The book I've chosen to bring back from the Classic Mysteries vault today is an interesting mix of "twofers" - that is, two-for-the-price-of-one features. Consider: The book is called Fatal Descent, but it was first published in the U.K. as Drop to His Death. That's two titles. There are two authors for this 1939 locked-room classic: John Dickson Carr (writing as Carter Dickson) and Cecil Street (writing as John Rhode), so each of our two authors has at least two familiar pen names (Street also wrote as Miles Burton.). And the crimes in Fatal Descent are investigated by two investigators, Police Surgeon Dr. Horatio Glass and Chief Inspector David Hornbeam. And, unfortunately, in my opinion, Carr and Street wrote only this one novel as a collaboration by two first rate authors. John Dickson Carr was the acknowledged master of the locked room/impossible crime mystery. Cecil Street also wrote many impossible crime novels. I recorded this review of Fatal Descent for the Classic Mysteries podcast several years ago. As always, some minor tweaking has been done.
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The facts of the case were quite clear. Sir Ernest had gotten into his private elevator on the fifth floor. He was alone. The elevator went down to the first floor without stopping. When it reached the first floor, and the door was opened, Sir Ernest was sitting inside the private elevator car, having been shot through the heart. But there was no weapon in the car or in the elevator shaft. And there was no way anyone could have had access to the elevator as it descended. It was quite clearly impossible – but there was the body of Sir Ernest to prove that it had happened. It would be up to Chief Inspector David Hornbeam and Police Surgeon Dr. Horatio Glass to figure out not only whodunit but also why – and, to be sure, the overwhelming question appeared to be “how.” It happens in Fatal Descent, by John Rhode and Carter Dickson.
John Rhode was one of the pen names used by the amazingly prolific Cecil John Charles Street – an author whose name is virtually unknown to most readers today. Many of his books, especially those written as John Rhode, featured so-called impossible crime and locked room situations.
Carter Dickson was the pen name used by John Dickson Carr, still considered by many – myself included – to be the 20th-century master of the impossible crime mystery.
Carr and Street…(Dickson and Rhode)…were friends, but they only worked together on a single novel – Fatal Descent, first published in 1939 with the title Drop to His Death. It is fast, suspenseful, funny in places – and quite ingenious.
Sir Ernest Tallant is the head of a large publishing house that bears his name. It produces all kinds of fiction, several magazines, and – on the non-fiction side – Tallant’s Golden Keys to Religion and Tallant’s Golden Keys to Education. Tallant’s name – and personality – are emblazoned on the building which bears his company’s name in giant neon letters.
Sir Ernest, from what we can tell when we meet him, is an autocrat, quite used to having his own way in all things. His business practices may be somewhat questionable, but in his company his own passions and beliefs will always rule.
Apparently that would include his opposition to a proposed match between his daughter Patricia Tallant – the keeper of those “golden keys” – and Bill Lester, overseer of Tallant’s Death Circle of Detective Novels – aren’t those great names for the company divisions?
Sir Ernest has managed to create quite a web of hard feelings among his subordinates. So when the company is hit by a wave of rather peculiar small thefts – a desk clock, a model airplane, that sort of thing – oh yes, and a fully loaded 45-caliber revolver – Tallant sends for Chief Inspector Hornbeam and makes it quite clear and quite public that he knows who has been stealing things – and why.
Hornbeam initially sends his friend, police surgeon Dr. Horatio Glass, to talk to Tallant. Glass, however, arrives at the company’s headquarters just in time for the blow to fall. Sir Ernest gets in his own private elevator on the top floor of the building. It is a closed cage. There is no way to open any of the doors on any floor while the elevator is moving. And as the elevator moves down, Dr. Glass – and others – are able to see through the screened glass doors from their vantage point on the upper floors of the building that Sir Ernest is alone in the car.
The car descends all the way to the ground floor – with Dr. Glass among the witnesses ready to swear that it never stopped anywhere along the way. But before the elevator reaches the ground floor, everyone hears a gunshot. When the elevator stops at the ground floor, the lobby attendant walks over and opens the door and finds Sir Ernest sitting on the floor of the elevator, quite dead, having been shot through the heart, the bullet apparently crashing through the skylight of the elevator. There is no gun.
The doctor says Sir Ernest must have been shot from one of the doorways to the elevator shaft, after the elevator passed downward. But that proves to be impossible – there is no way anyone could have opened a door or had access to the shaft while the elevator was moving. Which it was. And there does not appear to be any way that a gun could have been rigged, say, in the elevator shaft – for there is no gun to be found anywhere.
That’s the situation confronting Chief Inspector Hornbeam and Dr. Glass. While there would seem to be a limited number of suspects, it appears impossible that any of them could have carried out the murder. For that matter, it appears as if the crime couldn’t possibly have happened.
But, of course, it did. And Dr. Glass and Inspector Hornbeam, two old friends who argue repeatedly over their theories, are going to have to unite their forces to get at the truth in this excellent variation on the locked-room mystery.
It’s a fine story, written with wit and good humor, quite fairly clued for the reader who can find the hints, and with some first-rate characters. It’s a pity that Rhode and Carr only wrote this one mystery together. Readers who enjoy a good impossible crime story really should read “Fatal Descent.” It’s been out of print for a while, but there is now an e-book edition available. I think you would enjoy it.
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You can listen to the recorded audio review by clicking here
Next: The Final Deduction, by Rex Stout
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