De moord op Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

But there’s a great line on Who Was Where When at the point of detection, which exploits the factitious aspect of these undertakings beautifully. And technically the expected setup - of people sitting around holding hands while a spirit raps and giggles - is really just the backdrop to the ‘real’ séance which sees a man stabbed in the back in a hut locked inside and out and surrounded by mud that snows not one single footprint. The Plague Court Murders (1934) by Carter Dickson Carr didn’t write much by way of séances, at least not as far as I’ve encountered, which given his love of the supernatural seems odd. We don’t learn much about the tricks, but I think this was the first séance I encountered in fiction, and the way Hastings has to ham it up without having any idea what’s coming really stuck with me. This is only a brief scene towards the end, but I love the way Poirot just casually mentions Hastings’ (fictional) mediumistic abilities without first telling Hastings he’ll be doing so. Peril at End House (1932) by Agatha Christie I know, right? You’re thinking Well, I would have gone for The Sittaford Mystery, and you’re welcome to do so in your own list.

So, here are five great séances from detective fiction, alpabetically by author.

Now, to be clear, I’m with Charlie Brooker on psychics and other such manipulative awfulness, but have a real love of sleight of hand and up-close magic (as perhaps evinced in my enthusiasm for fair play detective fiction and impossible crimes therein) and a debunked séance is often a great way to explore the little ways a set of circumstances can be misrepresented, and often some fascinating insights come out of it. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let’s call this meeting to order… Following a recent post on John Dickson Carr’s The Lost Gallows over at The Green Capsule, I was reminded of just how much I love a séance in fiction.

De moord op Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie