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rosseroo's review
3.0
Carr is one of the hugely prolific "Golden Age" mystery writers whom I'd never sampled until this book. This story a bit of an outlier in his work, in that it's more of a swashbuckling, historic espionage caper, than a classic murder mystery. It's set in France in 1805, as Napoleon gathers his troops on the northern coast for an invasion of England. However, someone -- an English agent, presumably -- is skulking around the camp of the Grand Armee, murdering soldiers in the dead of night.
Napoleon demands that his Minister of Police, Joseph Fouche (a real and fascinating personality) unmask the killer, and so Fouche weaves an exceedingly tangled web that includes one of his own "honey-trap" agents, an English spy, and the estranged wife of the spy. There's endless rounds of intrigue and counter-intrigue -- tables are not turned so much as they are spent spinning off into the night. There's a room with secret spyholes, a smuggler's inn, disguises, carriages and horses, swordplay, a great chase scene involving exploding gas balloons, and a venomous German officer to top it all off.
I suppose there's a certain zany charm to it all -- but it's more of the two-reeler adventure tale side of the spectrum, as opposed to a crime/mystery story. I will say that the twist at the end, when the true identity of Captain Cut-Throat is revealed is one of the better surprise endings I can recall. Still, probably of limited interest to modern readers.
Napoleon demands that his Minister of Police, Joseph Fouche (a real and fascinating personality) unmask the killer, and so Fouche weaves an exceedingly tangled web that includes one of his own "honey-trap" agents, an English spy, and the estranged wife of the spy. There's endless rounds of intrigue and counter-intrigue -- tables are not turned so much as they are spent spinning off into the night. There's a room with secret spyholes, a smuggler's inn, disguises, carriages and horses, swordplay, a great chase scene involving exploding gas balloons, and a venomous German officer to top it all off.
I suppose there's a certain zany charm to it all -- but it's more of the two-reeler adventure tale side of the spectrum, as opposed to a crime/mystery story. I will say that the twist at the end, when the true identity of Captain Cut-Throat is revealed is one of the better surprise endings I can recall. Still, probably of limited interest to modern readers.
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