Fell, Gideon, retired; formerly schoolmaster, journalist, and historian;
b. Stavely Manor, Garth, Lincolnshire, 1884; sec. s. Sir Digby and Lady F.;
grad., Eton and Balliol, Harvard (U.S.A.), BA, MA (Oxon.), PhD (Harvard), LLD (Edinburgh).
Fellow of Royal Historical Society, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (France).
Publications: Romances of the Seventeenth Century (Smith, 1922); The Drinking Customs of England from the Earliest Times (Crippen & Wainwright, 1946).
Clubs: Garrick, Savage, Detection.
Hobbies: Reading and detection of crime.
Present address: 13 Round-Pond Place, Hampstead, London NW3.
– Detective Who’s Who

I decided to move my Dr. Gideon Fell chronology here to make it more accessible, and also extend and correct it in the meanwhile. Now it includes the short works as well, enjoy!

According to the venerable The Man Who Explained Miracles (p. 436), there ‘was the attempt of Punch cartoonist Francis Wilford-Smith to treat Sir Henry Merrivale as the Baker Street Irregulars treat Sherlock Holmes—that is, to sort through inconsistencies and to work out a chronology of his adventures. Wilford-Smith sent the chronology to Carr in 1967. He replied that he accepted the chronology as official and would “defend it against challenges”’. To my knowledge, there is no access to such a chronology at the moment, and, anyway, it would be a challenging problem to try and work one out ourselves. So, let us try! But we shall start with Dr. Gideon Fell instead.

However, some problems we encounter are systematic and thus must be addressed beforehand:

• We must decide whether we allow stories to be set after the moment they were written/published. There is no obvious way why Carr would write about future; however, sometimes, when a different solution seems unavoidable, we would perhaps be forced to stretch this a bit.

• Some stories supplement their dating by some pairing of a week-day to a particular date; others have only such a pairing to be of use. However, they are rarely relatable: as we shall see, Carr’s week-days, while they can and frequently are correct when writing about the publishing year or the year before (obviously, he could consult with actual calendars), they become ravingly wrong as soon as his pattern changes to resetting his novels into the ‘nostalgic past’. So, can they be trusted if they are the only evidence? I assert ‘yes’, but only if they produce years close enough to the publishing one to assume actual consultation with a physical calendar.

Let’s get going!

Novels

• Hag’s Nook (1933): July 1931(?)

This novel’s dating rather depends on the following, but on its own it can only be based on a shaky assumption (Chapter 5), being a stream of consciousness from Tad Rampole:

‘The calendar in the lower part of the clock-case showed a staring figure where he had been last July 12^th, and couldn’t remember.’

This, basically, just means that the room where he was staying at Dr. Fell’s possessed a calendar open on ‘July’. We will have to confirm or disprove it by the data from the following novel.

• The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933): March 1932

Thankfully, we can confirm it (Chapter 1)! Not only Dr. Fell claims knowing Tad from ‘last July,’ but the article, “Hat-Fiend Strikes Again!, by Philip C. Driscoll” is dated 12 March during the conversation, which is March 1932, as this is the date when, according to Hadley, ‘the defendant did… abstract the helmet of Police Constable Thomas Sparkle’. This settles the previous story.

• The Eight of Swords (1934): August 1932?

Beside (Chapter 1) ‘the diabolical August heat’ besetting Hadley, August being confirmed multiply, there is no year, month, or date in the whole of the novel to refer it to any particular year, or even attach it to the previous ones! Unless there are tie-ins in the further novels (hint: none), we are unable to determine the year. Assuming, just assuming, that it is set both after the previous two and before the book’s release, we can trim it down, but to two options: 1932 and 1933. The latter keeps the distance between setting and printing more constant; yet, after a lot of studying of the weather reports I suspect that the August described in the aforementioned novel is rather the 36-degree-Celcius one of 1932 and not a fairly ordinary 26-degree one of 1933.

• The Blind Barber (1934): May 1933(?)

It is easier to start with Morgan’s visit to Dr. Fell, which is (Chapter 1) on the morning of the next day after the Queen Victoria ‘was to dock at Southampton on the afternoon of May 18th’. However, what is the year? During the trip, an article by Leslie Perrigord is read (Chapter 9), ‘reprinted by permission of the author from the Sunday “Times” of Oct. 25, 1932’. This declares  autumn of 1932 a firm past for our story and, if we accept no future settings, makes the May of 1933 almost the only option (and more logical for article to be fairly recent).

