The story in question, at the time of its Italian translation in 1966, had not yet been collected in an anthology in the United States: in 1948, it had been published in The American Mercury, an American magazine published from 1924 to 1981, which had hosted some of the most important American writers. Then, in 1963 it had benn published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and at least in 1991, Intl Polygonics Ltd. published some of Carr's previously unavailable works, most of which were rediscovered by Tony Medawar. Along with others, they were introduced by Douglas G. Greene—who, after publishing the most important critical essay on Carr, had meanwhile built a solid reputation as a Carrian scholar—in "Merrivale, March and Murder".
The anthology included:
The Adventures of Sir Henry Merrivale: The House in Goblin Wood and All in a Maze
The Cases of Colonel March and The Department of Queer Complaints
And Other Stories: Blind Man's Hood, New Murders for Old, The Diamond Pentacle, Strictly Diplomatic, The Clue of the Red Wig, Lair of the Devil-Fish (radio play), Scotland Yard's Christmas.
The Clue of the Red Wig is a story that doesn't appear to fit into the Impossible Murders subgenre, but beyond being a superb whodunnit puzzle, it hides a clear impossibility within itself.
Hazel Loring has been murdered. A well-known advocate of weight-loss exercises in the pages of the "Daily Banner," she became extremely popular with women, dispensing advice on love and fashion. She after returning home in the evening, was found lying on a bench in her garden, almost completely naked, violently struck on the head by a stick also found in the garden. The strange thing is that when the murder allegedly took place, the night before, it had been quite cold, so finding her almost completely naked was surprising and astonishing. It was impossible for the victim to have undressed in such bitter cold. The surprise was further heightened when witnesses stated that the clothes found near the bench had certainly been folded by the victim herself, as she had a peculiar way of rolling up her stockings when she removed them. Therefore, the theory that the woman, before being killed, had to be accepted, given the cold.
Near the bench, there were signs that could be interpreted as signs of a struggle. Furthermore, a red wig and a pair of sunglasses were found on top of the clothes.
Who did they belong to?
Inspector Bell was assigned to investigate, and he came up with a surprising solution after an enterprising Franco-British journalist recently hired by the "Daily Record," Jacqueline Dubois, accompanied by photographer Henry Ashwin (a suitor of Hazel's housekeeper), provided him with two key clues: a photo taken by Ashwin showing the red wig and glasses next to the clothes; and a clue no one else interpreted correctly: the fact that the victim's stiletto heels were unbuttoned.
In essence, Jacqueline pointed out that the victim could never have reached the bench to be fatally bludgeoned with her shoes unbuttoned, because it would have been impossible for her to walk. Therefore, it was all a set-up. The journalist also makes him understand that, in her own personal way of interpreting things,
the murder took place elsewhere
the signs of a struggle are artificial
was the killer who left her half-naked on the bench.
But whose wig and glasses do they belong to? The victim's or her executioner's?
Bell reinterprets the importance of these clues and manages to divide the action into two distinct temporal parts: the first part features an argument between the victim and an unidentified man, who, according to her boyfriend, Edward Hoyt, who had attempted suicide upon learning of his girlfriend's death, was her ex-husband blackmailing her. Then the victim goes to a facility where she regularly takes saunas to lose weight, wearing a wig and glasses so as not to be recognized except by the facility's owner. So, the wig and glasses belonged to the victim. But then something happens: the victim appeared to be in pain when she arrived; then she undressed, and during the sauna something happened. What?
Precisely what happened, combined with the shoe clue, the fact that the clothes were folded by the victim herself, that the victim was wearing a bra and panties, and the pose of the photograph, will provide the evidence needed to catch a killer who was at least improvised.
This is one of those stories that seems to have a single temporal sequence, but then turns out to be made up of two distinct time periods: the time of the murder and the time of the staging. A bit like The Gemminy Crickets Case by Christianna Brand. Unlike other stories in which the different temporal sequence conceals a carefully premeditated murder, or at least a carefully planned sequence of events, this is a banal murder that only chance or fortuitous coincidences transform into a mind-bending puzzle. However, the key element, a case from medical literature, is found, which is cited before the solution. It's a bit like the way of inventing an "actio delicti" found in other novels, including those by Carr himself, such as He Who Whispers.
And the staging wasn't created by the killer to confuse the situation and create a misleading impossibility, but rather the result of the unforeseen intervention of a third party, who, out of fear of being blamed for something that happened through no fault of their own, ends up creating an impossible situation.
In essence, the clues collected can be classified as:
personal misleading clues (if not interpreted correctly): red wig and dark glasses;
temporal misleading clues: the carefully folded clothes;
place misleading clues: the stiletto heels unbuttoned;
random misleading clues: the photo.
The clues, in turn, when correctly interpreted, lead Bell to evaluate three different actions that, by subtly concealing a certain status, initially led to a different and misleading reality:
the victim's attempt to deny her tendency to overeat, a tendency that was clearly in conflict with her daily advocacy and which would have led to the collapse of her female audience;
the attempt to conceal the fact that the victim had gone elsewhere than to her home;
the attempt to cast a different light on reality.
Bell's stroke of genius, which also opens up the possibility of a future collaboration with Jacqueline and "a possible love affair that Carr himself hints at," is the interpretation of the photo: it is only the study of light and shadow that gives him the ability to catch the killer.
A true stroke of genius from Bell. And from Carr.
Pietro De Palma
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