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Dr. Twist #11
The Vampire Tree
When Roger Sheridan moves into his ancestral home in the village of Lightwood with his young wife Patricia, she soon starts to read the diary of Lavinia, whose fiancé died in impossible circumstances there a century before, strangled under a twisted tree in virgin snow. The tree is said to cover the grave of a witch who murdered young children. While Patricia tries to solve the ancient murder by reading the diary, someone starts murdering young children again and Patricia starts having nightmares where she sees the cursed tree killing Lavinia’s fiancé... It is left to Dr. Twist to unravel the horrors, old and new.
- GenresMystery
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Paul Halter
79 books57 followersPaul Halter is a writer of crime fiction known for his locked room mysteries. Halter pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world. Disappointed with the lack of travel, he left the military and, for a while, sold life insurance while augmenting his income playing the guitar in the local dance orchestra. He gave up life insurance for a job in the state-owned telecommunications company, where he works in what is presently known as France Télécom. Halter has been compared with the late John Dickson Carr, generally considered the 20th century master of the locked room genre. Throughout his nearly thirty novels his genre has been almost entirely impossible crimes, and as a critic has said "Although strongly influenced by Carr and Christie, his style is his own and he can stand comparison with anyone for the originality of his plots and puzzles and his atmospheric writing."
His first published novel, La Quatrieme Porte ("The Fourth Door")was published in 1988 and won the Prix de Cognac, given for detective literature. The following year, his novel Le Brouillard Rouge (Red Mist) won "one of the highest accolades in French mystery literature", the Prix du Roman d'Aventures. He has now published more than thirty novels. Several of his short stories have been translated into English; by June 2010 six will have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; ten were collected and published by Wildside Press as The Night of the Wolf.
His first published novel, La Quatrieme Porte ("The Fourth Door")was published in 1988 and won the Prix de Cognac, given for detective literature. The following year, his novel Le Brouillard Rouge (Red Mist) won "one of the highest accolades in French mystery literature", the Prix du Roman d'Aventures. He has now published more than thirty novels. Several of his short stories have been translated into English; by June 2010 six will have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; ten were collected and published by Wildside Press as The Night of the Wolf.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 21, 2017
Paul Halter is one of my favorite authors, a worthy heir to John Dickson Carr. Like Carr, he experiments with the locked-room mystery genre, most of the time pulling off a brilliant book, but sometimes falling flat. The Vampire Tree has some interesting elements, but isn't one of his stronger novels.
December 30, 2018
Somebody is slitting the throats of young boys. Supernatural menace hovers in the air as an aspen tree seemingly has the power to strangle people in their dreams. The plot seemed compelling but the writing was too disjointed and the characters, though interesting enough, did not feel really developed.
January 28, 2025
3.75 氛围感大于推理，但是氛围感太强了
👥Characters: 8.0
🔮Atmosphere: 7.0
✍️Writing: 8.0
🗺️Plot: 7.0
🔍Intrigue: 8.0
🧩Logic: 5.0
😌Enjoyment: 6.0
👥Characters: 8.0
🔮Atmosphere: 7.0
✍️Writing: 8.0
🗺️Plot: 7.0
🔍Intrigue: 8.0
🧩Logic: 5.0
😌Enjoyment: 6.0
November 7, 2020
Un Halter minore. La storia del vampiro e del delitto impossibile del passato, legato ad un albero assassino, sebbene sia interessante e cupa, si rivela molto debole sul piano della soluzione. Il movente è il solito dell'autore, il discioglimento dell'omicidio di Eric molto deludente, uno dei peggiori che un amante di tale tipo di gialli possa incontrare. Infine anche i personaggi sono meno definiti rispetto al solito, con un Twist davvero scialbo (e per me già lo era negli altri romanzi, qui più che mai) che dà risposta solo alle "fobie" di Patricia.
Quindi una buona atmosfera per un mediocre giallo.
Quindi una buona atmosfera per un mediocre giallo.
