Ramble House has delivered on its recently promised reference book about John Dickson Carr. The John Dickson Carr Companion was compiled and written by James E. Keirans. To cite the blurb, which sums it up pretty well:
"This reference book covers everything that John Dickson Carr published, including his novels, short stories, radio and theatrical plays, poems, essays, and book reviews. It also includes major and minor characters found in these works, Latin translations, omnibus editions of Carr's work, London pubs, restaurants, underground stations, English and American country houses (a favorite murder locale), and numerous other entries. In short, it is a source for all the essential information relating to one of the Grand Masters (awarded 1963) of detective fiction."
Yes, it appears to be all that and more - with nearly 400 pages of entries plus a complete index, ranging from "Aaronson" (a character in And So to Murder), to Zia Bey, Mrs. Estelle (who may be found in Nine - and Death Makes Ten).
Obviously, I haven't had time to even begin looking through all the material here, but as a long-time fan of John Dickson Carr, certainly high on my list of favorite authors, I think it's going to be very useful to me - particularly as I'm getting forgetful enough to find myself in need of reminders about certain otherwise memorable characters.
If you enjoy classic mysteries, if you love having the wool pulled over your eyes by an author who was one of the world's finest artists of misdirection, then you probably want to get a copy of this book. While it's available from Amazon.com for $24
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