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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Three Coffins, May 1 2004
It's such a pleasure to be able to begin a review by saying this is one of the best mysteries I've ever read. How often will I get to state such a bold thing, when many mysteries now seem to blend together, repeat past glories, or, in real sad cases, follow pre-established subgenre formulas to the dull letter? Not too often--but Carr's The Three Coffins (aka The Hollow Man) is so incredibly clever in its conception and execution that I sit here pleasantly walloped by the ultimate locked-room puzzle.In fact, never mind this simplistic "locked-room puzzle" assessment; the book features not one, but two, impossible murders! The starring corpse is found in a sealed study, but our supporting dead-guy dies in the street from a bullet at close range, while two honest witnesses swear no one was anywhere near him. (Claustrophobics and agoraphobics alike must both learn to beware the invisible, 'hollow' killer, it seems). Enter Dr. Gideon Fell (and his monosyllabic exclamations), who proceeds to turn every detail of the case upside-down in order to find out that every true thing that happened unwittingly creates one gigantic falsehood; this is the brilliance of the whodunit on display: twenty facts all point to something that has no apparent basis in fact. No wonder the book starts hinting at vampires, spectres, dead men, and true conjurings, as the only workable solution. And then Doctor Fell flips over all the facts, like they are stones, and the entire mosaic of murder looks different. He also sniffs out a few lies, and discards them. But mainly, he just turns the entire case on its head so it all makes sense. The solution to the crimes committed is stunning...complicated but logical. I confess to being outFawkes'd--sorry, outfoxed. Ignore this classic at your peril.
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