Original subtitles

Hello again, fellow mystery files. Today

I have a seasonally appropriate review

of a rather spooky mystery novel, The

Hollow Man, aka The Three Coffins by

John Dixon Carr, and starring Gideon

Fel, celebrating its 90th anniversary in

2025. I always call this book the hollow

man, but I did notice in doing research

here that three coffins seems to be the

preferred title nowadays, at least in

the US. And this is perhaps the best

well-known fell novel. Certainly an

iconic entry into the worlds of

detective fiction. And you know, I have

not yet ranked all the current novels

for this channel, but I wanted to cover

this one now because it was so perfect

for Halloween and I didn't want to miss

the opportunity. And this is so spooky

and creepy. It's really very delightful.

And you know, if you don't know Carr, he

is an American/British

writer famous for locked rooms and

impossible crimes. His murder mechanics

are really just like outrageously

complicated most of the time. And a car

novel's quality more or less hinges, pun

intended, if you know, solely on how

credible and interesting the solutions

are. The hollow man has a lot more going

for it beyond the solution. But in

general, I find that to be the case. And

you know, Gideon Fel is eccentric. He

has a wife who I don't believe we ever

see. And it's easy to forget she exists,

but apparently she's even more eccentric

than he is. And Fel is a historian, a

lexographer, meaning he writes

dictionaries. And my personal favorite

thing about him is his wild

exclamations. He shouts when he's

surprised. Oh, My Ancient Hat is my

favorite of these. He is probably, or at

least rumored, to be based on GK

Chesterton. But as always, I will have a

spoiler-free summary up until the point

of the murderer reveal, at which time I

will warn you it's coming, so you can

back out if you need to. Spoilers will

be fair game from that point forward.

And before I begin, make sure you join

in the Discord if you haven't already.

There are some fun activities going on

there you don't want to miss out on.

Link in the description and make sure

you like and subscribe and share to keep

up to date with the channel.

The Hollow Man/The Coffins begins a

little unusually here. The third person

narrator preps us for what is to come.

The narrator lets us know there are two

murders and each of these murders, the

killer just completely disappeared

inexplicably. The killer seemingly

disappeared despite the circumstances

not allowing for a clear getaway. The

killer is known as the hollow man

because his disappearance has led people

to believe there is nothing under the

mask he wears or under the hat or under

the coat and that he is nothing but a

hollow shell. We're also told that

certain witnesses and they are named to

the events are 100% telling the truth.

They are not lying. We're also told,

this story is told in sort of like

pieces and they have to be stitched

together to form the proper tale. We

begin at a local pub where Professor

Grimaugh is hanging out with some of his

friends when they are approached by this

very odd man who does bear an odd

resemblance to the hollow man. This man

says he is Pierre Fle illusionist and

that he and his brother can float out of

their graves and that his brother is

looking for the professor and will pay

him a visit with the implication that

this is a threat. Grimal is freaked out

by this although he claims not to be.

Fle also mentions something about three

coffins in sort of like a riddle type

fashion. We then skip forward a few

days. Dr. Gideon Fel is having a little

get together with Inspector now

Superintendent Hayley who gets promoted

from the last novel and a young friend

named Ted Rample. Ted is friends with

Boyd Mangan who is a reporter who was at

the pub when this file person visited

and Mangan is also smitten with

Grimald's daughter Rosette. Rample tells

Fel and Hayley that this story about

what happened at the pub because it's

his only contribution to this

criminology talk, which to be honest,

it's not really his only contribution.

He does appear in other novels, but

anyway, Hipley dismisses this as

nonsense, but Fel is interested and

things have gotten even weirder in the

days since. Grimmal has received the

letters every day, but he angrily rips

them up. In order to protect himself

from Fle and his brother, Grimal has

purchased a painting of a graveyard and

this is completely irrational and why

Fel has taken such an interest. Grimal

is a rational man and this is an

irrational response. Moreover, Ted says

Mangan tracked down Fle's place of

employment, which is this rundown

repertoire theater in a bad

neighborhood, and spoke to an acrobat

named Paliachi the Great, who said Fle

is a very good illusionist and is

obsessed with coffins, and he keeps his

gear in a box sized and shaped like a

coffin. Fle also claimed that he and his

two brothers were once buried alive, but

only one managed to escape, and that one

brother was not Pierre.

Fel's gathering is taking place on the

night of this potential visit. So, he,

Ted, and Headley go to Grimmald's house

despite all the snow on the ground. When

they arrive, they see a figure jumping

out of a window. And this person turns

out to be Boyd Mangan, who said someone

locked them in their rooms, and they

heard a shot from Grimmalt's study. So,

everyone runs and breaks open the study

door, and there is Professor Grimml shot

in the chest and blood everywhere. He is

still alive but very clearly dying. And

Hadley asked him if it was Fle who did

this. But Grimmalt says no and then just

like mumbles something about like still

in the house which doesn't really make

sense. He mumbles other words as well.