May 7, 2013
Good atmosphere, but nothing. The impossible murder is too possible. I read a lot of Halter's novels.
This novel is one I dont't like much.
This novel is one I dont't like much.
May 9, 2017
Man, this just didn't come together. There's no real element of piecing together clues to identify as a criminal, which I think is the hallmark of any mystery. There's a historical "mystery within a mystery" where the only real impediment to solving it is that it's broken up into tiny pieces and mentioned only occasionally through the text. The mystical element is either overdone (in that it's present at all) or it's underdone (in that it's present but doesn't matter). I can only assume this was better in the native French. In English, I think I would have preferred actual bloodsucking trees.
August 27, 2023
No locked room in sight (although there is a years-before death where the dead man is found surrounded by a field of virgin snow.) This is more a tale of a maniac in a small English town and how a newlywed couple deal with the tragic events and their tenuous connection to a former family that lived in the same manor house. We get to read excerpts from the diary of the woman in love with the years-before dead man, which were tedious. Halter has written better mysteries (like The Fourth Door) and this ranks as one of my least favorite of his tales.
August 31, 2017
Wow,this really is terrible.Two stars is probably being kind!The impossible crime elements are poorly done,the resolutions totally underwhelming.Halter can write much better than this,for completists only.
February 25, 2020
La historia en interesante y bien resuelta. Parece que Mr. Halter necesita añadir un crimen imposible, el cual esta vez es resuelto de una manera absurda. Para que agregarlo a la historia? Por el resto es una novela que se puede leer.
April 26, 2018
Awful.
December 8, 2016
This novel was originally published in French in 1996 as L'arbre aux doigts tordus (The tree with twisted branches). It involves the series detectives Dr. Alan Twist and Archibald Hurst.
It is 1958. Patricia Sqibby, a 24- year old nurse residing in London meets 28-year old Roger Sheridan at a friend’s party and they fall in love with each other. Three months later they get married and Patricia Sqibby becomes Patricia Sheridan.
Patricia lost both her parents in the wartime blitz of 1940 when she was only six years old. Since then she lived in a London orphanage till she acquired a nursing diploma 2 years ago.
She has unpredictable mood swings, going from gaiety and euphoria one day to deep melancholy and depression the next.She warns Roger about this, but he doesn’t seem to care.
Roger was born in a wealthy family. Both his parents are deceased. With the passing away of his father about a year back, he became the sole heir to an immense fortune. This included their mansion in the village of Lightwood (in the county of Suffolk). Since Roger lived with his parents in London he never visited the country house till he became the heir. After that he visited the house and became so enamoured of it that he spent many weekends there.
After marriage, Roger and Patricia decide to settle in Lightwood. On her first night there, she sleeps in a bedroom at the back of the house with a view of an old aspen tree with twisted branches which brush against the window panes. She has a nightmare that the tree is strangling her.
When she recounts the nightmare to Roger, he tells her that both the room and the tree have sinister histories.
About 4 centuries back, a female named Liza Gribble was accused of being a vampire and slitting the throats of village children. She was hanged and her body was buried at the site of the aspen tree before the tree was planted.
Towards the end of the last century, Lavinia, a charming young woman and daughter of a rich neighbouring landowner was engaged to Eric, one of the great-grand-uncles of Roger. The Sheridans held a ball in the house. It was harsh winter night with heavy snow.The party continued into the small hours. Lavinia was the first to retire. Her room was the room overlooking the aspen tree. She had a nightmare that the tree was strangling Eric. In the morning, the body of Eric was found besides the tree, strangled to death. The snowing had stopped before 2 o’clock when Eric was seen alive by the last departing guests. Yet, apart from his own footprints, there were no other footprints on the snow all around him. (an impossible crime !)
About 6 months back, Roger found a diary written by Lavinia in an old chest in the attic. He was fascinated by it and read it several times. He hands it to Patricia. Patricia starts reading the diary slowly and imagines herself in the role of Lavinia.
