John Dickson Carr knows how to captivate the reader with a tangled intrigue. This fully applies to the novels in this collection. In “The Crooked [S]tring” (or “The Bent Loop”), Inspector Eliot of Scotland Yard and amateur sleuth Dr. Fell investigate the dark circumstances surrounding the death of an English baronet. “The Hungry Goblin,” besides its thrilling plot, is interesting because its events take place in Victorian England, and the solution to the knot of mysteries involves none other than Wilkie Collins, the author of the world-famous mystical novels.