In the interview which is included in the Hilaritas Press edition of Coincidance, Robert Anton Wilson praises the mystery writer John Dickson Carr, noting that Carr lacks the "literary values of Chandler or Dashiell Hammett" but is good at puzzles. "But I don't think one always wants literarature; one wants to relax sometimes," RAW says, declaring he has "read almost all of John Dickson Carr's books."
Brian Dean remarked on RAW's comments in a recent Bluesky post, asking, "Any recommendations for his novels?"
As it happens, when I saw's Brian's post, I was reading The Crooked Hinge, a novel featuring Carr's best-known detective, Gideon Fell. I thought it was a good read, and the introduction by Charles Todd says the book is a "good place to start" in reading Carr. The Wikipedia article on John Dickson Carr says that The Hollow Man is usually considered Carr's masterpiece. I would guess that most of the Gideon Fell books are worth reading.
In an earlier post, I noted that RAW had recommended The Crooked Hinge in Sex, Drugs and Magick: "Before dropping witchcraft and the solanaceae drugs, it is worth mentioning that John Dickson Carr has written a detective thriller, called The Crooked Hinge, revolving around a revival of witchcraft in which the members drink belladonna and imagine they are flying around on broomsticks or copulating with demons. Carr cooked this plot up before the current occult revival -- his book was published in 1937! It's still reprinted frequently in paperback and is worth your time. The surprise ending is a lulu."
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