In July of last year I covered
the first four Henry Merrivale novels. In November I tackled the
next five, then
six more in January. Today we finish with the final seven, discussing the language only, with no plot-spoiling comments.
The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (1945)
No locked room. Instead an introductory dedication to Ellery Queen with a "cryptic reference to Mr. James Phillimore and his umbrella." Carr is obliquely referring to John Watson's line in Doyle's
The Problem of Thor Bridge:
‘Among these unfinished tales is that of Mr James Phillimore, who, stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world.’
I'll say no more (for those interested, there is a review
here). On to the language.
[A row involving H.M.] ".. is still mentioned with respect by Arab porters and hotel commissionaires, even in that city of memorable schlimozzels." That's a word I first (and last) heard in the introductory song for Laverne and Shirley! "Schlemazel, also schlimazel, "born loser," 1948, from Yiddish shlim mazel "rotten luck," from Middle High German slim "crooked" + Hebrew mazzal "luck." British slang shemozzle "an unhappy plight" (1889) is probably from the same source."
"The sunlight made a living entity of the picture carvings which fretted every inch of the bowl." "To decorate or ornament, especially with an interlaced or interwoven pattern, or (architecture) with carving or relief (raised) work."
"She slipped out over the up-ended front seat, as trim and soignee as though the waterproof were a kind of cellophane wrapping." Fashionable and elegant, borrowed from the French.
"... met an odd cove named Beaumont." Informal British for "a fellow, a man." Said to be from Romany (Gypsy) cova "a thing," covo "that man".
"By the six names of Satan, she was here! I heard her!" One online reference says there are six names of Satan found in Scripture: Satan, Beelzebub, Devil, Lucifer, Dragon, Prince.
"But I was there. So was a josser named Alim Bey." Lots of meanings, depending on the context - a foolish man, a clergyman. an outsider working in a circus, a person of influence or importance.
"Kit would have recognized him by the red tarbush on his head." A fez. (Arabic: tarboosh).
"... a kitchen maid or a tweeny." Slang for "between-maid" - a sort of servant to the servants.
"She was gettin' scared. She didn't dare keep the dibs any longer." In context, stolen merchandise, perhaps related to claiming "dibs" (ownership).
My Late Wives (1946)
Not a locked-room mystery; the puzzle to be solved is how a murderer can dispose of a dead body from a room under constant surveillance. Not one of JDC's best.
"In the spring of 1933 he took her north, to a bosky cottage near Scarborough..." Covered by trees or bushes; wooded. (Late 16th century: from Middle English bosk, variant of bush.)
"This is especially so in post-war London, where browned-off troops and equally browned-off civilians find their nerves scratched by so many small annoyances..." Irritated or depressed, bored, fed up, disgusted. "The slang phrase became popular in the Second World War. The reference
is probably to a dish that has been overcooked. See also cheesed off..."
"You leave it to me, cock. I'll see you don't get lagged." To transport as a punishment for crime (British archaic slang).
"Sir, do you think I'm off my chump?" Insane, crazy.
"Is that your Goddamned theatrical habit?" Interesting to see it capitalized.
"Commander Renwick, obviously, was very pukka, very much the sort of person who does not let you forget that he has been an officer and a gentleman." High quality, genuine, first class. From the Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.
"By any sane computation, that ought to carry the perisher round and land him slap on the green..." Annoying child or brat, used as a term of contempt (or pity). "Perishing" can be used as an intensifier in British speech.
"Beyond it was a car, an S.S. Jaguar in whose big dickey, or rumble seat, you could easily hide a body." The manufacturer's name 'SS Cars', used from 1934, maintained a link to the previous owner, Swallow Sidecar,
founded in 1922 to build motorcycle sidecars. In
March 1945 the S. S. Cars shareholders agreed to change the name to Jaguar Cars Limited.
