You and me, we’re normal people. Our lives are fairly routine. We don’t have family rituals that involve the eldest son being locked in a room with his father at midnight on a particular birthday so that some family secret can be passed on. And even if we did and our father had died before that particular birthday, we’d be all like 'Sure, whatevs' and let the thing drop.
Not the Querrins, though, and not eldest brother Roger, oh no. He wants a secret from his dead father, so locks himself away under the deluded conviction that some paternal spirit will manifest and tell him of great wonders, and for his troubles he gets stabbed in the back. Oh, and he was alone in the room and all the doors were locked and observed. And the impossible murders don’t end there...
Whistle Up the Devil is Derek Smith’s first novel and the only one of his works to be published in his lifetime, and it’s about as superlative an example of a 'locked room' murder as you’ll find. You have to mention John Dickson Carr when talking about this genre, and Smith more than earns that comparison with his creepy atmosphere and awesome, awesome impossible deaths that are explained away so beautifully come the close.
The writing isn’t perfect and the scene setting is a little wooden, but the overall sense of threat and the ingenious misdirection woven throughout will easily take your mind off those issues. Previously published in omnibus by Locked Room International and now available individually, this is an absolute must-read for those of you who love a good puzzle, love a baffling murder or two, and love the moment when you realise you’ve had rings run around you by a master.
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