Did you know A. A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh, wrote a mystery novel? He did and it is called The Red House Mystery. It has been in my to-be-read pile for a long time but I finally got around to reading it. I think this book marks the end of my latest spate of quick, light reads. It is Advent now and I intend to do more serious reading in preparation for the Feast of the Nativity.
This struck me as a very enjoyable, veddy British mystery set at an estate known as the Red House, owned by Mark Ablett, a rich, self-important philanthropist. The amateur sleuth is Anthony Gillingham. Anthony just happens to arrive at the Red House minutes after a shot has been heard. He helps Cayley, the secretary to Mark, break into the office where Robert, Mark's brother has been shot through the forehead. And Mark has disappeared. . . Anthony plays Sherlock to his friend Bill's Watson. In fact the two young gentleman do pretend to be Holmes and Watson while they try to figure out what happened. The mystery is very clever and very detailed.
The only thing I found a little jarring in this book was the very simple dialogue between the two main characters. They were always laughing and saying 'what fun!' as they went on their merry way trying to figure out who the murderer is. To me it just seemed like bad writing or maybe Milne was trying to be droll, but I found it a bit off putting.
But on the whole, I enjoyed the story very much and am glad I have read it.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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