Medical help arrives and they take

Grimal away. There is blood on the sofa

which is not where they found Grimal and

that creepy painting of the graveyard

has been slashed. And it's noted the

slashes look very natural because the

painting is a horror to begin with.

Hadley still isn't buying a lot of the

fle stuff or that the murderer is still

in the house, but the only ways out of

the house are the study

through the study door into the hall

through the window which is ruled out

because the snow is too high and it's

unbroken or through the study door. But

Stuart Mills was there and he said no

one exited through the door. And Steuart

Mills is a young goblin looking man who

is Grimmalt's secretary and is one of

the witnesses we are specifically told

is telling the truth. As Mills tells his

story, Fel focuses on the fireplace and

a set of books that have dust on them

when others don't. But as Mills

explains, Dr. Grimal told him he was

going up to a study and didn't want to

be disturbed. This was the normal

routine, but Grimal said a visitor might

show up at 9:30, and one did. The

housekeeper, a Madame Dumont, let this

tall man wearing a mask into the house.

And she was totally creeped out by him.

And the visitor was just rude and sort

of barged his way into the study.

Grandma seemed a bit surprised and

confused by this visitor. He was

supposed to be expecting, but then two

went into the study and the door was

locked from the inside. And yes, this is

a locked room mystery. Madame Dumont

says she was pushed out of the room.

Mills constantly refers to her as a

pythoness and she calls him a little

boy. Like even in this dark and spooky

novel, we still have some of the petty

squables we so often get. But as for as

much as these two don't seem to get

along, they do pretty much back up each

other's stories more or less. Madame

Dumont seems particularly upset, and all

she wants to do is go see Professor

Grimal, but he dies before he dies. But

Headley and Fel put her through the

ringer. In short, Madame Duma appears to

have been a former lover of Grimmal.

They met when she worked as a customier

at a Parisian opera house and she is

Rosett's mother, but she doesn't like

Fel poking around. But, you know, Fel is

just like unperturbed and asks her some

really odd questions about Seven Towers

and what that painting is of and how

it's about a country that doesn't exist.

And it's all very weird, as you know,

these novels tend to be. You know, if

you're unfamiliar with Gideon Fel, the

relationship between Fel and Hadley is

basically the same as the relationship

between Puro and Inspector You

know, they're friendly, but the

inspector gets easily irritated by the

other and is often kept in the dark. But

Madame Dumont doesn't know anything

about anything, and then she just leaves

the room. Fel, Hadley, and Rample

discuss those cryptic last words that we

get some more details about. each heard

different random words and phrases like

hover bath salts wine too much light

something about suicide maybe or not

suicide and a fox on a roof in the snow

and something about a rope it's hard to

discern here because each man heard

different things and of course fel is

adamant that what he heard is the

correct words and he begins his

explanation by saying Madame Dumont was

mostly telling the truth but she did lie

about a few things Madame Dumont by the

way not one of the witnesses explicitly

said to be telling the truth. Fel just

rattles off what he knows, you know, as

is his habit. He leaves everyone

baffled. He says, "Dr. Grimmald's real

name is Karoli Hov. It was Hov," he was

saying, not Hover. And that's not French

and neither is Madame Duma. He is

Hungarian by way of Transylvania, which

you know back then was part of Hungary,

though even in the current day of the

story is now part of Romania. and he had

two brothers and all three were

imprisoned in Transennylvania and forced

to work in a salt mine. Not bath, salt

or wine, salt mine. And the name of the

prison translates to Seven Towers. And

if you're wondering how Gideon Fel would

know the name of a Hungarian prison near

a salt mine, well, that's just the kind

of thing he knows. But Fel seems to

suggest that Dr. Grimmald must have done

something to his two brothers as

represented by three coffins. The

implication is that Grimmald betrayed

the other two during an escape and then

fled to England. Although Fel doesn't

actually say that, Fel suggests before

Grimmald died, but after he was shot,

Grimald exerted himself to the point

where he worsened the wound because he

wanted to burn incriminating papers

about his past. And Madame Dumont knew

all of this because she kept staring at

the fireplace as if she wanted to make

sure something was completely burned.

Fel thinks Pierre Fle is one of the

brothers, but thinks the shooter might

be the other brother whom they call

Henri because they don't know his name

because the other brother was tall. Like

the visitor in the pub was much taller

than the one uh I'm sorry, the visitor

to the house was much taller than the

one who visited the pub. Fel and Hadley

speak with Boyd Magnan and Rosette. And

they claimed to have spoken with the

visitor through a door, but they thought

he was a man named Anthony Pettis, who

is a friend of Grimalds, but it couldn't

have been him because Pettis is way too

short. But Rosette and Mangan's story

mostly holds true. I mean, they heard

the shot, but they were locked in the

living room, so Boyd had to jump out of

the window. Earlier in the evening,

Rosette said she heard a loud thump, but

that was before the visitor showed up.