In the meanwhile Dr. Alan Twist visits the office of the Scotland Yard inspector Archibald Hurst who is investigating the murder of children by a serial killer. 3 children have been killed already during the past month in Suffolk. In each case, the child was first strangled to death and then the throat slit.However, in each case, no blood was found in the surrounding area suggesting that the killing took place elsewhere and the body then carried.
Hurst marks the 3 spots where the bodies were found on a map of Suffolk and then obtains the barycentre (centroid) of the triangle formed by the 3 points. The village of Lightwood is closest to the barycentre and hence he suspects that the culprit is from Lightwood. (If only police work were so simple !)
Two further murders of children take place in the same manner: throat cut after strangling and no blood in the surrounding area.
Patricia, after reading Lavinia’s diary, goes through the story several times in her mind. She realises how Eric got killed. She tells it to Hurst who in turn mentions it to Twist. Twist agrees with the solution.
Regarding the serial killing, there are 7 suspects: Roger, Patricia, painter Maude Rellys, sculptor David Hale, retired surgeon and psychic Thomas Fielding, vicar Reverend Benjamin Moore and librarian Miss Pickford. Dr. Twist cuts a sorry figure here. He makes a serious misjudgement. Ultimately, he finds out the culprit but only after receiving hint through a letter.
The solution to the impossible strangling of Eric is very simple, perfectly possible and properly clued. However, The solution to the serial killing is highly unsatisfactory. First, the motive of the killer is utterly bizarre and far-fetched. Secondly, the killer’s scheme to implicate another person would never have succeeded.
Also, the pace is often slow making for dull reading. This is the first time I have noted this in a Paul Halter novel.
Considering the unsatisfactory solution to the serial killing, the often dull reading and the incompetence of Dr. Twist, I wanted to rate this as 2.5 but since this is not allowed, I rate it as 2.
It is 1958. Patricia Sqibby, a 24- year old nurse residing in London meets 28-year old Roger Sheridan at a friend’s party and they fall in love with each other. Three months later they get married and Patricia Sqibby becomes Patricia Sheridan.
Patricia lost both her parents in the wartime blitz of 1940 when she was only six years old. Since then she lived in a London orphanage till she acquired a nursing diploma 2 years ago.
She has unpredictable mood swings, going from gaiety and euphoria one day to deep melancholy and depression the next.She warns Roger about this, but he doesn’t seem to care.
Roger was born in a wealthy family. Both his parents are deceased. With the passing away of his father about a year back, he became the sole heir to an immense fortune. This included their mansion in the village of Lightwood (in the county of Suffolk). Since Roger lived with his parents in London he never visited the country house till he became the heir. After that he visited the house and became so enamoured of it that he spent many weekends there.
After marriage, Roger and Patricia decide to settle in Lightwood. On her first night there, she sleeps in a bedroom at the back of the house with a view of an old aspen tree with twisted branches which brush against the window panes. She has a nightmare that the tree is strangling her.
When she recounts the nightmare to Roger, he tells her that both the room and the tree have sinister histories.
About 4 centuries back, a female named Liza Gribble was accused of being a vampire and slitting the throats of village children. She was hanged and her body was buried at the site of the aspen tree before the tree was planted.
Towards the end of the last century, Lavinia, a charming young woman and daughter of a rich neighbouring landowner was engaged to Eric, one of the great-grand-uncles of Roger. The Sheridans held a ball in the house. It was harsh winter night with heavy snow.The party continued into the small hours. Lavinia was the first to retire. Her room was the room overlooking the aspen tree. She had a nightmare that the tree was strangling Eric. In the morning, the body of Eric was found besides the tree, strangled to death. The snowing had stopped before 2 o’clock when Eric was seen alive by the last departing guests. Yet, apart from his own footprints, there were no other footprints on the snow all around him. (an impossible crime !)
About 6 months back, Roger found a diary written by Lavinia in an old chest in the attic. He was fascinated by it and read it several times. He hands it to Patricia. Patricia starts reading the diary slowly and imagines herself in the role of Lavinia.
