An example of its genre and time - a country house murder stuffed to the rafters with suspects, shady and dubious morals, and general Englishness. I think some of us will come to the book purely for the novelty of A.A. Milne writing something outside of Winnie the Pooh, but I think Golden Age mystery fans won't be too disappointed in the novel on its merits. That being said, I tried to read this without comparing it to the masters of the artform and there were only one or two times that I said "well, that's not good" to myself. It's not Christie, but who is? I suggest for a poolside companion or plane trip - you'll be intrigued for sure and it's a breezy novel.

I had no idea that A.A. Milne wrote anything other than the Winnie the Pooh books, but it turns out he wrote some mysteries as well. The Red House Mystery was solid. Nothing particularly spectacular, but I'm not mad that I read it.

This story shows off some of the common tropes of a Golden Age mystery: an estate, a murder committed in a locked room, a library, secret passages, return of a black ship to the fold. The mystery isn't hard to figure out, but what was enjoyable enough all the same and while it seems a little dated now it probably wasn't when it was written. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

If you are a fan of the Golden Age closed-room mystery, you will enjoy Milne's classic mystery, the only one he wrote. He also peppers it with some sly irony, which I quite enjoyed. But it suffers, like all Golden Age mysteries, closed-room for the most part (with the possible exception of Sayers) from a lack of characterization. It is the mystery as puzzle and this is satisfying to many a reader, but not so much this one.

A fantastic golden age mystery!
A classic who dunnit it takes place in a wealthy bachelor’s country side residence . Gunshots are heard and a death follows and the wealthy bachelor is missing all the ingredients for an enjoyable read!
An amateur sleuthing duo Gillingham and Beverley begin to look into what has happened , their sleuthing is comical at times .
A great golden age read !
The only criticism I have is why didn’t Milne write a series of Gillingham and Beverley’s sleuthing ?
Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press.

The Red House by AA Milne was a delight to read.

This was his only published foray into murder mystery writing and centres on a locked room murder mystery.

It was great fun reading it and also disappointing in that he wrote just this book.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Pushkin Press, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and an honest review.

Mark Ablett announces at breakfast to his house guests that his ne’er do well brother Roger, who has been in Australia for fifteen years, will be unfortunately arriving later that day while Mark's guests are at a club playing golf.

Meanwhile, Anthony Gillingham, who has been travelling, decides to meet up with a friend of his, Bill, who is staying at the Red House. Anthony arrives in the adjoining village, and decides to stroll over.

Roger Ablett has arrived a short while earlier, and goes into Mark's office with him, according to Matthew Caley, the brothers’ younger cousin and Mark's unofficial solicitor, and executive assistant. Moments later, Caley hears a shot, and tries the office door, but finding it locked, begins banging on it, which is when Anthony arrives on the scene. Quickly, he suggests they try entering from a window, and Caley and he run around the house and enter, finding Roger shot in the head, and Mark missing.

Police are called, and Caley invites Anthony to stay at the Red House till the inquest, and Anthony recruits Bill to help figure out what is going on, as Anthony, who is highly observant and perceptive, feels something is off with the situation, beyond Roger's sudden death.

A.A. Milne's “Red House Mystery” has a fairly simple set up with some of the common tropes of a Golden Age mystery: an estate, a murder committed in a locked room, a library, secret passages, return of a dodgy sibling…. The murder happens very early on, and the bulk of the story follows Anthony, who decides that he's never been a detective before (he has a series of different kinds of jobs in his past) so he'll set his mind to the problem. His sidekick Bill is up for the adventure of the investigation, isn't as intelligent or observant as Anthony, but he's no dullard, thankfully. The mystery isn't particularly hard to figure out, but what really is more interesting are the many conversations between Anthony and Bill as Anthony proposes then rejects ideas and plans of action, as they piece together what really happened in Mark's office.

Though not hard to figure out, I still enjoyed this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Pushkin Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

"I say, what fun! I love secret passages. Good Lord, and this afternoon I was playing golf just like an ordinary merchant! What a life! Secret passages!"

