One dark and snowy night, a mysterious figure who is observed entering the home of an upright citizen commits a murder in an inaccessible room and vanishes without leaving so much as a footprint to tell of their presence, only for a second murder to then be committed outside in the snow but leaving only the victim’s footprints in evidence…you can’t tell me the similarities between Paul Halter’s The Lord of Misrule and John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man (a.k.a. The Three Coffins) are anything less than an absolute fanboying homage to the master. And Halter would know the risk he was running, but having established himself as an artisan of the impossible crime by this stage in his career (this was, by my estimation, his tenth published novel – though the first to be translated into English by John Pugmire) it was clearly a task he was happy to take on.
It may seem like a facile basis for such comparison but, upon re-reading The Lord of Misrule for this post, I was struck by the sheer number of similarities – enough, in fact, to possibly warrant a future post dedicated to solely that topic – the most obvious of which is the use of enumerated maps to highlight the finer points of the murder scenes, disarranged furniture, slashed painting and all; click below to see for yourself.
And, in fact, the callouts to classic detective fiction don’t stop there – as well as a Sherlock Holmes reference there’s a conceit from one of Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels and one aspect of key importance lifted from one of the genre milestones. There’s therefore plenty of scope to accuse Halter of a lack of originality, but honestly I think the guy is just in love with detective fiction and is hurling in everything he can to set up his own new spins on the impossible crime while acknowledging the work that has gone before him (as seen in his first-time sleuth Owen Burns’ elevation of this to an art-from). He has a lovely alternate take on the obliterated dates and surnames from the early days of the genre, and establishes his ‘isolated group containing a killer’ in an beautfully classical way. As Puzzle Doctor says, if you weren’t given the publication date of this you’d place it much, much earlier.
Halter’s fidelity to the roots of the genre is something that can be taken as both a strength and a weakness of his writing, however, particularly his brevity. I am no fan of gloomy introspection in my novels – I get enough of that in my normal life, thankyouverymuch – and find the lightness and sheer velocity of Halter’s puzzles as they whizz past you on the page a delight; there’s the odd ounce of fat here and there, but mainly it’s a liberal sprinkling of stuff happening (this being the second time I’ve read this book – well, I had to get the new version with the matching cover – I can honestly say that the clewing for the most recent murder is pretty bloody top notch) with just enough atmosphere to suck you in without drowning you, but then I’ve always sided with Jacques Barzun over Julian Symonds on this. However, in Symonds’ defence, there comes a point where some psychology plays a part and it’s here that Halter can be found wanting.
There is an argument that a certain amount of the work has been done with the characters in this regard and it’s up to you to fill in the possible gaps and justifications, but some people will disagree. I fully concede that aspects pertaining to the Lord himself aren’t fully fleshed out, but then Halter isn’t writing that kind of book and I’m happy to see the implications in the gaps he leaves. If you require your psychology to be tightly-woven, knock a star off my rating and go in expecting to be short-changed in this regard. A little extra work would undoubtedly have expanded the background myth of the murderous figure, but one of the things I enjoy about Halter is how easily he disassembles his own puzzle boxes and how unshowily he reveals the assumptions you’ve been lead into. He excels in my eyes at tying together a chain of implications – in this case the series of attacks committed by the Lord of Misrule – and then quickly showing how the state of fear may have created something that didn’t exist. But, yes, this perceived lack of resolution, not being played upon too heavily, won’t be to everyone’s taste.
His ‘indoor murder’ solution, then, will be slightly the less convincing; there’s a measure of convenience to it, but arguably that’s just a hallmark of the impossible crime. The ‘outdoor murder’ – in stark reversal of Carr’s solutions – is brilliant, however, tying in a sighting of the Lord of Misrule by another party is a deft and cunning way and in doubt right up to the final line (seriously, don’t read the final line ahead of time). In sheer construction, the dovetailing of these various elements is enjoyably as opposed to brilliantly done, but the joy of Halter’s approach and the love he brings to this neglected form is something to behold. A cracked diamond, yes, but still a diamond.
Hmmm, what’s that? Well of course it’s no coincidence that this review has gone up when it’s a month tomorrow until Paul Halter’s 60th birthday. But I’ll put up yet another reminder even closer to the event to re-remind anyone who’s vacillating about getting involved [SPOILER: Get involved! Not sure where to start? Allow me to help…].
