Got a problem that no one else can solve? Well, presumably if the A-Team aren’t in town, you might want to pop round and see Colonel March in the Department Of Queer Complaints. Whether it’s the shooting of a neighbour by a disembodied pair of hands, a murderer who leaves no footprints bar one on a hedge, six feet off the ground, a murder in a room that doesn’t exist… you get the idea.

Seven cases for Colonel March and four others make up this book of short stories from Carter Dickson aka John Dickson Carr. But are they worth reprinting? And, given the title of the collection, would anyone dare?

So, an interesting set of cases. These are, as far as I know, the only seven Colonel March stories and, bar working for the Department, he’s fairly interchangeable with Gideon Fell or Henry Merrivale – just a tad less interesting, to be frank. But let’s take a look at the stories.

The New Invisible Man

Possibly the best of the March stories, where a man spots a disembodied pair of hands shoot someone in the window across the street. The impossibility isn’t the best bit, though.

The Footprint In The Sky

A “no footprints in the snow” story, let down by when it’s revealed what the killer did, this reader’s response was complete disbelief that he could do that.

The Crime In Nobody’s Room

Murder in a room that didn’t exist. A nice mystery but the impossibility is about as interesting as the mechanics of any vanishing house/room mystery.

Hot Money

The only bit of interest is where some stolen money has been hidden in a room and the answer is, quite frankly, rubbish.

Death In The Dressing-Room

A dancer at a night club that March is investigating is found dead in her dressing room but the obvious suspect has an ironclad alibi. One of the better tales.

The Silver Curtain

A man is stabbed in the back despite being in plain sight. Vies with The Invisible Man for the best March tale, with a clever trick that Carr recycled decades later in a novel.

Error At Daybreak

One aspect of the trick here, with another killing in plain sight with no killer seen, was nicked by Edward D Hoch in a Sam Hawthorne story. It’s one of the better stories.

The Other Hangman

A step into history with a question as to who would hang a man in his cell when he was heading for the gallows? There’s no impossibility here, but a good, unique motive.

New Murders For Old

Stephen Marvell heads on a cruise around the world, haunted by his demons, only to return after a year to find that he has been murdered in his home? Hasn’t he? Didn’t really work for me.

Person Or Things Unknown

A tale of the past when a man was stabbed multiple times when no knife was present. Atmospheric but the vanishing knife is very cliché.

Blind Man’s Hood

While one aspect of the story, the part that dips one toe into the supernatural, is very obvious, this is an effective Christmas tale with a nice example of the tricksy wordplay that Carr was fond of.

All in all, it’s a fun collection to read, but nothing that ranks with the best Fell short stories or, obviously, The House In Goblin Wood or All In A Maze, Sir Henry Merrivale’s two shorter outings. But, as I said, it’d take a brave person to reprint it these days with that title…