I remember reading the comic strips of Winnie-the-Pooh that were published in our local newspaper as a child but beyond that I had very little knowledge about the writer who created the characters.

According to the blurb of the reissue copy of The Red House Mystery by Pushkin Press, The Red House Mystery marked A.A. Milne’s first and final venture into the detective genre, despite the book’s immediate success on its publication in 1922.

After reading the book I really wish A.A. Milne had written more detective books because you can feel while reading that he enjoyed writing this one. The Red House Mystery was fun and the characters of Antony Gillingham and William (Bill) Beverley were a lot more fun! Bill Beverley was the perfect 'Watson' to Tony Gillingham's 'Sherlock Holmes' and I would have loved to read more of this interesting amateur detective duo adventures. At the end of the book, even Antony tells Bill, who is going away to spend time with the Barringtons:
"Yes. Well, if any of 'em should happen to be murdered, you might send for me. I'm just getting into the swing of it."

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Pushkin Press/Pushkin Vertigo for the e-Arc of the book. This edition of the book published on September 3, 2024.

Classic crime at its very best! To be read and reread.

If you are a fan of Golden Age English crime novels, or interested in the development of the crime novel as a literary form, or you just enjoy a good ol' cosy mystery à la Agatha Christie, you will undoubtedly enjoy The Red House Mystery.

It has it all; the country house, the witty dialogue, the tight plotting, superb writing, ... Oh it's a proper treat!

I'm extremely grateful to NetGalley for bringing to my attention and giving me access to A.A. Milne's one and only crime novel, which I had never come across before.

Review:
✨First published in 1922, this edition by Pushkin Press was released this year, more than 100 years after its first release.
✨This book has been in my TBR for some years, and I am glad this book’s ARC is available on NetGalley.
✨Overall, it is an interesting read except for the beginning. But that’s normal.
✨I like crime, investigation, and motives in this story. But the best part of this book is Gillingham and Beverly themselves.
✨I like these two characters, they are serious in their investigation but still have some humour like openly acting like Watson and Holmes.
✨In my opinion, the writing is also quite interesting because the author directly said that it takes the reader into certain scenes. It is like tv shows when the narrator tells viewers about what happened in the scene.
✨Plus, the writing and the plot is quite easy to understand, but still makes you think about what has actually happened. Half-truths are dangerous.
✨Now, I know why this is a classic whodunit mystery.
✨Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for this ARC! This review was voluntarily written by me.

I filled in a gap in my crime-fiction history knowledge by reading this, the only mystery novel by the author of (among many other things) Winnie the Pooh. It's a locked room-type mystery and it's hard to tell at this distance - and having read so many similar plots - how revolutionary this might have seen at the time. That said, it's a really good example of the genre, with the long lost brother of the host of a house party found shot through the head shortly after arriving from Australia. I figured out part of the solution, but not the hows and whys of it - and enjoyed reading how it had all been done. Worth reading if you're a fan of classic mysteries.

3.2 Stars
One Liner: Fun but with limitations

Mark Ablett had a spacious estate in the quaint English countryside. He had been hosting some guests when the news of his estranged brother, Robert, arrived. Robert was shipped to Australia and was arriving for a visit after fifteen years. However, things turn bad when Robert is found dead in a locked room and Mark is nowhere to be seen.
Enter Anthony Gillingham, a friend of Bill Beverly (one of the guests) at the crime scene. Anthony does this and that, and decides that he could very well start a new profession and become a detective. Bill is too happy to help him.
Now, it’s up to Anthony and Bill to solve the mystery. Can they do it?
The story comes from an omnipresent third-person narrator (with frequent breaking of the fourth wall).
My Thoughts:

