Title: The Red House MysteryAuthor: A.A. Milne
Publication: 1922/UK: Methune
ISBN #: 978-0-09-952127-3
# of pages: ???
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Pretty parlour-maid Audrey Stevens is having a bit of a
gossip with her aunt, the cook-housekeeper, about their employer Mark Ablett
and his black sheep brother Robert Ablett. None of the household had heard of
this brother and now he was due any minute, back from Australia after more than
15 years’ absence. Robert soon arrives and Audrey shows him to the office. A
few minutes later, she hears shots which she and the other staff quickly realize came
from inside the house. They lock themselves together in a room just as someone
starts banging on their door.
Help soon arrives in the form of Antony
Gillingham. Gillingham got off the train here on a whim and when he learned his
friend Bill Beverley was a guest at the Red House, he decided to visit him. He
arrives to find a man pounding on a door. The man, Mark’s cousin and
secretary-cum-companion, Matthew Cayley, is in a panic because he heard the
shots too and can’t get into the office. He is worried about Mark’s safety so
the two of them run outside to find another way to access the office. When they
finally get into the room, they find Robert dead on the floor and Mark
missing.
Shortly afterwards, the house guests – Bill Beverley (young
man-around-town), Major Rumbold, actress Ruth Norris, a painter’s widow Mrs. Calladine, and her daughter Betty – return from
their golf game, closely followed by the police. Being curious and between
jobs, Gillingham decides to investigate, with Bill acting as his “Dr. Watson”.
This is a
classical British manor house mystery! Well-paced with good twists and turns,
the book seems written with a light hand: by that, I mean, it has a humorous
undertone, as if laughing at itself. The author specifically sets Gillingham
and Beverley up as mirrors of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. At first, you wonder
if Gillingham has the ability to detect; his jobs have consisted of a bit of this and that but not much of anything. He turns out to an excellent observer of
both people and situations. The final scenes, especially Bill’s description, are
quite suspenseful and the solution is very creative (although Raymond Chandler
apparently felt it was implausible). It was a compelling book to read and I
thoroughly enjoyed it. The book ends with an inviting sentence that suggests a
sequel but this is the only mystery book the author wrote. Rating: (^_°) Intriguing
This is written by THE A.A. Milne, the author more
famously known for his Winnie the Pooh books. Why a mystery book? In his dedication,
he explained: “To John Vine Milne My Dear Father, Like all really nice people,
you have a weakness for detective stories, and feel that there are not enough
of them. So, after all that you have done for me, the least that I can do for you
is to write you one. Here it is: with more gratitude and affection than I can
well put down here.” A.A. M. I wonder if his father enjoyed it – I certainly
did!
