The Seat of the Scornful

Name: The Seat of the Scornful
Rating: 3.1 (10 reviews)
ISBN: 9781728267654

By John Dickson Carr & Martin Edwards

Publisher Description

"[John Dickson Carr] is the supreme conjuror; the king of the art of misdirection...once you begin a book of his, you simply cannot put it down."—Agatha Christie

First published in 1942, this reissue is one of Carr's most tense and enjoyable game of cat and mouse pitting detective Gideon Fell against the "chief" suspect.

When police arrive at Justice Ireton's holiday bungalow to find a man killed by gunshot and the high court justice brandishing a pistol, the case seems as straightforward as it is scandalous. But, with physical evidence that doesn't add up, the justice's vehement denial of wrong doing, and recent events in his daughter's love life turns the deceptively simple case on its head.

Stumped, the local force calls in the larger-than-life sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell, who just yesterday contended with Ireton over a brutally challenging game of chess. With Fell and the judge now facing off as detective and suspect, a new battle of wits begins in this fiendishly plotted masterclass of the mystery genre.

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The Seat of the Scornful Reviews

3.0

lanpartyprince

Created about 1 month ago

“i loved the message of the book, and how it felt with the morality of the judge. i love that the judge doesn't get the ending he wants. he's found out and was suspected by everyone. he wants to commit suicide to atone for what he's done, but he's not allowed to. and now he can no longer continue being a judge - which was the exact reason why he committed the crime in the first place though, it's not as memorable as other detective books ive read and the romance subplot didn't appeal to me. i'm about to compare apples to oranges, but i much prefer poirot over dr fell. though, i guess that's probably because of carrs writing style”

Tara Hyatt

Created 10 months ago

MaChienneLit

Created 10 months ago

“Carr turns the classic British detective novel on its head by having not a detective or police inspector at the center, but a judge. Rather than trying to prove who did commit the murder, the judge is trying to prove he and a series of other people close to him didn’t do it. Unfortunately, the plot is awkward with many of the clues and discoveries seeming arbitrary and smacking of deus ex machina. The dialogue feels unnatural and the romantic entanglements are bizarre and unbelievable. From what I understand, this book is a departure from Carr’s usual style, but the experiment is a failure.”

Bigotry Death Murder Religious intolerance

Chewie810

Created 10 months ago

Adam Thomas

Created about 1 year ago

“An enjoyable mystery, let down by the final few chapters. Full review to follow at https://murderatthemanse.substack.com/”

About John Dickson Carr

John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 - February 27, 1977) was a hugely popular and prolific author of crime fiction, regarded as one of the finest writers of ‘Golden Age’ mysteries. He was one of only two Americans ever admitted to the Detection Club, a prestigious honor amongst writers.