~
Paul Halter reviews on The Invisible Event; all translations by John Pugmire unless stated
Featuring Dr. Alan Twist and Archibald Hurst:
The Fourth Door (1987) [trans. 1999]
Death Invites You (1988) [trans. 2015]
The Madman’s Room (1990) [trans. 2017]
The Seventh Hypothesis (1991) [trans. 2012]
The Tiger’s Head (1991) [trans. 2013]
The Demon of Dartmoor (1993) [trans. 2012]
The Picture from the Past (1995) [trans. 2014]
The Vampire Tree (1996) [trans. 2016]
The Siren’s Call (1998) [trans. 2023]
The Man Who Loved Clouds (1999) [trans. 2018]
Penelope’s Web (2001) [trans. 2021]
Featuring Owen Burns and Achilles Stock:
The Lord of Misrule (1994) [trans. 2006]
The Seven Wonders of Crime (1997) [trans. 2005]
The Phantom Passage (2005) [trans. 2015]
The Mask of the Vampire (2014) [trans. 2022]
The Gold Watch (2019) [trans. 2019]
Standalones:
The Crimson Fog (1988) [trans. 2013]
The Invisible Circle (1996) [trans. 2014]
Collected short stories:
The Night of the Wolf (2000) [trans. 2004 w’ Adey]
Individual short stories [* = collected in the anthology The Helm of Hades (2019)]:
‘Nausicaa’s Ball’ (2004) [trans. 2008 w’ Adey]*
‘The Robber’s Grave’ (2007) [trans. 2007 w’ Adey]*
‘The Gong of Doom’ (2010) [trans. 2010]*
‘The Man with the Face of Clay’ (2011) [trans. 2012]*
‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (2014) [trans. 2014]*
‘The Wolf of Fenrir’ (2014) [trans. 2015]*
‘The Scarecrow’s Revenge’ (2015) [trans. 2016]*
‘The Fires of Hell’ (2016) [trans. 2016]*
‘The Yellow Book’ (2017) [trans. 2017]*
‘The Helm of Hades’ (2019) [trans. 2019]*
‘The Celestial Thief’ (2021) [trans. 2021]
‘The Wendigo’s Spell’ (2023) [trans. 2023]
The Invisible Event 
I cannot rate this higher than 3.
The explanation for the identity of the Lord is nonsense.
The actions of a person who is stabbed in the stomach are unbelievable, even though he does these for a specific purpose. The extent is too much. Also unbelievable is that another person regards the stabbing incident as a dream.
A person sees an assailant through the window. The explanation for this is a clear cheat.
In one of the murders, there is improbably good luck for the murderer that the murder takes place during a specific period of time when the victim is hidden from sight of others. (If I am following someone for protection, I’ll always keep him in sight.) Also, knowing fully well the plan of others, would the murderer take the risk?
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There’s an argument that it’s because of the actions of others that the murderer acts as they do, and that’s how I choose to look at it…but, as I say, not everyone will agree!
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My review of THE MADMAN’S ROOM is done and ready to go – I do mean to try one of the Pugmire translations – is THE FOURTH DOOR the best place to start? I ask because the two Halter books I have read so far, not available in English, have been OK but not great …
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Of those translated into English, I think the best place to start is Death Invites You. With Halter it’s usually about some narrative trickery, and the tricks in DIY are less…let’s go with “outré”. Personally I think Picture from the Past, Phantom Passage, Tiger’s Head, Invisible Circle and Seventh Hypothesis are better books, but better appreciated once you have the taste for Halter. Others such as Fourth Door and Demon of Dartmoor have brilliant impossibilities, but struggle a little as narratives. DIY strikes the balance very well indeed – in my eyes, at least.
Thanks again for getting involved, looking forward to tou take on The Madman’s Room!
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That is great, makes a lot of sense – thanks JJ 🙂
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I have written the review for La Corde D’Argent. I will post it at Goodreads on 19th June.
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Many thanks, Santosh. A new one to me, so very interested in this. I’ll put up a post about a week in advance for the links, and then attempt to round them up even a quarter as well as Rich does every month…
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Thanks for an alternative perspective on what appears to be a less popular Halter title. I recall him mentioning in an interview that he sets his novels in England out of love for the country – which makes it a shame that there seems to be little reciprocation from English publishers.