"H.M. was at the wheel of the car, a big but very old relic with isinglass-windowed side-curtains..." I've always equated isinglass with mica, but that wouldn't make sense in this context. Turns out the word is also used for "a form of gelatine obtained from the air bladder of the sturgeon and certain other fish, used as an adhesive and as a clarifying agent for wine and beer. And in fact the word itself is from the Dutch/German for "sturgeon-bladder." “With isinglass curtains y’ can roll right down/In case there’s a change
in the weather.”—“The Surrey With The Fringe On Top,” from Oklahoma!, 1943. Photo of 1926 car with "large isinglass side curtains" (perhaps the term is used interchangeably with "celluloid."
"... along an open coast where rain-gusts flew at them with harpy violence..." Commonly encountered as a noun; I don't recall seeing it used as an adjective.
"... and owing to a concatenation of circumstances..." A series of links united, from the Latin catena = chain.
"That's when J.M. realized this blighter was up the pole, a lunatic with designs on Daphne..." "'Up the pole' is an odd phrase, or rather, it is an odd collection of phrases, in that it has numerous meanings..." In context, insanity, so perhaps thus: "In a classic example of folk etymology, 'up the pole' has been suggested
to be named after De La Pole Psychiatric Hospital, Hull, UK."
Skeleton in the Clock (1948)
The plot involves locked rooms (execution chambers at an abandoned local prison), but the murders don't take place there.
"Who the devil are these two powerful jujus, grandmother and Aunt Cicely?" Borrowed from the West African.
"Didn't you hear Beowulf's Mother yellin' for chuckers-out?" "Ejection or dismissal, usually the sack. Late 19th century Austrlia/NZ. Also the end of drinking time in a public house, or place of entertainment, when
customers are asked to drink up and leave." The second definition makes more sense in context.
"... it made him jump to his feet, miry-eyed, and peer round..." Related to a mire (swampy), but in context presumably meaning the eyelids stuck together from recent sleep.
"For some reason Martin's gorge rose sickeningly at the very thought of eating." Throat, gullet, from the Latin. If it rises, the implication is impending vomiting.
"You're not likely to forget the first h.e. bomb that fell close to you..." Colloquial term for high-explosive bomb used by the Luftwaffe.
"Martin thought he could detect one brass band, a panotrope with a bad needle, and the steam organ of a merry-go-round." "A device for playing records, especially one that plays them loud enough for fairground or similar use."
A Graveyard to Let (1949)
The setting is the equivalent of a locked room. A wealthy man is visiting with six or seven guests at his swimming pool. When police arrive he dives into the pool. His hat floats to the surface, along with his sandals, but he disappears. The water is murky, so while watching the pool, the police have it drained. His body is not in there. And there are no secret exits from the pool.
"The revolver was not a Colt .38 police positive, as Cy half expected." "The Colt Police Positive was an improvement of Colt’s earlier “New Police” revolver, upgraded with an internal hammer block safety. Colt named this new security device the “Positive Lock”, and its nomenclature ended up being incorporated as a partial namesake for the new revolver
"Sir Henry, you have a popsy in New York." (in context, a kept woman)
Night at the Mocking Widow (1950)
Probably the weakest JDC novel I've reviewed to date, because the solution relies more on psychology and motives rather than clues - more reminiscent of an Agatha Christie than a JDC (the crimes in this book are poison pen letters, not murders).
"Theo Bull swears 'e won't have no nance amateur three rounds [of boxing]. 'E wants a perfessional fifteen..." Short for "nancyboy" = homosexual or effeminate man.
"The woman seemed to sag, like a dim droopy witch, as she indicated a door on the left side." I have no clue on this one, and don't know where to start.
"... so you see, my dolly, there's no call to be scared of that sausage-eatin' faker downstairs. He's only wind and gold-rimmed gig lamps. He sticks the gig lamps in your face and talks a lot of tommyrot." A lamp on the side of a gig (carriage, two-wheeled, horse-drawn). The person referred to in the story was a psychiatrist.
