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Scandal at High Chimneys
A force, hidden, but malignant stirred silently behind the discreetly drawn curtains at High Chimneys. And each member of the household, frantically concealing guilty indiscretions, unwittingly protected another person. It was not until nightmare murder had been done that the little secrets began to come out, hinting at a scandal so ugly that at least one person would stop at no brutality to keep it hidden!
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1959
41 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
John Dickson Carr
428 books500 followersAKA Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn.
John Dickson Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1906. It Walks by Night, his first published detective novel, featuring the Frenchman Henri Bencolin, was published in 1930. Apart from Dr Fell, whose first appearance was in Hag's Nook in 1933, Carr's other series detectives (published under the nom de plume of Carter Dickson) were the barrister Sir Henry Merrivale, who debuted in The Plague Court Murders (1934).
John Dickson Carr was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1906. It Walks by Night, his first published detective novel, featuring the Frenchman Henri Bencolin, was published in 1930. Apart from Dr Fell, whose first appearance was in Hag's Nook in 1933, Carr's other series detectives (published under the nom de plume of Carter Dickson) were the barrister Sir Henry Merrivale, who debuted in The Plague Court Murders (1934).
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 17, 2017
★ ★ 1/2
This was written at a time when Carr was moving away from his established detectives. He would come back to Gideon Fell eventually, though he would never visit Sir Henry Merrivale again. During this period he would pick an interesting time or place (or both) and set his mystery there. High Chimneys “attempts to present . . . an accurate picture of life at several levels of society in the year 1865,” as Carr states in the afterward; essentially, the Victorian era. In this he succeeds. As for the mystery, he invokes some fairly dodgy wordplay to initially mislead the reader, rare for Carr, who usually played fair. In the end the characters were barely interesting enough, and the times and atmosphere depicted richly enough, that I didn’t care who the murderer was. An acceptable effort but hardly among his best.
This was written at a time when Carr was moving away from his established detectives. He would come back to Gideon Fell eventually, though he would never visit Sir Henry Merrivale again. During this period he would pick an interesting time or place (or both) and set his mystery there. High Chimneys “attempts to present . . . an accurate picture of life at several levels of society in the year 1865,” as Carr states in the afterward; essentially, the Victorian era. In this he succeeds. As for the mystery, he invokes some fairly dodgy wordplay to initially mislead the reader, rare for Carr, who usually played fair. In the end the characters were barely interesting enough, and the times and atmosphere depicted richly enough, that I didn’t care who the murderer was. An acceptable effort but hardly among his best.
January 8, 2022
I think my reading experience was added quite a lot by the fact that I ordered from my library and had to wait a while and then got a very old copy that had the "cover picture" inside the book and was very mystery looking on the outside. I liked the old-timey feel (as obviously as it's a classic) and quite enjoyed the story. It wasn't the greatest I've read but did find my reading experience of this very interesting
January 25, 2021
Kicsit csalódás, ennél jobbat vártam. Szeretem a különleges történeteket pedig.
July 27, 2019
Not his best, but far from his worst. Full review at classicmystery.blog
March 6, 2011
Golden Age detective novels are often so satisfying because of the ingenious resolutions of their puzzle plots. Scandal at High Chimneys had one of those resolutions where I smacked myself for not figuring out what was laid out in front of me--but it was so well done that it kept me guessing until the end.
May 28, 2021
This a mystery of darkness, in the lamp lite halls and rooms of the mansion-Highs Chimneys, in the gas-light vastness of the music halls of London and the in a murderer that haunts a family. Carr uses this darkness in this magic act of mayhem, with misdirection and the final reveal!
January 11, 2026
‘A Victorian Melodrama’ is the author’s chosen description of this rather good detective story which features a very closely researched London of 1865 and a country house near Reading, descriptions of which seemed to me resembled a Cluedo board.
The usual stuff about class, inheritance, socially and morally repressed sexuality and its consequences and hypocrisies, a bit of theatrical cross-dressing and detection. Significantly, Carr features Jonathan Whicher, one of London’s first detectives whose methods are described in Kate Summerscale’s ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’. Carr, writing in 1959, precedes Summerscale’s work by a few decades, and his entirely fictional depiction is solidly successful. Alas, my only regret about ‘Scandal at High Chimneys’ is that the dénouement is one of those lengthy expositions in which Mr Whicher reveals a solution based on information we were not privy to but which, if Carr had not led us so compellingly towards wanting a conclusion and hurrying towards it, we might have been able to deduce for ourselves.
Mind you, you can’t have it all ways: do you want to work out what’s going on from the evidence the novelist gives you, or do you want him to do the work for you? If the former, you need to be a more disciplined reader in this genre than I am, and to proceed slowly and more thoughtfully. Like Mr Whicher, we would have to be very attentive indeed to what those he interviews are requested to do and which, unbelievably remarkably, they are able to – provide him with what was said on such-and-such an occasion ‘in the exact words’. If I were asked to do that, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to.
I have no intention of outlining the plot because there’s no real need to, but if you want intrigue, atmosphere, history and lively characterization all couched in very decent prose, give ‘High Chimneys’ a go.
The usual stuff about class, inheritance, socially and morally repressed sexuality and its consequences and hypocrisies, a bit of theatrical cross-dressing and detection. Significantly, Carr features Jonathan Whicher, one of London’s first detectives whose methods are described in Kate Summerscale’s ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’. Carr, writing in 1959, precedes Summerscale’s work by a few decades, and his entirely fictional depiction is solidly successful. Alas, my only regret about ‘Scandal at High Chimneys’ is that the dénouement is one of those lengthy expositions in which Mr Whicher reveals a solution based on information we were not privy to but which, if Carr had not led us so compellingly towards wanting a conclusion and hurrying towards it, we might have been able to deduce for ourselves.
Mind you, you can’t have it all ways: do you want to work out what’s going on from the evidence the novelist gives you, or do you want him to do the work for you? If the former, you need to be a more disciplined reader in this genre than I am, and to proceed slowly and more thoughtfully. Like Mr Whicher, we would have to be very attentive indeed to what those he interviews are requested to do and which, unbelievably remarkably, they are able to – provide him with what was said on such-and-such an occasion ‘in the exact words’. If I were asked to do that, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to.
I have no intention of outlining the plot because there’s no real need to, but if you want intrigue, atmosphere, history and lively characterization all couched in very decent prose, give ‘High Chimneys’ a go.
January 28, 2020
Ilyenkor kéne azzal kezdeni, hogy hát izé… de ugye háttal nem kezdünk mondatot. Így próbálok valamit írni egy könyvről, amire azt nem mondanám, hogy szóra sem érdemes, de mégis olyan semmilyen volt nekem...https://hajokoffer.blog.hu/2020/01/28...
October 26, 2021
In the author’s own words, this historical whodunit is a series of “mystifications.” The reader is kept in the dark as to clues, suspicions, and facts already known to some of the players. Combined with numerous attempts to add verisimilitude by incorporating factual information about the time and place, the story seems to come with its own musical score. The book is subtitled “A Victorian Melodrama,” and that is exactly what it is.
July 3, 2016
The writing was a bit overwrought and I sort of figured half of it out, but overall, I enjoyed it. The (apparently ridiculously well researched) depiction of the Victorian night life was pretty entertaining.
October 6, 2016
The mystery part of the story line really is no mystery. But I did enjoy how the author tied everything together in the last chapter. I also found the notes for the curious section of the book very interesting
November 21, 2013
Hidden secrets among household members in a London house in 1865.
July 31, 2023
Good read. You think you have the murderer, but you don’t, as Whicher explains it so clearly.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews