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The Red House Mystery
The Red House Mystery
The Red House, stately mansion home of Mark Ablett, is filled with very proper guests when Mark's most improper brother returns from Australia. When the maid hears an argument in the study it isn't long before the brother dies... of a bullet between the eyes! Strangely, the study has been locked from the inside, and Mark Ablett is missing. Only an investigator with remarkable powers of observation could hope to resolve this mystery, and Antony Gillingham (with cheerful Bill Beverly at his side) is just the man.
Book Excerpt
with an
allowance from his patron, and (it is generally agreed) made
acquaintance with the money-lenders. He was supposed, by his
patron and any others who inquired, to be "writing"; but what he
wrote, other than letters asking for more time to pay, has never
been discovered. However, he attended the theatres and music
halls very regularly--no doubt with a view to some serious
articles in the "Spectator" on the decadence of the English
stage.
Fortunately (from Mark's point of view) his patron died during his third year in London, and left him all the money he wanted. From that moment his life loses its legendary character, and becomes more a matter of history. He settled accounts with the money-lenders, abandoned his crop of wild oats to the harvesting of others, and became in his turn a patron. He patronized the Arts. It was not only usurers who discovered that Mark Ablett no longer wrote for money; editors were now offered free contributions as well as free lunches; publishers were given agreements f
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Readers reviews
4.7
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I thought the book started a bit slow, but then it became very intriguing when the amateur self appointed detective Antony Gillingham tries to solve the mystery. There are several interesting incidents--one of my favourite being when a secret passage is found at the house, and our friends have to keep it quiet. The ending has a solution which I guarantee very few readers will have discovered. I enjoyed this book very much.
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Any of us who were subject to the cloying and saccharine Winnie-the-Poo stories in our early youth will have no doubt dismissed A. A. Milne as a second rate author unfit for consumption by anyone over the age of 9. This book will change your mind and make you wonder why the author spent so much time on childish tripe. The Red House Mystery deals with all the traditional English mystery elements. A manor house, several guests, a menacing family member, a variety of peculiar servants, an amateur detective, his trusty sidekick and a murder. Mix this with an underground tunnel, a bowling green and a miscreant brother and you have the recipe for an excellent British style page turner.
I was especially pleased with Antony Gillingham the amateur detective and Bill Beverly his somewhat un-Watson like assistant. It is a great shame these two did not appear in other similar mystery novels. They might have rivaled Sherlock and Watson in interest.
Milne was a Cambridge grad and math major who wrote plays, novels, and a virulently anti-war book titled Peace With Honour as well as his Winnie-the-Poo fluff.
I strongly recommend The Red House Mystery.
I was especially pleased with Antony Gillingham the amateur detective and Bill Beverly his somewhat un-Watson like assistant. It is a great shame these two did not appear in other similar mystery novels. They might have rivaled Sherlock and Watson in interest.
Milne was a Cambridge grad and math major who wrote plays, novels, and a virulently anti-war book titled Peace With Honour as well as his Winnie-the-Poo fluff.
I strongly recommend The Red House Mystery.
05/07/2012
05/07/2012
Obviously, Winnie-the-Pooh has overshadowed A.A. Milne’s work, which is rather a shame. This book, which centres on the search for a missing man, the possible killer of his rakish brother who has returned from Australia, is an excellent mystery, and well worth reading.
08/16/2011
A very good read. Nicely paced with a fairly decent twist at the end.
01/16/2011
the best book I have read in many years.
11/15/2009
Oh yes, I did like this one. I wish Milne had written more mysteries. He seems to have a real flair. I wanted to read more about the sleuthing of Antony Gillingham and his Watson, Bill Beverley.
08/02/2008
Entertaining, and not too hard to guess if you've read any mystery written after 1940... but good fun.
05/23/2007
This book is a a true murder mystery and its brilliant. The characters are very interesting and I thought it was very well written. It jumps straight to the incident after a few chapters and from there onwards our characters set about solving the mystery and what a mystery it is. Read it and find out, you wont be dissapointed.
10/03/2006
An excellent novel.It is interesting that it was the only detective novel that A.A.Milne ever wrote.
09/09/2006