ABSTRACT
A mixture of Gothic and criminal motifs can also be observed in some of the early twentieth-century detective tales. The space of the Gothic castle functions as the equivalent of its former owner, the magician Maleger. The Gothic tradition is alluded to in Castle Skull, which will be the main subject of the present considerations. While the plot itself is not much different from those in other detective tales of that time, one can observe patterns typical of horror fiction there as well. The patterns include very scene of the murder, when the burning Alison seems to dance along the battlements; the character of Maleger the magician, whose illusions surpass the commonplace tricks of other prestidigitators; or the Mephistophelian appearance of Bencolin himself. One of the writers associated with the Golden Age of detective fiction is John Dickson Carr, the creator of such detectives as Doctor Gideon Fell, Sir Henry Merrival, and Henri Bencolin.
