Dr Gideon Fell meets a man in a Somerset valley and learns of a murder that came up from the lake itself.
Sir Henry Merrivale visits a house in Goblin Wood where a girl disappears from a cottage that was watched from all sides.
And there are some other stories in the collection too…
OK, I jest a little, but the main selling point of this collection, named after a short story from Julian Symons, is that it begins with John Dickson Carr’s The Wrong Problem and ends with Carter Dickson’s (aka John Dickson Carr) The House In Goblin Wood. Now the first is a very good short story, but the second is THE FINEST SHORT STORY EVER WRITTEN!
Let me repeat myself – THE FINEST SHORT STORY EVER WRITTEN. Heck, it’s one of the finest locked room mysteries ever written too. If you haven’t read it, then trust me – that story is worth buying the collection even if it’s the only story in it that you read.
The other stories? Well, I could keep talking about The House In Goblin Wood – that final sentence! – but I have reviewed it once upon a time, so let’s pick some of the other stories that I most enjoyed.
Oddly the title story by Symons is a bit inconsequential but there are some other gems here too. The Two Flaws by Hal Pink shows how to write an effective short short story. Murder Game by Christianna Brand is a strong locked room mystery with a really interesting framing structure. The Coulman Handicap by Michael Gilbert is fun, with an elegantly simple idea, and The Last Meeting Of The Gentlemen’s Club by Geoffrey Bush is hugely entertaining (although I think it’s pushing it to call it a locked room mystery).
As can often be the case, the second half of the book is stronger than the first – The Vanishing Houseby Will Scott I found particularly weak – but there majority of the collection is well worth your time.
And in case I didn’t mention it, it contains
THE FINEST SHORT STORY EVER WRITTEN
As If By Magic will be released on September 10th by the British Library. Many thanks for the review copy.
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel 
Cool, I’ll be getting this for a couple of friends or three. And it is a classic story, no argument here 👍
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I held off on pre-ordering this anthology, until I knew what it collected, but seeing it content includes rarities like Hal Pink’s “The Two Flaws,” Geoffrey Bush’s “The Last Meeting of the Gentlemen’s Club” and Will Scott’s “The Vanishing House” I ordered it immediately. So thank you for the heads up!
Just a pity the Symons story gave this anthology its title. Why not open and close the anthology with the two H.M. novellas and title it Ministry of Miracles (or The Detectives Who Explained Miracles). Anyway, I do agree with you on “The House in Goblin Wood.” If it’s not the finest short story ever written, it comes as close as you possibly can to the finest short story ever written.
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An excellent sales pitch !
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Everyone always talks about the last sentence of Goblin Wood but I don’t actually remember what it is. Unless it’s just that one part of the solution. Maybe someday I’ll not be lazy enough to find the story and check
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I just finished this one and really enjoyed it. Indeed “The House in Goblin Wood” is a classic, but I have read that one before.
In particular, I liked Christianna Brand’s “Murder Game” (with its dizzying array of false solutions before the culprit is revealed), the gothic-tinged “The Warder at the Door” by Robert Eustace, the clever “The Coulman Handicap” by Michael Gilbert and the brilliant “The Last Meeting of the Butlers Club” with its send-up of the Golden Age, including Philo Vance, Dr. Thorndyke, Philo Vance and Reggie Fortune. The latter was authored by Geoffrey Bush, who is the son of prolific GAD author, Christopher Bush. The only weak story for me was Will Scott’s “The Vanishing House”.
So recommended for anyone like me that loves impossible crimes.
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[…] Doctor will tell you that ‘The House in Goblin Wood’ (1947) by Carter Dickson is the finest short story ever […]
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