As you know by now, we’re often drawn to books by the covers, and John Dickson Carr’s Hag’s Nook attracted us because of the instantly recognizable art by Robert Stanley. Well, you can’t win them all. This is a gothic mystery featuring Dr. Gideon Fell, who would appear in more than twenty other novels. Fell is unique in crime lit. He’s obese and gets around on two canes—which is actually a pretty good description of the book’s plot. Carr would go on to become a legendary writer of golden age mysteries, so we don’t doubt for a moment that he penned numerous excellent tales, but this early effort—1933 originally, with this Dell edition appearing in 1951—didn’t get it done for us. What did get it done for us, though, is the dungeon feel of Stanley’s cover art. He’s one of the good ones. We remember the blog Pop Sensation once described his work as “rich and creamy,” which was descriptively on the nose, we think. Check for yourself here and here.
