Murder at the Manor

December 21, 2015
The 16 entries in this British Library crime classics anthology, most dating to the golden age of detective fiction, between the two world wars, will appeal to all lovers of English country house mysteries. Edwards opens with an unsettling Sherlock Holmes story, Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Copper Beeches,” about a governess whose employers require her to perform some rather odd duties, such as cutting off her long hair. Other notable authors of the last century include E.W. Hornung, whose famed “amateur cracksman” Raffles appears in “Gentlemen and Players,” and Anthony Berkeley, who shows his ingenuity in “The Mystery of Horne’s Copse.” Margery Allingham surprises us with “Same to Us,” a short take on the country house party, and Michael Gilbert unravels a past mystery to solve a modern puzzle in “Weekend at Wapentake.” Those looking for comfort on a dark and stormy night will be rewarded.

December 1, 2015
Let the guest beware in these 16 reprinted stories, spanning roughly 65 years, set in British country houses. None but Sherlock Holmes could figure out why a governess's duties include wearing a specific dress in Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Copper Beeches." In Dick Donovan's "The Problem of Dead Wood Hall," a tiny bluish scratch on each of two murder victims is the only indication of foul play. "Gentlemen and Players" features E.W. Hornung's Raffles in a witty blend of cricket and thievery, and a falling diamond bracelet upsets a desperate plan in W.W. Jacobs' "The Well." In G.K. Chesterton's "The White Pillars Murder," a notable detective's proteges learn the difference between listening and hearing, and Ernest Bramah combines an ancient family house, an ancient family curse, and very ancient Druidic ruins in "The Secret of Dunstan's Tower." J.J. Fletcher's "The Manor House Mystery" offers three different solutions to a country magistrate's murder. A debt-ridden man almost gets away with murder in J.J. Bell's "The Message on the Sun-Dial"; "The Horror at Staveley Grange" is a haunted room where Sapper (H.C. McNeile) introduces two healthy men who died of heart failure. Anthony Berkeley presents a dead body that disappears twice from a thicket of trees in "The Mystery of Horne's Copse," and James Hilton's "The Perfect Plan" is an almost perfect murder. What should be a hostess' social triumph ends in humiliation in Margery Allingham's "The Same to Us." E.V. Knox's "The Murder at the Towers" sends up the classic amateur detective who solves the murder of the most disagreeable of houseguests. A nurse spends a night of terror in Ethel Lina White's "The Unlocked Window"; Nicholas Blake exposes a long-held family secret in "The Long Shot"; and a greedy husband and wife ruin far more than their own lives in Michael Gilbert's "Weekend at Wapentake." The more gracious the home, the worse the crime in this anthology by a who's who of mostly golden-age writers.

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December 1, 2015
The British stately home takes up a lot of territory in the popular imagination, encompassing novels, movies, and TV serials. The isolation of the countryside surrounding these splendid homes made Sherlock Holmes think of the impunity with which crime may be committed there. This addition to the British Library Crime Classics series brings together 16 country-house murder and crime stories, spanning roughly 65 years from preWWI to postWWII, from Arthur Conan Doyle, E. F. W. Hornung, and G. K. Chesterton to Margery Allingham, Nicholas Blake, and Michael Gilbert. Perhaps the most exciting story is The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, in which Holmes uncovers a cunning deception and barely escapes with his life. But the entire book is filled with country-house-mystery wonders: the closed-circle puzzle, the dying-message clue, and the sociopathic guest who invades the weekend house party. Edwards, author of the Lake District mystery series, is series consultant for the Crime Classics, and here he provides an absolutely fascinating account of the country-house subgenre in his introduction, as well as enlightening notes at the top of each story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)