In the meanwhile Dr. Alan Twist visits the office of the Scotland Yard inspector Archibald Hurst who is investigating the murder of children by a serial killer. 3 children have been killed already during the past month in Suffolk. In each case, the child was first strangled to death and then the throat slit.However, in each case, no blood was found in the surrounding area suggesting that the killing took place elsewhere and the body then carried.
Hurst marks the 3 spots where the bodies were found on a map of Suffolk and then obtains the barycentre (centroid) of the triangle formed by the 3 points. The village of Lightwood is closest to the barycentre and hence he suspects that the culprit is from Lightwood. (If only police work were so simple !)
Two further murders of children take place in the same manner: throat cut after strangling and no blood in the surrounding area.
Patricia, after reading Lavinia’s diary, goes through the story several times in her mind. She realises how Eric got killed. She tells it to Hurst who in turn mentions it to Twist. Twist agrees with the solution.
Regarding the serial killing, there are 7 suspects: Roger, Patricia, painter Maude Rellys, sculptor David Hale, retired surgeon and psychic Thomas Fielding, vicar Reverend Benjamin Moore and librarian Miss Pickford. Dr. Twist cuts a sorry figure here. He makes a serious misjudgement. Ultimately, he finds out the culprit but only after receiving hint through a letter.
The solution to the impossible strangling of Eric is very simple, perfectly possible and properly clued. However, The solution to the serial killing is highly unsatisfactory. First, the motive of the killer is utterly bizarre and far-fetched. Secondly, the killer’s scheme to implicate another person would never have succeeded.
Also, the pace is often slow making for dull reading. This is the first time I have noted this in a Paul Halter novel.
Considering the unsatisfactory solution to the serial killing, the often dull reading and the incompetence of Dr. Twist, I wanted to rate this as 2.5 but since this is not allowed, I rate it as 2.
September 15, 2023
Halter's homage to Carr's The Burning Court combines a Tudor-era vampiress. a seemingly impossible hanging, and present-day child murders. The narrative is disjointed as ever, moving between multiple points of view and a historical diary that doesn't sound of its period. But I would say the pacing is a bit more sure than in most Halters I have read - I was not ever bored. On display as ever is Halter's weird failure to understand how humans behave and think, most on display in the town's weirdly casual reaction to being terrorized by a child murderer. Halter's seeming inability to recognize or at least convey the horror of a child's death (much less that of many children) is really, really odd, even off-putting. The solution to the impossible hanging is fairly clued if mundane; the resolution to the vampire plot is bonkers. Note for authors: if you are going to work historical mysteries into your text, you need to get your facts straight and not describe Henry VIII as a king from "the end of the Middle Ages."
September 11, 2024
FIRST READING 2/10/20: 3 Stars
Any Halter is a good enough way to spend some time but this one features one of my least favorite mystery tropes: reincarnation. Kind of just okay overall.
SECOND READING 9/11/24: 3 Stars
I was hoping I’d like this one better this time around. It’s very Hammer horror and campy and melodramatic, but Halter doesn’t pull the rug out from under you with his usual bombastic finesse and the story ends with a whimper instead of a bang. There’s a sense of a lack of focus throughout, too. Add in a few annoying and/or undefined or underutilized characters, plus a few grown worthy details during the revelation, and The Vampire Tree is still disappointing.
Any Halter is a good enough way to spend some time but this one features one of my least favorite mystery tropes: reincarnation. Kind of just okay overall.
SECOND READING 9/11/24: 3 Stars
I was hoping I’d like this one better this time around. It’s very Hammer horror and campy and melodramatic, but Halter doesn’t pull the rug out from under you with his usual bombastic finesse and the story ends with a whimper instead of a bang. There’s a sense of a lack of focus throughout, too. Add in a few annoying and/or undefined or underutilized characters, plus a few grown worthy details during the revelation, and The Vampire Tree is still disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews