Every year, we bloggers get two nominations for the Reprint Of The Year awards, as curated by Kate over at Cross Examining Crime. I’ve already given my first nomination, He Who Whispers by John Dickson Carr and most people will be thinking, well, after nominating that one, what else could he possibly nominate to rival that utter, utter classic?

Well, you would be thinking that if somehow you’d read this post without somehow reading the title of it, I suppose…

The British Library republished two John Dickson Carr titles this year, and, arguably, the best two Gideon Fell titles of all – and all you fans of The Hollow Man, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. But they’re also two very different titles.

He Who Whispers is one of the most atmospheric of his titles, whereas The Black Spectacles is all about playing a game with the reader. The basic premise is stunningly simple and original – a man wants to test the powers of observation of his friends so he arranges to enact a simple play with ten questions. But during the play, a masked man comes onto the stage and forces a pill down the man’s throat, and he collapses, poisoned. The three observers cannot agree on any of the simple questions posed to them by the victim – and the film that was made of the performance doesn’t help either.

Oh, and there’s someone running around poisoning the sweets in the local sweetshop and not being noticed…

It’s not the analytical nightmare that it might seem, it’s a thrillingly mystery, simultaneously complex and simple at the same time, and has a brief discussion about the number of ways of poisoning people. Yes, there’s that weird bit in the car at the end that feels like it’s there to pad out the page-count a tad, but that’s a very small thing to moan about.

So, now you have a problem – which Carr to vote for? But let’s face it, it’s a great problem to have…