Graphic Novel Review: The Detection Club by Jean Harambat

Posted on August 18, 2020 at 10:38 am by Gene Ambaum

The Detection Club Volume 1 by Jean Harambat. Europe Comics, 2020. Available in electronic editions only. 86pp.

The Detection Club Volume 2 by Jean Harambat. Europe Comics, 2020. Available in electronic editions only. 44pp.

In the opening pages of this graphic novel, G.K. Chesterton is administering the Detection Club’s oath to its first American member, John Dickson Carr. Dorothy Sayers fires a gun to celebrate, while Agatha Christie, Major A.E.W. Mason, Baroness Emma Orczy, and Monsignor Ronald Knox have more calm reactions. (Yes, the Detection Club was real — it formed in the 1930s and included many of the top British mystery writers.) Over dinner they discuss the Ten Commandments for classic detective stories. And then things get fun — a robot bird drops off an invitation to visit billionaire Roderick Ghyll’s mansion on his island in Cornwall. There he introduces a suspicious cast of characters to the writers, plus an automaton that unravels mysteries even better than the authors who wrote them. During the night there is, of course, a murder, or is it a suicide? The robot has a strange answer for who did the killing. Naturally, the members of the Detection Club are on the case.

It’s all a great, lighthearted bit of fun. I have a sense there were many in-jokes I missed as I’m not familiar with the work of all of the authors, but it was very enjoyable anyway.