• Death-Watch (1935): September 1932

The story starts (Chapter 1) at ‘the night of September 4th’ which is even more obviously expanded (Chapter 5) into ‘September 4^th, 1932’. (I wish all of these that simple.) The first hint that the stories do not happen consequentially!

• The Hollow Man (1935): February 1935(?)

The novel is consistent with (Chapter 1) referring to a span of dates starting with ‘Wednesday, February 6th’; however, there is no year. A leap year like that should start on Tuesday (1924 in all pre-Fifties XX Century), and an ordinary one should begin similarly (as the 6^th of February precedes leap-day): these are 1929 and 1935 from the period we are concerned with. The appearance of 1935 is catchy.

• The Arabian Nights Murder (1936): June 1935(?)

An equally long chain of days fixes (Chapter 1) the setting on ‘Friday, June 14th’. Seemingly content with these dates, Carr chooses not to elaborate. Once again, chase the correspondences: the Tuesday-starting common years still fit (1929, 1935), but now they correspond to leap years with Mondays (1912). As previously, 1935 is the obvious candidate.

• To Wake the Dead (1938): February 193?

Though the main events take place in February, the coupled reference is one (Chapter 3) to ‘Tuesday, January 12th’ and many more to that effect. This is, however, problematic due to printing date: both common (1926, 1937) and leap years (1932) fit when starting on Friday. Here we have an obvious second contender in 1932; however, the attractiveness of the pre-publishing year is undiminished.

• The Crooked Hinge (1938): July 1936(?)

From the outset (Chapter 1) it offers us a series starting with ‘Wednesday, July 29th’. Let’s see where… Common > Thursday (1925, 1931); Leap > Wednesday (1936). Well, not exactly previous, but still…

• The Black Spectacles (1939): September 1938

A catastrophe. Because it is so nontrivial to untangle the date that I have to re-read the novel to determine the dating – and thus I read JDC instead of dating him. These are the dates mentioned in here:

Pompeii scene (Chapter 1) is set on ‘Monday, September 19th’.

Hadley’s arrival (Chapter 2) is both ‘the third of October’ and after The Crooked Hinge.

‘Last June 17th’ is the poisoning day (Chapter 2), a ‘Thursday’.

The first is most explicit: it refers to common year on Saturday (1921, 1927, 1938) or leap year on Friday (1932). 17 June is Friday on both, but last year has those on Thursday.

• The Problem of the Wire Cage (1939): August 1935(?)

The series in this novel starts (Chapter 3) with ‘Saturday, August 10th’. This corresponds either to an (already seen) common year on Tuesday (1929, 1935) or leap year on Monday (1940). As we see, these both are problematic: either this is set into the future (but in this case not a single mention of the Germans, as opposed to Merrivale’s And So To Murder is glaring), or much towards the past, which is a sub-par solution but more in the line with the intensifying back-setting which will now proceed.

• The Man Who Could Not Shudder (1940): March 1937

The book boringly (Chapter 1) suggests itself starting on ‘Saturday, March 13^th, 1937’, thus inaugurating one of two trends: the one of setting stories into the past (which would be clearer for Merrivale’s) However, it does not yet start the one of choosing arbitrary week-days for these (1937 is a common year on Friday, and thus any March 13^th is exactly a Saturday – can we assume at this date Carr stored old calendars, or was he lucky?).

• The Case of the Constant Suicides (1941): September 1940

The novel (Chapter 1) goes explicit: ‘the first of September,’ when ‘the heavy raiding of London has not yet begun’. There is no more clear way to refer to 1940.

• Death Turns the Tables (1941): April 1936 (sic!)

One of the complicated ones. The series starts (Chapter 4) with ‘Friday evening, the twenty-seventh of April’. This is either a common year on Monday (1923, 1934, or even 1945) or a leap one on Sunday (1928). With this, it becomes unclear what to do with (Chapter 2) the ‘transparent picture hats which were fashionable in that year 1936’ (emphasis mine). An equally clear claim! The 1936 calendar, one of a leap year on Wednesday, gives us 27^th of April as a Monday. Apparently, the time has come to override the date by year: as “April” and week-days are more important, one could read ‘twenty-seventh’ as “twenty-fourth” etc.

