Captain Tuttle’s #CBR4 Review #33 – The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
Did you know that A.A. Milne wrote a mystery story? It’s not all just Pooh (sorry, had to make the joke). It’s another “locked room” mystery, and is just as funny and clever as you would expect.
The story is set at Mark Ablett’s (red) country house, at a house party. The guests are a widow and her daughter, a retired major, an actress, and Bill Beverley, one of our heroes. Mark’s brother Robert, the black sheep of the family, arrives from Australia while most everyone is away from the house and shortly thereafter is found dead in a locked room, shot through the head. Mark has gone missing. Tony Gillingham, something of a ne’er do well, has just arrived to call on his friend Bill, and hears part of the murder. He decides to investigate. Tony wants to be Sherlock Holmes, and Bill is his Watson; the two friends work together to follow the clues and figure out the murder.
The story is very entertaining, and the language is very much in the line of the fun stories of the time (again I refer to Wodehouse, but that’s kind of home base for me). It’s not terribly hard to figure out whodunnit, but who cares? It’s a fun read, and I definitely will be investigating Milne’s other non-Pooh stories.
Good review! I liked this one too, and was also surprised by the lack of cutesy in a Milne story.