The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr was strongly recommended by my favorite writer, Kingsley Amis: ‘I will offer a small prize to any such person who can read the first chapter of Carr's The Burning Court and not in honesty have to go on’ – however, it is only ranked 4114th on The Greatest Books of All Time, while The Hollow Man is 441st – JD Carr has three books on The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, Three Coffins, The Devil in Velvet and The Hollow Man – you find a few thousand reviews of magnum opera on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel

 

The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr was strongly recommended by my favorite writer, Kingsley Amis: ‘I will offer a small prize to any such person who can read the first chapter of Carr's The Burning Court and not in honesty have to go on’ – however, it is only ranked 4114th on The Greatest Books of All Time, while The Hollow Man is 441st – JD Carr has three books on The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, Three Coffins, The Devil in Velvet and The Hollow Man – you find a few thousand reviews of magnum opera on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel

 

 

 

8 out of 10

 

I have been thrilled by The Hollow Man https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-hollow-man-10-out-of-10.html by John Dickson Carr, called ‘the best locked room mystery of all time’, just as The Burning Court ‘is hailed as Carr's best non-series novel’, and an impressive achievement in my own opinion, though not on the same level

 

Kingsley Amis is number one in my book, although sharing the top spot with Marcel Proust- I just realized that I have no idea what Amis thought of Proust, he was very harsh with so many: Virginia Woolf, Nabokov, Austen, the list is long - https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-letters-of-kingsley-amis-edited-by.html

 

‘Perhaps no detective story can attain the pitch of literary excellence. Perhaps it can only offer ingenuity raised to the point of genius. In Carr-cum-Dickson it does, perhaps two dozen times in all, and this author is a first-rate artist. A neglected one, naturally, and likely to remain so while detective fiction remains undervalued, while most of those who should know better remain ignorant of the heights of craftsmanship and virtuosity it can reach’ this analysis is the reason why I took on The Burning Court, Carr was ‘essential reading for Kingsley Amis

It is an impressive tour de force, we have the feeling that this may have to do with ghosts, then we see that we are getting back to ‘reasonable’ explanations, only to be flabbergasted again- Edward Stevens is one of the main characters, he learns about the death of Miles Despard, considered natural initially, but then declared a murder

 

This is not brought to the knowledge of the authorities, and we may see why at the end – or remain confused, I am still not sure – Mark Despard wants to open the crypt and have a doctor prove if it was arsenic or not, except the body is…gone, we will see later about that, although it is puzzling and I hesitate here

In some way, I prefer the wonderful Malice Aforethought https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/05/malice-aforethought-by-anthony-berkeley.html by Francis Iles  "It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Doctor Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter."

 

You know from the start who did, well, or would commit the murder eventually, whereas in The Burning Court as I keep repeating, I am not sure of some of the facts, the epilogue is both revealing and at the end, refuting at least some of what had just been explained, notwithstanding this misunderstanding, it is an excellent twist

The author introduced the element of witchcraft, we have a woman coming ‘though a wall’, just like in The Hollow Man, where it appeared that nobody came in and out, so how can you have the victim of murder inside, here we are suggested that maybe there was a ghost, a servant sees the dead man in his room

 

There is an explanation for the latter, but still…there are surprises for all the chapters, one of the people in the house is not who he/she claimed to be – I try to avoid spoilers, as if anybody reads this far, or at all in this corner – another acts in an incriminating way, but there is an innocent explanation, or maybe we have a double twist here, maybe there are accomplices, but what if they track each other, or at least one is following a different plan: jealousy, greed, love, suspicion, manipulation, intelligent suspects, lack of Emotional Intelligence are just part of the puzzle

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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