And when she looked out the window, she

didn't see anything. But then she

suddenly remembers something, but won't

say what it is because she thinks the

police won't believe her. Hadley

actually does believe her and comes up

with this idea that the murderer avoided

leaving footprints in the snow by either

just like being in the house already or

by rigging a zipline from the roof. Fel

knocks those down. Especially the

zipline is just ridiculous. But then Fel

Rosette why she thinks Mr. Draymond is

guilty.

Mr. Draymond is a poor friend of Grimmal

who lives in the house. Madame Duma also

hinted she thinks Draymond did it

because Draymond wears a very similar

mask as the visitors do and because he

celebrates Guy Fox day a lot. He's a big

like goes all out for Guy Fox Day the

5th of November. And Draymond's two

children died when they fell off a roof

and one of them was born on Guy Fox day.

So he goes all out for it. But Rosette,

of course, doesn't answer that question

either. Word comes in that Grimal has

died from his wound. But before he died,

he told the doctor his brother killed

him, but passed out before he could say

like what he wanted to say about that

brother. But he did say the shooter just

disappeared from the room. Fel tries to

decipher the rest of the victim's

cryptic words like fox. And now Fel

isn't that suspicious of Draymond

because he thinks the word fox really

was fox as in guy fox. Don't blame poor

Mr. Fox or Guy Fox. Grimal knew the mask

was a Guy Fox mask, but also its wearer

wasn't Mr. Draymond. And like, why would

Mr. Draymond wear his own mask to commit

a murder like that? It doesn't make

sense. Mr. Draymond says he met Grimal

in France. And Fel is just like, let's

just skip all of this nonsense. Oh, we

know who Grimal really is, so tell us

the story correctly. And Draymond does.

Draymond helped Grimal escape from

prison. He was traveling in Europe when

he came across three graves outside a

prison. And this is what why I saved

this novel for October. A hand popped

out from one of the graves. Terrified,

Draymond stayed still until an entire

body came out, and that was Grimaugh.

And Draymond took a nearby shovel and

helped him out. As Grimal explained to

Draymond, he and his two brothers were

in prison for political purposes, but

his two brothers contracted bubanic

plague and died. With the help of the

prison doctor, who was also an inmate,

Grimalt faked his death via plague to

escape. And this was easy because it was

the plague and no one would have wanted

to go near enough to the body to

actually check. Because he was escaping,

Grimald was buried with nail clippers to

help break out of his coffin. Once he

was free, he and Draymond left left the

area where Draymond says they went to

France with Madame Duma and then to

England when Grimmal inherited a

property. Fel asked if the grave was

shallow, and it was. And he asked if the

prison was in a nice part of the

country, which Draymond doesn't

remember, but he does know the prison

was under intense scrutiny for letting

the plague get out of hand. So, it

wasn't in the government's good graces.

But Fel isn't buying any of this either.

He believes Draymond thinks this is

correct. But what Fel really thinks

happened is that the brothers were not

in prison for political purposes, but

for stealing large sums of money, hence

this sudden inheritance. He thinks all

the brothers faked bubanic plague and

death got buried outside the prison in

an escape attempt. However, when Charles

GMA broke free with Mr. Draymond, he

left the other two buried behind.

Remember, he left the area quickly

because he didn't want Draymond to hear

banging from the other coffins because

they were buried shallowly. Then,

because the shovel was left behind,

prison officials would have gone out and

looked for it, and they would have heard

the banging and the screaming from the

other two brothers and dug them up.

Because the prison was troubled, the

officials never would have reported

Charles Grimmald's escape. Charles moved

to England and the other two brothers,

Pierre Fle and Henri, uh they would have

been returned to prison before and

Hadley leave. They take Draymond's coat

because it has blood on it, which he

cannot explain. He says he took a

sleeping pill and was asleep the entire

night. The next morning, Ted Rampol

tells his wife Dorothy all about this,

and Dorothy has some ideas. Uh, she

doesn't like Rosette and Mangan and

thinks Rosette must be involved somehow.

But she really suspects Mr. Pettis

because he is so unlike the masked

figure that arrived that that in itself

is suspicious. But all of this is

interrupted by Fel who announces there

was another murder the previous night.

In fact, Pierre Fle was shot dead in the

middle of Calosto Street and his

murderer too disappeared and did not

leave any footprints in the snow. And

three people witnessed this. Fle was

murdered only about 15 minutes after

Grammal was. And you, one would think

you could rule out the people in the

Grimmal house, but you can't. Uh, you

can rule out Mills and Madame Dumont,

but Rosette left the house in the

ambulance with her father who was taken

to a nursing home that borders Calosto

Street, and Mangan and Draymond were

absent for a long time.

Our acrobat friend Paleiachi the Great,

who is really an Irishman named Oor,

came to identify the body. And he said

Fle did show up for a performance that

evening, but didn't go on and left

because he was visiting his brother.

It's not entirely clear where Pierre Fle

was going when he was murdered, though.

