Talk:John Dickson Carr

Comment

Did 30s critics prefer the HM novels? Not that I know of, though I don't know all about it. Maybe there can be a specific source for this claim? In any case, this fact it needs to be worked in better than it has been, since the sentence it is part of does not read well. Bds yahoo 19:53, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

• I've put a couple of references into the article, which is all I could turn up at home (I got rid of several thousand books and related items in the mystery field 10 years ago and my resources aren't that great.) When I was a young teenager attending prep school a long time ago my favorite author was JDC and my favorite literary personality was Sir Henry Merrivale. The school library had a marvelous reference book section that contained many volumes of a thick annual whose name has long since escaped me and that contained reviews from various newspapers and magazines about most of the books that had been published the previous year. A Carr or Dickson book would generally be good for excerpts from 4 or 5 different sources, particularly during the 1930s. I was fascinated by these volumes and wasted many valuable school hours thumbing through them looking up all of my favorite authors. I distinctly remember a number of other reviewers mentioning how they preferred The Old Man to Dr. Fell but can't pull up any quotations -- I'd sure love to have a complete set of those books sitting in my home right now! I think that both Anthony Boucher and Ellery Queen expressed that preference -- wish I could track them down.... Hayford Peirce 20:19, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

The section on Fell vs. Merrivale contains many POV statements that are unattributed and are presumably the opinions of the editor. They should be removed or changed. 68.1.181.54 23:06, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

• I've read the article very carefully and I'm baffled as to what POV statements you mean. There are attributed statements that are very POV but are clearly quotes from Amis, Haycroft, and Philmore. Hayford Peirce 02:13, 23 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Don't be disingenuous. How about this one: "Hilarious as these episodes frequently were..."? The whole section is unnecessary anyway, beginnign with the silly heading, since this is an encyclopedia article and the only thing people need to know is that H.M. and Fell were two detectives in his books. One might just as well have a section devoted to people's favorite characters in Alice in Wonderland. These are not facts, no matter who gets cited. 68.1.174.46 20:16, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Sir Henry Merrivale and Doctor Fell are very hard to tell apart, blustering fat guys with brains. Any preference would be based on minor differences. One of them wears a "shovel hat", if I recall. Ortolan88 20:14, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Note on usage: "is often regarded as" doesn't really make sense as a phrase: not to be pedantic but how on earth could you quantify how frequently something is "regarded" in a certain way? This expression should be eschewed in favor of "is regarded by many critics/scientists/something else specific" OR "is often cited as" or similar. Bds yahoo 22:05, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"criticism"

I don't like the section name, "Criticism", as it does not deal with criticism (i.e. mainly negative comments) on JDCarr's work. Any suggestions as to a different name? For example "Critics' reception of John Dickson Carr's work" or "Critics' opinion" or anything like that? Is there a need for a separate section at all (the first paragraph can easily be moved into the preceding section, "Dr. Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale"). 131.111.8.98 19:33, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Deathwatch.JPG

Image:Deathwatch.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 00:25, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Four false weapons.JPG

Image:Four false weapons.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 09:09, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Graveyard to let.JPG

Image:Graveyard to let.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 22:18, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Novel as by Fenton Carter

I've removed this reference: Novels as Fenton Carter

• Death has Four Faces - 1948, mystery

because, sorry, I just don't think it exists. I searched Google, no hits, Alibris, no hits, ABE, no hits, etc. If someone can give publication data for this book, that would be a way to get it back into the article but, frankly, I've never heard of it (and, as I recall from reading his reference book, Joshi hasn't either). If someone can offer information about thism, that would be great. For instance, why did Carr use a one-shot pseudonym at this stage in his career? Accounting4Taste 16:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

First Full-Length Historical Novel Claim

The Bride of Newgate (published in 1950) was not, in fact, the first full-length historical whodunnit. Agatha Christie's mystery Death Comes as the End was published in 1944 and set in ancient Egypt. Margaret Donsbach (talk) 02:10, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Sot-Weed Victim?

Did he die from the effects of tobacco? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.245.114.202 (talk) 12:19, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on John Dickson Carr. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150222140252/http://www.jdcarr.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4 to http://www.jdcarr.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 18:01, 6 December 2017 (UTC)