• Till Death Do Us Part (1944): June 1937(?)

And, at once, a new complication. Carr, apparently, decides that a week-day is enough of a definition and does nothing but (Chapter 3) identifying a ‘Thursday, June tenth’. This is either a common on Friday (1926, 1937, 1943) or a leap on Thursday (1920). A sudden appearance of, though a wartime one, but the year preceding publishing is tempting, but so is 1937, which offers no intersection with the previous cases. The definition (Chapter 1) of the rural England as being ‘in opulence, a year or so before the beginning of Hitler’s war’ seems a way to exclude the 1940’s setting, and 1937 is not contradictory, with ‘beginning of Hitler’s war’ possibly referring to the Anschluss of Austria on March 1938, thought the start of WWII is also a near exact fit.

• He Who Whispers (1946): June 1945

Now all the datings become simple and explicit (and too-frequently ignoring week-days!). This is possibly the last time we need a coupling of a week-day. The book (Chapter 1) start with a ‘Friday, June 1st’; it would be a Monday common (1934, 1945) or a Sunday leap (1928); out of these, the presence of the pre-publishing year of 1945 is striking. The fact that (Chapter 1) indeed ‘the war is over’ is confirmed immediately, supporting it: Dr. Fell series, much less than other one, hides away from the time and is willing to proceed into the future.

• The Sleeping Sphinx (1947): July 1946

The book (Chapter 1) refers to ‘Wednesday, July tenth’ and the following correspondences. A common for it is Tuesday (1929, 1935, 1946); a leap is Monday (1940). Out of these, the desire to fix 1946 is confirmed, however, by a super-explicit (Chapter 1) detail: ‘April just before the war ended’ is the same as ‘a year and three months and something’ before now!

• Below Suspicion (1949): March 1947 (sic!)

We won’t be dating Butler’s solo yet; however, this book is simple. The date (Chapter 2) is given as ‘Tuesday, March 20th’. Common year would be a Monday (1934, 1945), and a leap would be Sunday (1928). However, there is an explicit one: the final chapter features a letter from Dr. Fell, dated ‘22^nd June, 1947’! While it is possible to assume that Carr chose to complete the novel with some correspondence of two years later, both the fact that the war is explicitly over (Chapter 1) and an air of immediate response in the letter itself rather point to the fact that it is the week-day one should ignore, the setting is 1947, and ‘March 20^th’ should be read as “18^th March”.

• The Dead Man’s Knock (1958): July 1948

This is the longest venture into the past in the whole Fell canon – and not even to the pre-war one! Despite being published in 1958, the structure of dates, starting (Chapter 1) with ‘Friday evening, the ninth of July,’ which, if common, is Friday (1937, 1943, 1954), and, if leap, is Thursday (1948), hints to a 1948 solution, or, at worst, a 1954 one. Furthermore, the book twice confirms the first date, by mentioning (Chapter 2), say, a ‘new Chevrolet, in that year 1948’.

• In Spite of Thunder (1960): August 1956

The novel is set some time into the past: the series (Chapter 3) starts with ‘Friday, tenth August’ which is a common on Monday (1934, 1945, 1951) or a leap on Sunday (1956). The final date is confirmed (Chapter 2) by the ‘present of 1956’.

• The House at Satan’s Elbow (1965): June 1964

The series (Chapter 1) starts on ‘Wednesday, June 10’, which could be a Thursday common (1942, 1953, 1959) or a Wednesday leap (1964). The appearance of 1964 is remarkable; and the text (Chapter 1) confirms it ‘during the early spring of 1964’.

• Panic in Box C (1966): April 1965

This is very detailed and explicit: the novel (Chapter 1) sets itself in ‘January, ‘65’ and moves itself (Chapter 1) right to ‘Monday, April 19th’, which fits.

• Dark of the Moon (1967): May 1965

Nothing is easier. The story (Chapter 1) claims that ‘Sunday, May 2nd’ is ‘today, 1965’ – and is correct. The distance with the previous one is uncomfortable, but feasible.