He did have rooms on Kyoso Street, but

they were nowhere near where he was

gunned down. Moreover, witnesses heard a

tall fellow say, "The second bullet is

for you." Just before he pulled the

trigger, Mr. Dr. Pettis visits Dr. Feld,

that is Grimald's short and clubfooted

friend, and he is interested because he

was at the pub the night Fle visited,

and he gets a bit nervous because

Headley says he's a suspect because he

doesn't have like a true alibi. And

Pettis says he was at the theater alone

and then visited Gromalt's house, but

then went to the nursing home when he

learned he was shot. Pettis also

mentions the snow and says that snow was

not forecast in the weather report. This

upsets Fel because Fel is thinking the

snow is very important. Like previously

he talked about how the murderer

wouldn't be able to know for certain

when the snow would stop. So clearly Fel

is thinking something about the snow

that he's not revealing to us. Pettis

also tells them about Mr. Burnaby who is

another friend of Grimmall's. He's the

artist who painted the three grave

paintings a few years back and Gmal

bought it from him and then made a big

deal about like wanting to pay for it

when Bernabby was willing to give it to

him for free and then like rolling it up

and wrapping it in brown paper and all

of that. Fel Hadley and Rample head to

Calioso Street to search around and it

much the same thing there. The murderer

who they think is brother Henry just

disappeared leaving no footprints. One

of the sergeants guides them where it

appears the murderer originally came

from. And it's a small like dingy flat

where they find some blood and a lot of

like burglary equipment. And this gets a

little bit cartoony here because these

are all like weird gadgets like suction

cup devices to help climb buildings and

oddlooking ropes. Polychi the great/or

is there and he tells them this isn't

burglary equipment. This is gear for an

illusionist. and describes all the

different ways illusionists use these

items in their acts and how the public

knows they're illusions, but they get

upset when they find out how the tricks

work. He tells about how like

illusionists appear to travel through

keyholes and disappear when in reality

they just change clothes and blend in

with a crowd. The flat is rented by Mr.

Burnaby, who is said to have a club foot

as well. A lot of people with club feet

here and it's not looking good for Mr.

Burnaby. But Fel thinks he's innocent

because he thinks Bernaby is playing

detective and rented this small flat in

the middle of a bad neighborhood to keep

this a secret cuz he doesn't want his

friends to make fun of him. Awfully

conveniently, Burnaby shows up to his

rented lodging with Rosette. Burnaby

says he asked Rosette over to the

lodgings the previous night, even though

he wasn't there. Rosette did not go

either because she lost the key she had

been given and also because her father

had been shot. But Rosette says someone

was in that flat because she saw the

lights when she was at the nursing home

with her father. And this is a bit

weird, but Rosette thought Burnaby was

blackmailing her father over his past.

But in reality, Burnaby was simply

investigating Grimald's past and dropped

hints to Rosette that she misconstrued

as blackmail. But Burnaby painted that

picture of the three graves that Grimal

purchased. Bernaby explains that the

inspiration for that painting was a

lecture he attended about Hungary. And

when Grimal saw the painting, he freaked

out. And that's when Burnaby started

investigating his friend's past. He

thought there was something going on.

And Burnaby was also present that night

at the tavern. And he seemed to think

that Grimaugh thought Pierre Fle was not

his brother, but perhaps the doctor at

the prison who helped him escape. But

Bernaby does admit to playing detective,

but he says that trick rope found in his

lodgings, that's not his. He's never

seen it before. There was also a brand

new coat hanging in the common area

hallway covered in blood. And Fel

speculates that Draymond like somehow

accidentally came in contact with that

coat and that's how we got blood all

over him without knowing it. Fel,

meanwhile, is going on about church

bells and how he wants to see Pierre Fle

and where he lived and see like what

kind of evidence there is for this

brother Henri. He doesn't really find

anything there. But when he returns,

Headley is all a mess because that

bloody coat has somehow changed colors

when Fell was away. It's not yellow.

It's now yellow when it was black. So,

that's a bit weird. Also, there's a lot

of arguing over like whose coat this is.

It fits Mangan, but he says it's not

his. And there's a lot of chatter about

like where this coat was and like was it

at Grimalds? Was it in the closet there?

Was it never there? And no one can agree

on that. And then we have a very

interesting and notorious chapter in

detective fiction. Chapter 17 of the

Hollow Man breaks the fourth wall. Fel,

Hadley, Rample, and Pettis have lunch.

And this is where Gideon Fel gives his

thoughts on locked room mysteries and

explains all different ways a locked

room mystery can be set up and the

solutions to them.

In doing so, he does actually spoil

quite a few mystery novels. Some by name

and some not by name, but if you've read

them, you can figure them out. And these

are really only spoilers if you are

paying attention and like remember that

if you go to read those other books. He

Fel heaps a lot of praise on an

Katherine Green who died the year this

novel was published. And Fel also

humorously tells Pettis to shut up

because they're all in a mystery novel

again breaking the fourth wall. Fel

tells the reader he can he or she can

skip this chapter since it's not plot

relevant. I strongly disagree you should

skip this or not. And I also disagree

that it's not really plot relevant. It

kind of is. By reading the different

theories, it is supposed to get your

mind running on how these murders may

have been committed. But at the end of

the chapter, Fel receives news that Mr.