The book starts with a quirky author’s note (added in 1926) and sets the stage for the story. We know what kind of mystery to expect (after all, the author is very particular about it).
Given what Milne is known for, it is no surprise that the narrative is sprinkled with a liberal dose of humor, irony, and chuckle-worthy observations. The narrative style may not work for everyone but once I realized how it would be, I could go with the flow and enjoy it.
I knew what the case was at around 20% or less. For a contemporary cozy mystery lover, it is familiar and tackled by hundreds of books. However, remember that the book was first published in 1922. This will also help in understanding that some of the content (comments) will be outdated. That’s bound to happen, so no big deal.
The book will work well if you don’t think (at all) and read it for the sake of some light chuckles. Start thinking, and you will dislike many elements. Another way to enjoy the book is to consider it a satirical take on mysteries. It is like a farce, be it the characters, the dialogue, or the actions. The repeated references to Sherlocky and Watsony can go either way and will sound funny only when this book is read as a farce.
I can see why this is the only mystery by the author. A smart decision! It was fun while it lasted, though.
I was still willing to rate it high but the method of reveal ruined it for me. Why, oh, why did it have to be that way? I would rather read the amateur detective spell it out in a monologue than this. Sigh!

To summarize, The Red House Mystery is indeed a fun read if you go with the right expectations (as a farcical take on mysteries) and do not look too closely at the details. Read it on a cozy noon with some hot chocolate.
Thank you, NetGalley and Pushkin Vertigo, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This novel was originally published in 1922, likely having been written some time the year before (given the vagaries of publishing); as such, the blinding whiteness of the cast of characters, and the relentless straight male lens through which they are viewed, should not be unexpected.

This edition includes an introduction the author wrote for the 1926 edition, in which he explains how his preferences in detective stories shaped the story he himself told. Having now read it in one long, greedy gulp, I am not surprised that even Raymond Chandler, who generally looked down on detective stories that didn't involve wanton violence (don't @ me), had to agree that this novel is a "masterpiece of the art of fooling the reader without cheating him".

The story is told from several points of view, but mainly from the perspective on one Antony Gillingham, a young man of a good breeding who lives a unconventional life: rather than choosing a respectable career and laboring at it year after year, Antony takes up any profession or position that appeal to him, for as long as he finds it interesting or challenging. Once bored, he bows out, and moves on to the next.

Having made the acquaintance of a certain Bill Beverley, a younger-still man about town, during one of his stints at a menial position, Antony decides to look him up at the lovely countryside property where the former has been staying, with a group of other guests, for the past few days.

As luck will have it, Antony walks up to the open house door minutes after a shot has been fired inside, leading to him and the owner's younger cousin, and his general factotum, finding a body in the office.

What follows is an intricately plotted, dialogue-heavy murder mystery where the main characters poke gentle fun at both the best-known genre conventions, and at that quintessentially British private detective, Sherlock Holmes.

While Chandler complained about the lack of gritty realism in the story, I rejoiced in Antony's delight in finding occasion to pit his wits against those of the best fictional consulting detective of his time, metaphorically speaking; even if he too, occasionally, indulged in willfully confusing his loyal sidekick, the earnest Bill, Antony is by far less needlessly cruel to him than Holmes is to Watson.

What I found a lot less delightful was how flat most of the characters are; even our protagonists are mostly a collection of stereotypes, with only the rare moment of real introspection to show who they are beyond the requirements of the plot.

The cast of characters is firmly divided into those who matter--the missing host, his cousin, the house guests, Antony--and those who exist solely 'behind the scenes', as it were, and who come forward only to provide evidence, both at the inevitable inquest and to the reader--the house staff, the gardener, the estate lodgers, even the police inspector. And, insofar as all of them are concerned, the world revolves entirely around England; it is not just that everyone is white, but how insular their worldview is.

As for the few women in the story, they only exist as the most reductive clichés: the gossipy, somewhat hysterical housekeeper; the shifty and lazy housemaid; the slightly-mercenary professional actress; the wide-eyed innocent; the grasping mama; the beautiful love interest. In fact, the last one doesn't even have spoken lines at all!

All the clues to solve the mystery are present in the text, and the author takes pains to show Antony and Bill discussing not only what facts they know, but how they all may tie together to form a coherent explanation that answers the most pressing question: where is Mark Ablett?

I confess that, having guessed part of the solution early on, I was fooled into doubting my instincts by subsequent developments. My main complaint over the mystery itself is that at least one of the underlying factors behind the murder felt too farfetched to fit in with the story as a whole.

