Poison in Jest by John Dickson Carr: A review

This is a novel of a big old house, a family with many secrets, and several kinds of poison. Jeff Marle had returned to his home town in Pennsylvania and to the old house where the Quayles lived and where he had played as a boy. Old Judge Quayle wanted to see him and to discuss the book that the Judge had finally finished writing. They met in the Judge's study which was as it had been many years before and there was still the statue of Caligula which had a broken hand. The Judge told Jeff that he could no longer get along with his family. The Judge was a man of upright morality and old-fashioned ways, and he felt that his family was adopting new ways which he did not understand. The Judge offered Jeff a drink of brandy from a bottle which had never been opened. Shortly after drinking his brandy, the Judge collapsed from what was found to hyoscine poisoning. Forturnately his son-in-law Dr. Twills was in the house, and his rapid actions kept the Judge alive. Dr. Twills had also found that the Judge's wife had been given a dose of arsenic.

The family consisted of Mary, the oldest daughter, who was unmarried and who kept the house and looked after the old Judge and his wife who was ill. There was also the beautiful daughter Clarissa who had married short but diligent and wealthy Dr. Walter Twills. The youngest daughter Virginia was still single, but was longing to get married and get out of the house. The younger son Matt still lived in the house, and was a lawyer. The Judge had never approved of Matt, and had never ceased to criticize him. The older son Tom had had an argument with the Judge, and had run away several years before.

This family had many secrets and many arguments, but there was one thing about the house that they were never supposed to speak of. That was the mysterious white hand which would appear on occasion in various parts of the house. It would appear to be the hand broken off of the statue of Caligula in the study.

Jeff talked to Dr. Twills who had seemed quite overwhelmed by the family members, but who was much more sure of himself when he was alone. Twills admitted that he had hyoscine, but he was a doctor. Twills also admitted that he was scared of the family, and that he wanted to go back to Vienna where he was happy, but he could not get away. Unfortunately that evening, somebody poisoned Dr. Twills with a dose of hyoscine.

The family wanted to keep the death quiet. They wanted to say that it was suicide because that would avoid an inquest and the publicity which would come with it. But the county detective, Joe Sargent, was called upon to investigate the case. Jeff felt that Sargent was the insignificant kind of man who would think that if he could solve this important case that he could make a name for himself. Sargent engaged in long discussions with Dr. Reed, the coroner, but they do not manage to figure out what is going on.

Now enters the weird detective Rossiter who is one of the most uncordinated, eccentric, and puzzling detectives in mystery literature. Another horrible death would occur, but in the end, Rossiter  puts all the clues together and finds the murderer. The clues have all been available to the reader who will probably feel bad about not having seen them.

This is good mystery with a gloomy atmosphere, an uneasy family, and several murders. John Dickson Carr, one of the masters of the Golden Age, published this book in 1932. It was one of his early novels and does not feature any of his series detectives although Jeff Marle knows Bencolin.  It does not seem to be currently in print although used copies are available.