I still have quite a handful of Halter novels to read, so thanks for the reminder!
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I see there being a lot that Halter sets out to achieve here, and if he wrote longer books he’d make his puzzles more palatable to people looking for flaws but also lose some element of what makes them so compelling. Obviously the translation plays a part, but I tear through Halter’s books because he just builds so quickly…The Picture from the Past is a key example of this, because it’s rather weird and the best thing is to just let it hit you and try to keep up. And he’s so clearly working his arse off to come up with new takes on such an old genre, it can only be an immense labour of love…possibly I lack perspective, but I see so much in what he does to celebrate that I really want to just celebrate it!
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I’ve just purchased “Invisible Circle” on my Kindle, and I hope to finish it in one or two sittings. Perhaps I might come up with a review of it for Halter’s birthday… Hopefully, it lives up to the description of combining King Arthur with And Then There Were None. 🙂
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I’m reading it now for my double-Halter review! So far, so good, but I get what JJ means about reading in one sitting. My schedule doesn’t permit that, so I’m constantly getting lost.
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Awesome news! As I said before, I’m happy to “guest post” anything you write if you want – just email it to me and I’ll put it up here. Alternatively, GoodReads or Amazon or wherever reviews can be linked to without any fuss…whatever you prefer. And, hey, thanks in advance for (potentially…) getting involved!
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I’ve finally got round to reading ‘Lord of Misrule’, and I think I liked it more than I disliked it. Nonetheless, I would say it ranks among the weakest of the Halter titles I’ve read, together with ‘Vampire Tree’ and ‘Invisible Circle’.
I believe in every Halter novel I’ve read there were a handful of moments where credulity would have been subject to undue strain. And for me the stronger Halter novels had less of these moments, relative to their counterbalancing virtues. It seems to me that there were incredulous moments for every puzzle and every resolution in ‘Lord of Misrule’, and there were slightly fewer counterbalancing virtues. Of the two solutions for the unblemished snow, one fell into the category of solutions that I generally dislike – and had appeared in more than one Halter novel. The other solution was well-clued but demanded slightly too much coincidence. Curiously enough, I found the rationale behind the appearances of the Lord of Misrule somewhat forgiveable in its congruity with the gothic overtones of the story as a whole.
But it was still a puzzle-oriented – and therefore enjoyable – novel for me. 😀 Thanks for the review!
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I think with a lot of impossible crimes there’s that element of coincidence; Halter, and many other modern practitioners of these arts, just don’t hide from it as much in order to be able to push things in a new direction. I do so love the outdoor murder, I think it’s genius, but obviously tastes vary,
Glad you enjoyed it overall, though. And I beliebve you still have some very god ones to come (as, it is to be hoped, do the rest of us…)
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I suppose there’s a spectrum of impossible crimes that range from credulous to incredulous, and ‘Lord of Misrule’ leans more heavily towards the latter end… Anyway, I do still have very good ones to come, since I’m leaving ‘Phantom Passage’ for Owen Burns and ‘Madman’s Room’ (or perhaps ‘Demon of Dartmoor’ for Dr Twist till the very end… 😀
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I just finished this one, JJ—I didn’t hate it, and it would probably count as one of the better Halters I’ve read, but I didn’t love it either. (No surprise there, I suppose! 😉 ) I completely agree with your preferring “the outdoor murder”; indeed, I think that part was absolutely ingenious, including the final line. Two clues in particular really gave me that “yes, of course!” feeling, which I’ve found too often lacking in Halter. I do fail to see that reversal of Carr you mention, though…
I more or less saw through the “indoor murder” as soon as it was presented, though I also had an alternative solution (which may be impossible if I didn’t understand the floor plan correctly?)—mostly because of The Three Coffins and a certain Death in Paradise episode. Not bad, though, and one clue was delightful. I guessed the murderer very quickly.
I’ll also note that it was one of the better-written Halters I’ve read thus far: it’s far from “good,” but it’s better-written than The Fourth Door or The Tiger’s Head, on par with The Crimson Fog, The Invisible Circle, and The Phantom Passage, I thought. I couldn’t tell any of the characters apart, but I rather expected that.