Draymond has now fallen ill. Apparently,

Draymond announced he had some

revelation about how Grimal might have

been killed, including that someone was

in his own room earlier that night.

Draymond went up to the study alone and

then came down and passed out. He

mumbled something about chimneys and

then passed out. And then everyone

starts arguing again about the coat. But

Hadley comes in all upset because he's

heard back from Bucharest. And brothers,

as suspected, were not political

prisoners, but bank robbers. And the

third brother, the one that everyone

calls Henri, is dead. His real name was

Nicholas, but they still call him Henry,

so I will too. But when the prison

officials went back to the graves to

place crosses, they found Grimmald's

open grave and then realized what

happened. They dug up Pierre and found

him alive and took him back to prison.

But when they dug up Henry, Henri was

already dead from suffocation. And this

bothers Fel not at all. And this is

where I end the spoiler-free section. So

back out now if you don't want to be

spoiled. You've been warned.

Dr. Fel spends the entire night trying

this experiment with like reading Burns

graphs of paper while Rample and his

wife reconstruct several timelines. And

you know, if you've been a longtime

follower of this channel, you know what

I'm going to say about timelines. They

are totally useless. Anytime you have a

fleshed out specific timeline, just

throw it out. It's wrong. I I didn't

really talk about it in the spoiler-free

area because I mean, it doesn't truly

matter and I didn't want to give it

away. But there's a lot of page time

dedicated to establishing like when

things happened and it's all obuscation

as Fel clears up. Uh Fel made several

comments about how this case isn't

topsyturvy or upside down like everyone

says. It's backwards. Throw out the

timeline. Pierre Fle was murdered first

and he was killed before Grimal. The

reason why everyone thinks it happened

after is because the witnesses all use

the clock and the jewelry store window,

but the time was off by 40 minutes. And

there is other evidence to support this.

is I mean the church bells ringing is

one of them and also this is so

difficult to actually like contemplate

but Hadley had sent a constable to check

out Pierre Fle's lodgings after Grimmald

was shot and he arrived there well after

Pierre Fle was shot and things had

clearly been going on there for a while

like the body had been moved already and

like the witnesses had already been

questioned and this is such a good clue

like early on that something is off but

it's such like a hard one to actually

see until it's pointed out to you

because you don't get it in the right

order. But all of this is leading up to

the big reveal and everyone goes back to

Grimmal's house where Grimmal is laid

out in a coffin and Fel asks Madame Duma

for a confession and she says she didn't

kill anyone and Fel knows this but he

says that she was an accomplice to and

then he points into the coffin at Grimal

and this has always nagged me since I

first read this novel because I remember

very clearly the first time I read this

novel I suspected Grimal was was a

murderer all along and I rejected that

and I'm still kicking myself over it. I

I thought it was Piachi the Great, but

uh he was an acrobat and I fell for

that. Uh but Fel, you know, tells this

very like peacemeal explanation that

I'll try to order and streamline. When

Fle approached Grimml at the tavern,

that wasn't a threat on Grimmal's life.

That was a blackmail threat. Grimmal was

now rich and rich off the money the

brothers stole together from the bank.

and Fle wanted his share. But Grimal was

not going to risk that and he decided to

murder Fle and created this whole scheme

of acting like Fle was after his life.

Grimal intended to go to Kyoso Street,

shoot Fle and make it look like a

suicide. He then intended to go back to

his house and pretend that Fle was the

visitor and then shot him and escaped.

Grimal would self-inflict a gunshot

wound that was nonfatal and then leave a

rope hanging out the window to make it

look like Fle escaped that way. Remember

the forecast said no snow, so no

footprints would have been a factor. But

that's not what actually happened.

Knowing he was never disturbed on

Saturday night in his study, Grimal left

his house via the service entrance and

went to Calos Street to shoot Fle. It

was still snowing at this time, so his

footprints were covered by the falling

snow. He went to Fle's flat to shoot him

and did so. But Fle did not die. In

fact, he fought back and ran out of the

building. Fle shot Grimal, who was still

in the building, and that was the shot

that witnesses heard. And it explains

why they didn't see a shooter and why

they that shooter disappeared because

Fle was the shooter when they were

looking for who shot Fle. The second

bullet is for you. It wasn't a warning

to Fle. laced that to Grimal. That was

the second bullet, the first being the

one that shot him. Grimal was only

superficially wounded. And since this is

what he planned all along, he just

continued on with his scheme, which is

even more necessary now since he didn't

know if Flight had actually lived.

