Castle Skull

By: John Dickson Carr

Narrated by: John Telfer

A dark shadow looms over the Rhineland, where Inspector Henri Bencolin and his accomplice Jeff Marle have arrived from Paris. Entreated by the Belgian financier D'Aunay to investigate the gruesome and grimly theatrical death of actor Myron Alison, the pair find themselves at the imposing hilltop fortress Schloss Schädel, in which a small group of suspects are still assembled. As thunder rolls in the distance, Bencolin and Marle enter a world steeped in macabre legends of murder and magic to catch the killer still walking the maze-like passages and towers of the keep.

©1931 The Estate of Clarice M Carr (P)2021 Soundings

Brilliant!

The story is extraordinarily written with Dickson Carr painting word pictures that bloom in the mind and hold you all the way to the end.

The narrator is fantastic at accents and character differentiation. In fact, in all fairness, I think he should more accurately be called a performer. He brings life to the characters in such a way that one actually forgets the book is being read. Bravo!!

I have a final praise and a final quibble with Mr.Telfer.
First, thank you so very much for pronouncing “interesting” properly while speaking with an American accent. Most Brit narrators pronounce it, “inneresting” which I’ve never heard in my nearly 60 years of life.
Second, we pronounce Hoffman as “Hoffmen”. A petty quibble I freely admit but nobody’s perfect. 😉

Hope this is helpful to y’all and enjoy your day!👍

More Carr please

I love Carr. I can't say all of his stories are 5 stars, so this gets 4 for being interesting and enjoyable. As far as the Audible version, the narration is excellent. Hope to see more Dr. Fell mysteries. Crooked Hinge perhaps?

Life Runs True to Melodrama

The title is an observation by our narrator, a friend of the subtle, inscrutable Henri Bencolin. And it sums up this book to a nicety.

Because for all its Castle-of-Udolpho atmosphere, for all the histrionic rivalry and revenge that drives the story, the characters and their motivations remain tenaciously plausible. No matter how many suits of armor and secret passageways surround you, regardless even of the title (and I defy you to come up with a more melodramatic one) you never feel that self-conscious cringe that’s inevitable when a story goes over the top.

The quality of the writing has a lot to do with it. Whether describing the beauties of the Rhine, the violence of a storm, or a character’s inner turmoil, Carr draws consistently vivid pictures. And Bencolin, despite his semi-Mephistophelean cunning, is but one of an equally vivid cast of three-dimensional characters.

Finally, John Telfer’s masterful performance, ranging from shouts to whispers, can nevertheless pose problems for anyone listening on public transportation.

Wow! What a ride. Castle Skull was everything I hoped it be.

This early John Dickson Carr novel is not great literature, but it is great fun. It's chock full of creepy places, odd and interesting people, and gruesome murders.

John Telfer is a narrator who I had not heard before, and he does an excellent job differentiating between the characters, handling various accents without overdoing it, and giving the narrative an appropriately somber yet bizarre tone.

Yes, it's all a little over the top, but that's what I am looking for each October when I embark on my pre-Halloween reads/listens.

wonderful

one of the first John Dickson Carr books on audible. well read and such a creepy, scary, brilliant horror mystery. hopefully audible will put more Carr to audio.

Strange murder in a castle overlooking the Rhine

"Old-time" detective story, part gothic tale, with emphasis on style, mood, and peculiar, over-the-top characters and situations, and part locked-room mystery. Set in 1930. Builds up slowly. Good voice-acting.

Entertaining as mystery and melodrama,

Very well read, only negative was the volume too low, especially first few chapters