John Dickson Carr was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but lived for a long time in England. Since his work features English and Continental locales and detectives he is generally classified as a British Golden Age Mystery writer. Certainly the British Library considers him as such since they include a number of his works in the British Library Crime Classics Series, including this one.

Castle Skull is the story of French Detective Henri Bencolin and his American friend and assistant Jeff Marle. The pair are called to investigate a series of mysterious murders occurring at a foreboding castle on the Rhine River, known as Castle Skull. The restored Gothic castle is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a dark magician named Malegar.

When the supposed “ghost” begins killing visitors, Bencolin and Marle must unravel a complex web of revenge and secrets among a diverse group of suspects. At the same time they are also facing off against a rival German detective who is also trying to make sense of a group of murders that defy logic and appear to be orchestrated by a supernatural force. 

The detective featured in Castle Skull, Bencolin, is not considered Carr’s best creation. And reading online reviews of the novel I see that opinions of this book are mixed. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the experience of reading Castle Skull very much.

As a lover of Gothic Literature, the atmosphere Carr creates around the fictional Castle Skull perched high over the River Rhine near Koblenz (a part of Germany I have been) was irresistible.

I recommend Castle Skull. and Carr. I know I will be reading, and presumably reviewing, more of Carr’s work here in the future..