Grimal returned home via rooftops on

Kyos Street and other means. The snow

had stopped, but he still didn't leave

footprints because he returned via the

service entrance again. and the service

entrance has an overhang which is why

there was no footprints. Admittedly,

this is the weakest aspect of the

solution in my opinion as it doesn't

really work out and explain a lot. GMAL

apparently went to the house next door

and then jumped to his house. Remember

Rosette heard a thump that was Grimal

returning home from the roof. Uh Carr

absolutely speech through this part to

cover up its weaknesses. It's a little

obvious honestly, but Grimmald then

continued with his original plan and

dressed up in the mask and the coat.

Through the door, he said he was

pettised to Mangan and Rosette. Madame

Duma escorted the mass figure upstairs

to the study. Mills saw the figure but

didn't realize it was Grimmal because of

a trick of a mirror that created an

illusion that there were two people, one

in the study and one outside the study.

Madame Duma had to be in on the trick so

as not to break the illusion by standing

in the wrong spot. The mirror trick is

very complicated and difficult to

understand. But there in a novel in the

novela has a very like helpful diagram

to explain how this works that makes it

a lot easier than I can in words. The

masked figure of Grimal entered the

study and was alone there. He then

ripped off his costume and his mask,

burned them in the fireplace. The

costume was made of paper and cardboard

like they are on stage when an

illusionist does this trick. And Madame

Dumont, remember, is a former

costumeier. This was one of the tricks

Pyachi the Great/ AOR described. GMA

then took the heavy mirror and shoved it

up the fireplace. The fireplace was

looked into, but the flu was very

narrow, so one can't actually like look

into the flu. You can only like look up

the flu. However, the mirror was very

heavy and the exertion caused the

superficial wound to hemorrhage and

Grimald died, but not before releasing a

Guy Fox firecracker to simulate a

gunshot. There is more to it than that,

but that's like the simplified version.

There's a lot more regarding like the

overcoat and how the mirror got into the

house and all the other things like the

mirror was hidden behind that painting

of the three coffins. That's why he had

purchased that painting to hide the

mirror behind it so no one would know he

had a mirror. But Mr. Draymond suspected

this and he found the mirror in the flu.

And when he took it down, the weight of

that caused him to have a stroke. But we

are led to believe that he will recover.

How Fel could possibly know that, I

don't know. But Madame Dumont admits in

her own way that yeah, this is all true.

And then she commits suicide with a

knife she had taken from the study. Uh,

it's very Romeo and Julietesque, but you

know, that is the end.

Let's get into Praise. And I think the

singular best thing about this novel is

its atmosphere and tone. It is so eerie

and spooky and unsettling without ever

crossing the line into horror or scary

or even like goofiness as it sometimes

can happen. It's not overdone. And I

think Carr handles this beautifully.

You're not really going to get scared,

but you're going to get like a little

you'll feel the spookiness. You know,

Car doesn't set the scene as eerie with

the usual fog and nighttime. In fact,

this novel takes place in a snowstorm,

generally not scary, and about half of

it takes place during the daytime. But

Carr incorporates those supernatural and

spooky elements directly into the pot.

Grimald's I mean the name alone does it

but Grimald's background in Transylvania

and his eerie disguise and he and his

brothers rising from their graves all

contribute to both the plot and the tone

which is ideal. I think too many writers

try to set a scene but it's all set

dressing. Carr is doing the extra leg of

not relying on that you know putting in

the effort to do both and it lasts

throughout the entire novel. Sometimes I

feel authors sort of like set the tone

at the beginning and then hope it stains

throughout the novel and it never does.

And we have characters described as

goblinike. We have illusions and tricks

and car really went all out on this

novel and the result is incredible. And

this is a very good murder plot as well.

You know, Car's novels do tend to be

unsolvable. Uh not because they don't

make sense, but because they're just

overly complicated and truly bizarre.

And I have a lot of fun with those. But

in my opinion, the truly elite mystery

novels are ones that both have that

intricate and creative and sort of zany

crazy plot, but are also easily

credible. You can have it both ways and

car solutions are often a bit of, you

know, a face palm and they do often fall

into that mostly but not entirely

credible category. But here I find the

clueing excellent. You know, we've been

warned outright about how someone can

change clothes in an instant, like

illusionists do. We're told different

possible solutions for locked room

mysteries. Those are definitely more

meta clues. But we also have like Madame

Duma being the former customier

Grimal needing two burly men to carry

the painting upstairs because it's

incredibly heavy. When we were told that

when he purchased it, Grimmal was able

to roll it up and carry it under his

arm. So, you know, hinting at the mirror

having been placed behind the canvas.

This one is solvable. And on my first

read, I almost got there. I did fall

into the trap of thinking it was Piachi

the Great just because he was an acrobat

and that would make sense, but you know,

I I thought he was Henri. And no, I know

that was sort of like an obvious trap in

Red Herring. And I also love chapter 17,

the locked room mystery lecture. Like,

do not skip that one. It is absolutely

worth it. one of the most iconic

chapters in detective fiction.