Radio plays

• Who Killed Matthew Corbin? (1939-1940): December 1939 – January 1940

Presented in three parts, on December 7, 1939, January 7, 1940, and January 14, 1940. Besides clearly giving the date ‘1939-1940 (the solution)’ in the script, it aims to recreate a live presentation of an interview with Dr. Gideon Fell, so these exact dates are clearly assumed.

• The Black Minute (1940): January? February? 1940

The setting is described as ‘London, 1940’ in the script. The story aired on February 14, and, assuming Carr not setting it into the future, it fits the shrill and windy weather.

• The Devil in the Summer-House (1940): October? 1940

The play aired in October. The setting is described as ‘London, 1940’. There are no clues but the setting seems to purport a live translation again.

• The Hangman Won’t Wait (1943): February 1943?

Aired on February 9th. Other then that, there are no indications, but the story seems to be set up as a live performance.

• The Dead Sleep Lightly (1943): March 1933

The setting is described as ‘London, 1933’, ‘ gusty March evening ten years ago in London’.

Short stories

• ‘The Wrong Problem’ (1936): summer 1936?

The story gives almost no hints. The events under investigation took place in August, around thirty years ago, which was after Joseph’s mother died in around 1904. The season allows the possibility of seeing swans and seems vaguely summer. The story was published on August 14th. So, the setting could be any summer between 1934 and 1936; without any additional information, I would fix it on the publication year.

• ‘The Proverbial Murder’ (1943?): September 1939

Douglas G. Greene tries to date the story and come to no better conclusion than ‘shortly before the declaration of war in 1939 or during the so-called Phony War between October 1939 and Spring 1940’. Yet the text explicitly says about a ‘mellow September weather’, so there is only one option.

• ‘The Locked Room’ (1940): June 1940

A ‘fine June morning’ finds Dr. Fell in his study. The story is published in July. Seton is clearly escaping the war to the US, so the year is also clear.

• ‘The Incautious Burglar’ (1940): summer 1940?

Published in October. There are no indications except references to the unbearable heat. Like the previous stories, setting in the publication year seems to make sense.

• ‘Invisible Hands’ (1957): summer 1957?

No indications except a hot night. Published in August 1957, which seems a good spot to place.

• Bonus: ‘She Wouldn’t Kill Patience’ by Ooyama Seiichirō (2002): November ?

Frank met Raspail in ‘late October’, which was ‘a month ago’. But it is still ‘a late autumn evening’, so late November and not December. The ‘murder in the clockmaker’s house’, that is, Death-Watch, took place ‘several years ago’. The setting is pre-war, but could likely be any year.

And now for the complete chart: here bold stands for “there is explicit year information in the book, and any possible additional information backs it up”; bold underlined for “there is explicit year information, but something, normally week-days, contradicts it and should be over-ridden”; italic for “the dating can be only deduced by evidence, normally week-days, but this allows us to reconstruct it”; and no marking for those dates which are conjectural even with the evidence.

1931, July: Hag’s Nook
1932, March: The Mad Hatter Mystery
1932, August: The Eight of Swords
1932, September: Death-Watch
1933, March: The Dead Sleep Lightly
1933, May: The Blind Barber
1935, February: The Hollow Man
1935, June: The Arabian Nights Murder
1935, August: The Problem of the Wire Cage
1936, April: Death Turns the Tables
1936, July: The Crooked Hinge
1936, summer (August?): ‘The Wrong Problem’
1937, February: To Wake the Dead
1937, March: The Man Who Could Not Shudder
1937, June: Till Death Do Us Part
1938, September: The Black Spectacles
1939, September: ‘The Proverbial Murder’
1939, December – 1940, January: Who Killed Matthew Corbin?
1940, February: The Black Minute
1940, June: ‘The Locked Room’
1940, summer: ‘The Incautious Burglar’
1940, September: The Case of the Constant Suicides
1940, October: The Devil in the Summer-House
1943, February: The Hangman Won’t Wait
1945, June: He Who Whispers
1946, July: The Sleeping Sphinx
1947, March: Below Suspicion
1948, July: The Dead Man’s Knock
1956, August: In Spite of Thunder
1957, summer: ‘Invisible Hands’
1964, June: The House at Satan’s Elbow
1965, April: Panic in Box C
1965, May: Dark of the Moon

Merrivale for later…