Behind the Crimson Blind (1952)
Another weak
novel, written late in JDC's career, and during a time when his other detective, Gideon Fell, was getting the best plots. Carr still has a way with words,
vide this introduction of a principal character: "Though his best friend could not have called him handsome, his thin face showed traces of an intelligence and humour which were masked, as a result of his official duties, by a formal courtesy close to stateliness." As with
The Mocking Widow (above), there is too little detecting and too much romance, comedic episodes, and derring-do; it's a "light read."
In his critical study of John Dickson Carr, S.T. Joshi notes a decline in the later Merrivale mysteries: "It is not very profitable to trace the course or history of the Merrivale novels: not one, I believe, is to be compared in scope or brilliance with the four or five best Fell novels, or even with the best of the Bencolin series, and in general there is simply a gradual decline in quality and readability."
Remarkably, in this novel H.M. even kills someone: "H.M.'s powerful left hand whacked down on Middle Europe's head, seizing and rolling a good handful of hair to hold hard. As he forced the man downwards, H.M.'s right hand drove the Riff knife through the side of white robe's throat, just behind the Adam's apple." In the concluding chapter Merrivale says "Maybe I had to do something like that in Marseilles once; or two or three times at Port Said; or maybe in Occupied Germany..."
Riff knife was hard to find, in part because of dilution from references to a knife owned by a character named Riff in West Side Story. Finally found a proper reference in Agatha Christie's Murder is Easy:" He had a knife in his hand--a
long slender blade. "Perfect workmanship,"
he was saying. "One of my young men
brought it back to me from Morocco, where
he'd been special correspondent. It's
Moorish, of course, a Riff knife."
"I'm not asking for any Bertillon measurements..." [re someone's head] "A system for identifying people by a physical description based upon anthropometric measurements, notes of markings, deformities, skin colour, impression of thumb lines, etc." Named for the French anthropologist (who also invented the mug shot).
"... young Arabs in modern clothes whose pinched-in waists and white ties made them resemble wide-boys from Soho."
"... breakfast of two hard-boiled eggs, huge slices of ham together with those red sausages... his collation was placed on the table piece by piece over a smooth linen cloth." A collection or bringing-together. Also a light meal taken by monks after a reading in a Benedictine monastery, perhaps used here jokingly."
"... [redacted] had got to the point, that night, where he and Collier had got to part brass rags."
The Cavalier's Cup (1953)
Classic locked-room mystery, though the mystery is overwhelmed by lengthy and sometimes tedious side-stories of humor involving Signor Luigi Ravioli, a caricatured Italian. ["Well! She isn't bad at all. Except for one thing, she would meet with anyone's approval. Though I hate to put it quite so crudely, Dad did seem to be getting to first base." "First-a base?" exclaimed Signor Ravioli in horror. "You want-a to insult-a your Pop? He's-a tear around-a bases going straight-a for home plate!" Virginia did not stop to correct this vulgarism..."]
"Just then they both heard horsemen in half-armour and buff-coats..." "The European buff coat (the term deriving from the ox or buffalo hide from which it was commonly made and its yellowish colour) was an item of leather clothing worn by cavalry and officers during the 17th century, it also saw limited use by some infantry. It was often worn under armour. It was derived from the simple leather jerkins worn by huntsmen and soldiers during the Tudor period, these in turn deriving from the arming doublet worn under full plate armour."
"Rapidly, as though they were alone on some fond, isolated island, Virginia sketched out what she had been telling the others..." An odd adjective to choose, perhaps meaning "foolish, silly."
"What's the idea of the tile?" yelled H.M. "Lord love a duck, haven't you got any better manners than to stick on your hat in the house?" Definitions of "tile" do include "a stiff hat." In this case the hat was a top-hat and clearly not discoid or tile-shaped; perhaps the usage refers to the application of tiles to cover a roof.
Thus endeth my survey of language in twenty-two Sir Henry Merrivale novels (one week after H.M.'s 148th birthday). I need a change and will switch my reading elsewhere. When I return to John Dickson Carr, it will be to cover the historical mysteries. I'm saving the final group (and the best of the lot) - the Gideon Fell novels - for last.