Now, for criticism, I mean, the biggest

knock for me is the footprints. Now, I

praise the solution for good. It and it

is, but admittedly, the footprints are

not great. it doesn't really work or

make sense and you can kind of sort of

sense Carr notice this as well because

he does sort of like explain it like

really quickly and vaguely and then

never mentions it again as if he like he

knew this wasn't fully thought out and

this is an issue because it was one of

the main plots of the novel like it

constantly gets brought up about these

footprints and I do find it hard to

believe Grimml after being shot was

somehow able to basically jump from

rooftop to rooftop I think we're

supposed to believe There were no

footprints because they were all on

rooftops, but that doesn't work. I mean,

first of all, the roof of Grimald's

house was examined, and we're told it

was clear. The service entry having an

overhang only explains the lack of

footprints at that particular spot, not

anywhere else. It's just a bit weak, and

you just have to like go with it. And

same thing with like, oh, the timeline

being off because the clock in the shop

window was 40 minutes off. That's like a

little bit, you know, cliche. And like

40 minutes is a long time to know. It's

like it's not like it's like 5 minutes.

That's a long time to be off. I also

think some of the characters were a

little lackluster. None of them are

duds, but characters have never really

been Car's strong suit outside of like

the recurring cast. Like Rosette Grimal

in particular, I think is a really weak

character and sort of went to waste. I

also think characters like Mr. Pettis

and Mr. Draymond came into the novel a

little late to be viable suspects.

Technically, we do meet them earlier,

but it was a very fleeting encounter and

just a mention of them. I personally

don't have an issue with this, but I

will mention it here because some people

do. But I don't mind the novel breaking

the fourth wall like chapter 17 where

Car mentions they're all characters in a

mystery novel. You know, at the

beginning, we're told who is telling the

truth, which is a bit of a clue, as

those witnesses are named, proming you

not to trust other witnesses who were

not named. And none of this bothers me,

but I do think this is something mystery

writers should not do. I think this is

something you should generally avoid. It

is very risky and most won't be able to

pull it off, especially with a third

person narrator.

And let's get into our characters.

Starting with our hero, Gideon Fel, who

is in some ways very procoded as sort of

the very eccentric man who seemingly

knows everything right away with little

explanation and then provides that

explanation as if it was so obvious all

along. And he was delightful here. I

really showing off his academic skills

and abilities in this novel. There were

fewer sort of like fun character moments

from him, but this is a novel that's

more serious in tone than most Gideon

Fell novels. Like there there were

definitely less uses of the phrase, "Oh,

my ancient hat," which again, a shame,

but uh you know, that's something he's

known for, but Carr really uses him as a

mouthpiece for his own thoughts on

detective fiction very effectively. and

he is up to his usual antics here of

just like coming up with outrageous

suggestions that turn out to be true or

or mostly true as is the case. And then

we have Superintendent Hadley who I

earlier compared to Inspector I

would say Hadley is less of like the

brunt of jokes than But in this

novel, Hadley is particularly very

perturbed by Fel's antics. Uh, this

might be actually be the most anger he

gets with him and just like feeling left

out, especially when Fel is focusing on

like totally different things than what

Hadley wants. I wouldn't say Hadley

comes across as like an idiot in this

novel or in others, but Fel does like

run laps around him. But we do see

Hadley like be able to work some things

out for himself usually like of like

lesser importance or like things like

Fel has already found out, but he also

does get his jabs into Fel as well. It

does go both ways here.

And we also have Ted Rample who is a

recurring character. We first met in

Hagnook along with his wife Dorothy. And

Ted often does seem to like fall into

the background and not just in this

book. We often see him and he just kind

of like falls away. He's not nearly as

experienced in crime as Fel or Hadley.

And his like he's much younger than

them. So there is a generational

difference. Ted definitely like serves

as more of like the amateur mind, more

relatable to the reader who is just as

often as baffled as Ted Rample is. I'm

glad there is this character in Carl

novels because I think sometimes you

take like the Ellery Queen cousins, they

don't realize or take into consideration

just like how convoluted their mechanics

are. Whereas Carr through Ted makes it

more relatable to the reader because

there is someone else who doesn't

understand what's going on. And I think

some writers who do these more like

impossible crime, like high academic

standard talk, seemingly forget that not

everyone is on their level. And I think

TED helps the novel age better. You

know, back in the day, these books were

written for specific audiences, but now

we have larger and larger swaths of

people who know how to read and do read.

Hopefully, they read. So, I think Ted

Rample is more of our everyday eyes.