I do wish the backstory and title were used by a better author, though—they’re rather ingenious, but PH’s writing skills aren’t quite up to the task, unfortunately. Oh, well…
So—it was OK. Some very good concepts, and I’m not likely to forget that “outdoor murder” solution, but not as good as Phantom Passage or Crimson Fog and not as well-plotted as Fourth Door. I liked it better than Madman’s Room, though, surprisingly. 🙂
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Well, yeah, that all sounds pretty reasonable to me — “ingenious” is certainly the word for that stabbing, and the shortfalls in backstory and character are not unfair criticisms…I’m really pleased you had an overall positive time with this one.
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I just read this as my first full-length Halter, and it makes me want to read more, so I guess it works reasonably well as an introduction to him? Admittedly I do wish he’d done more with the Lord of Misrule legend, as the description of the spirit was one of the hooks that made me start with this one, and I think the psychological credibility of certain aspects of the case could have been enhanced had Halter played up the horror aspects, as if the Lord were genuinely haunting the family (rot13’d for spoilers) naq cbffrffvat be vasyhrapvat Flovy va fbzr jnl. The characters and the romance were a bit meh, and I’m of two minds about Owen Burns: I was entertained by the hints of his amorality in the face of a suitably artistic crime, but I do feel short-changed by Halter’s choice to make his not!Oscar Wilde straight. (Maybe the meh-ness of the characterisation can come in handy if one wants to read him as having a crush on his Watson?)
The impossibilities themselves were very nice, and even though I solved both of them (and guessed the motive for Edwin’s murder before the actual clue), I only figured out Edwin’s death because I’d read a certain other locked-room mystery, and I didn’t work out what was going on with the Lord of Misrule’s manifestations around that murder. Re the Carr comparisons you bring up in your review, I was struck by how much I preferred Halter’s choice of stabbings as the method; the greater intimacy than gunshots enhanced the eeriness of there being no killer present at the scene.
Did anything come of your idea to write about its similarities/homages to GAD works? Also, given that I enjoyed this, what would you recommend as one to follow? (Wow, this comment turned out longer than I expected.)
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I’m really pleased you enjoyed this so much — it’s a good introduction to Halter overall: the background is usually a little under-developed, the characers typically fall a little flat, the plot is at least slightly contortionist, and if you’re able to accet these two aspects of his writing then you’re going to have a good time. Halter is all about the plot and the creative ways he can turn an impossibility into something attainable, and I’ll take a slightly less-than-full roseter of real people if it means I get the surprises he’s dropped on me.
I’m with you on stabbings vs gunshots; I’ve said elsewhere (maybe in this very review, in fact — apologies, it’s been a while) that I think the outdoor murder here is significantly better than the one in The Hollow Man, and I think it works especially well on account of the indicators of the killer needing to be seemingly impossibly close to the victim. I didn’t solve either of these, and I love the very late revelation of how the stabbing and the mysterious appearances of the Lord tie together.
Where to go next? Well…
Death Invites You has slightly more in the way of character, and the setup is nicely obscure, but it’s not as original in its resolution as some of his others.
The Tiger’s Head has a delightfully imbricated plot and a great sense of dread atmosphere, and even though the central impossibility is pretty guessable I think it’s very nicely foreshadowed with some great clewing. The impossible vanishing is a bit weak, but the rest is top notch.
Or maybe The Seventh Hypothesis for its sidelining the impossibilities to focus instead on the genius-level plotting in the Lord Edgware Dies vein: one of two men is definitely a murderer, but which one…?
Or, if you’re feeling inventive, The Invisible Circle doesn’t get enough love, and you might be up for the playfulness of that one having enjoyed TLoM. It’s…bonkers, but halter is at his best when a little bonkers,
Whatever you choose…keep me informed!
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Did you make that map of Edwin’s crime scene yourself? It’s not in my version of the book. Granted the Kindle version of this one is really bad (I know it was LRI’s first publication, but geez…), so maybe it just got left out.
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You credit me with too much industry; it’s in my version of the paperback, so I guess it just got left out of the original version…which is a shame, given that it reinforced the parallels I was talking about above.
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Hey, don’t sell yourself short. You made that whole map for the Red Death Murders, even if it didn’t end up in the book. That’s gotta count for something!
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