first round, I still maintain that opinion.
1) The wording is more subdued, more under control and still conveys the atmosphere: at Augustine museum and the Club (and also Paris itself) of wonder and danger. Poe is quoted, but JDC is breaking free from his mould and assuming a distinctive voice.
2) The characters, better, more developed than ever before; acting in character – Gallant, Mme Augustine, Capt Chaumont, the young women and Col. Martel. All in character, until the end: yes, they would do so and so and for so and so motives.
3) The plot. A simple plot, a plot that could have been used by any "realist" but to which Carr adds his own genius as mystery writer – unmatched. Yes, there are clues and right in front of you and those that point to the killer you'll only notice when they are explained.
4) Bencolin: we get to know a little more about Bencolin and how he became what he is - a devilish, dreaded man (and - very important - dreading himself). And this time he is at loss for a while; not knowing the case in 24hrs as boasted in a previous novel. Actually Bencolin, as a character, wins more depth than Dr Fell or H.M.
5) The ending. Bencolin assuming his role as a satanic puppeteer (I winced, but it was in character and essential for the ending) and the killer, acting in character all the way through. Very good.
I realize I mentioned characters and "acting in character" many times; this book is a good example that JDC's people were more than cardboard. And the psychology – oh, yes, more than in novels that talk about it and also better than those. The interpretation of the physical clues is only possible after the psychology of the case, of the victim, of the culprit has been made clear to Bencolin's mind.
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Comment 3 (The_Thin_Man)
I've rewritten this post a bit, so apologies if it goes off-topic towards the end.
Carr's masterpiece. This is one of his few novels that actually has something to say apart from just making a good detective story. Once the business of clues, explanation and detection are out of the way (which they are in the first couple of chapters), the book goes straight into an extraordinary mix of fable, fairy-tale and nightmare. The settings are the most genuinely evocative of practically any book that I've read, whether by Carr or not. This is about people, trapped by the conventions that bind them into social strata, who try to escape those conventions but just become more trapped. It's a cry for help, in the same fashion as Carr's early stories (that protested against hypocritical religious puritanism), but written far, far better. The "asides" are superb - in particular the four voices of the blackmailer, and the meaning of Bencolin's clothes - and all have their part to play. This book is a protest against tyrannical patriachy that easily outdoes the hundreds of formulaic "female PI" novels that try to do the same thing. You might criticise the books for being "unfair" in the lead-up to its final solution, but the real clues are in the atmosphere of the Moulin Rouge and of the society in which the characters there live. (As a portrayal of Paris at that time, incidentally, it beats the two films of the "Moulin Rouge" hollow.) I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and why it has not been reprinted as one of the golden-age "classics" is a complete mystery to me. The best detective novel ever written, beating to the title the following:
"The Mystery of the Yellow Room" by Leroux, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by A C Doyle, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Christie, "Lament for a Maker" by Innes, "The League of Frightened Men" by Stout, "The Moonstone" by Collins, "The Poisoned Chocolates Case" by Berkeley-Cox, "Trent's Last Case" by Bentley, "Love Lies Bleeding" by Crispin, "Tiger in the Smoke" by Allingham, "Death of a Doll" by Hilda Lawrence, "Fog of Doubt" by Brand, "Ten Plus One" by McBain, "The Greek Coffin Mystery" by Queen, "The Underground Man" by Ross MacDonald, "Farewell my Lovely" by Chandler, AND "Murder Must Advertise" by Sayers - the best detective novels ever written (in my not-so-humble opinion!)
The only other detective novel on a par with this one is "The Glass Key" by Hammett. Ironically, given some of Carr's comments on the "hard-boiled" school, I think this was a big influence on "Waxworks", most notably in its attitude towards the corruption of patriarchy, and the fact that both novels - almost uniquely in crime fiction, even in today's world of cliche'd female PIs and corrupt whore-strewn cities - have strong, sympathetic female figures who manage to retain their independence without either being idealised or demonised. In very different language I think Carr and Hammett were making the same point. |
Comment 4 ()
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