Here we have our murderer slashvictim

Charles Grimaugh who we did not get to

see alive outside of like the first

little bit there or at least like

unwounded. But I think we can still sort

of make out a lot of his character. I

love how Carr writes him. He doesn't

really go the route of presenting a

morally good person and then finding out

later on that he was a terrible human

being, but rather sets Grimald up

immediately as someone who is, you know,

something suspicious about him in his

past. And we are very much forewarned

that Grimmal is a bad guy. But that

evilness is initially overshadowed by

like what Pierre Fle is doing and he's

being creepier. But then we learn

Grimmald left his brothers to die in a

terrifyingly gruesome way of being

buried alive. And then it's hardly a

stretch to think he's a killer after

that point. But you know, Grimmald is

definitely one of the most like gruesome

killers from the golden age of detective

fiction. We have Pierre Fle another our

other victim/murderer who again very

much cut from the same cloth as his

brother. He sort of has the opposite

trajectory as the initial clear villain

turned victim but not a sympathetic

victim by any means despite his

backstory of having been buried alive

and returned to prison. I mean for me

Fle makes the novel what it is. He's

providing a lot of like the spooky tone

like how he says he and his brothers

were buried and one of them escaped and

that one wasn't him. And this is

technically a true story. He's not

lying. He is out of, you know, ghostly

presence he has. And of course, he's not

a literal ghost, but a figurative one.

Something from someone's past who has

suddenly resurfaced to honk Ramald. Just

an excellent character. We also have an

accomplice in Madame Duma, who I thought

was a fine character. Definitely like

the creepy elderly lady of the manor who

just sort of like skullks about the

place and speaks cryptically. I thought

she could have used more personality as

I often find with a lot of like oneoff

car characters who aren't, you know, the

main murderer and even then, but I

thought her rivalry with Mills was funny

as they both seem to just hate each

other for no reason. I like how her past

as a customier was an important clue and

is one of those ones you almost

certainly miss, but seems like very

obvious in retrospect and her demise of

committing suicide of a Greml's coffin

was very melodramatic, very like Romeo

and Julietesque. To be honest, I think

this is a good character, but I never

felt the connection and love she had for

Grammad. So, it made for a ending here

that I thought was like a little bit

odd. Moving on to our regular

characters, we have Boyd Mangan, who is

one of those sort of rowdy young male

like staple archetypes of the Golden

Age. He's a reporter, and I wish he sort

of like fit into the story more. I wish

he had some kind of role, not

necessarily in the murder, but something

like beyond just like being like a

suspect and like a highly unlikely one

at that. He provided a lot of like the

background information to Fel and Hadley

and that seemed to be his primary

purpose. His relationship with Rosette,

which is sort of routine and did not

provide really a story at all. And like

I've said many times, I often find Carr

isn't like the best with character work,

but I also feel like he's not the worst.

I also feel like Car's stories are not

necessarily ones that need excellent

character work. That's not really his

style. So having these sort of like

planer characters isn't as big of a

negative as I think it sounds like and

it would be for other authors.

We have Rosette Grimma who I thought was

clearly the weakest character of the

bunch. She really just like did not

bring anything to the table. I mean her

backstory of her birth and the secrets

of that really just did not factor in at

all here. I did not find her very like

personable and she was just there

because all of these mystery novels need

that like young attractive woman

archetype. like she did not need to be

there and I felt she was a bit of a

missed opportunity of like what could

have been with her. We have Mr. Draymond

who I liked a lot and he reminded me a

lot of those like scary old man you

would see in like a lot of children's

stories and whom everyone is afraid of

but he's like really a very nice person

in reality. I got like Edward

Scissorhand sort of vibes here. I mean

not exactly but again he's very unlike a

lot of characters we see in mystery

novels. I really think can't think of

someone similar to him and it was a bit

of a shame we didn't see more of him and

he does get a lot of sympathy thrown his

way which again I feel like is justified

but again I feel like like we should

have gotten to know Draymond more to

make that sympathetic quality just more

profound like it felt a little bit

routine as well

and finally we have Stuart Mills he have

the goblin-like appearance which is just

very mean description and he's another

character that just sort of there to

provide information. He did have his

tiffs with Madame Duma, but other than

that, he just seemed to be there for

atmosphere and provide information.

Again, he's not really a suspect. I

guess it could have been a fun twist to

like have us say like have the narration

tell us, oh, he's telling the truth, but

he was also involved. That would have

been fun, but again, it does wasn't

necessary. And I got sort of like um big

like Eigore vibes like the like the

hunchback henchman sort of vibes from

him. He was a fun character. Again,

which one I wish was just in it more and

had other things besides just like the

routine of providing us information.

And that is it for this video. Let me

know in the comments what you think

about The Hollow Man/The Three Coffins.

Personally, one of my favorite John

Dixon car novels. And again, usually

like pretty universally recognized as

one of his best novels as well. Uh next

week, I'm going to change up from what I

said on the schedule. Next week at the

regular time, I will have the 75th

anniversary retrospective for A Murder

is Announced, and that will be posted

Monday at noon at the regular time. On

Wednesday, which is October 29th, that

is the day the murder is announced. I

will have a bonus video about how to

solve a murder is announced using the

meta clues I've provided in my video on

how to solve a murder mystery. So stay

tuned for that. Until next time, Mystery

Files.