And still, I fell into the narrative's world head first, and didn't surface again until I was done reading.

The Red House Mystery gets a 9.00 out of 10.

It has always been shocking to me that the same author that gave us our beloved Winnie the Pooh could turn around and take on a topic as cold and very grown up as crime. But yes! It's true! And sadly, this is Milne's sole attempt. A twisty, playful mystery, very much in the Golden Age style. Milne spins a tale of two houseguests who turn to amateur detecting when their host's brother, recently returned from years abroad, is found dead and their host is nowhere to be found. The warmth and intimacy between Tony and Bill, and their playful unraveling of the mystery, is positively delightful. And while I would agree with Raymond Chandler that it lacks in the kind of grit that authors like Chandler gravitated towards, it is no less intellectually piquant. A pleasant puzzle that makes one grieve for all that could have been had Milne not stopped after just one such tale.

I requested this book from NetGalley at the beginning of (European) summer, when I was participating in a book club called The Summer of Mystery. We were reading golden age mysteries, specifically Margery Allingham. By the time I got to this book I had read nine historic mystery books, and discovered that the Golden Age is not for me. Many of my issues with the genre were present in this book - the uncaring attitude towards the murdered person (they are a plot point, not a person) and expectations to believe some unbelievable things are but two. This book was also very repetitious, with our self appointed detective and his "Watson" going over and over the same facts.
In the positive for this book is that it is not racist or sexist. The language feels modern, so there is very little struggle with "well, that was a different time".
The book opens with the domestic staff, but they, and their concerns are soon relegated back to the domestic areas of the house. Some of the classist things said by the main characters are quite (unintendedly) funny.
And with that, I close my book on both the Summer of Mystery and the Golden Age of Mystery. I mark them "not for me" and move on.

A classic Golden Age mystery – with all that entails…

I had never realized that AA Milne, of Winnie-the-Pooh fame, had written a murder mystery. And, to be fair, he only wrote one, way back in 1922. But it’s pretty good one: a classic Golden Age mystery, complete with a death in a locked room during a house party, an obvious solution that seems just a bit too obvious, lots of people behaving oddly, some extremely doubtful timelines, a renegade back from “exile” in Australia, and a pair of rather unlikely Holmes-and-Watson style amateur detectives. Oh yeah, and we shouldn’t forget the (not-so) secret passage either!

Of course, The Red House Mystery also comes with the downsides of a Golden Age mystery. In the hundred-or-so years since 1922, we’ve seen lots of variations on the death-at-a-country-manor theme. So although this was probably fresh and original at the time, it is a little less so now. And the rather classist attitude of the times (servants serve, guests play golf, impecunious cousins help out, mothers scheme on behalf of their daughters, the rich do whatever they want) grated a bit against today’s mores, while also helping me guess what happened, rather early on. But even after I was 90% certain I knew whodunnit, there were still a couple of red herrings that made me doubt, so I had to keep reading.

In the end, although I did have to keep the book’s age in mind from time to time, I enjoyed reading The Red House Mystery. And I think anyone who likes classic mysteries would too - it’s just such a perfect exemplar of its type. And finally, my thanks to Pushkin Vertigo and NetGalley for the review copy.

EXCERPT: . . . Antony had gone to the locked door, and was turning the handle. 'I suppose he put the key in his pocket he said, as he came back to the body again.
'Who?'
Antony shrugged his shoulders. 'Whoever did this,' he said, pointing to the man on the floor. 'Is he dead?'
'Help me,' said Cayley simply.
They turned the body onto its back, nerving themselves to look at it. Robert Ablett had been shot between the eyes.

ABOUT 'THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY': In a quaint English country house, the exuberant Mark Ablett has been entertaining a house party, but the festivities are rudely interrupted by the arrival of Mark's wayward brother, Robert, home from Australia. Even worse, not long after his arrival the long-lost brother is found dead, shot through the head, and Mark is nowhere to be found. It is up to amateur detective Tony Gillingham and his pal Bill to investigate.

Between games of billiards and bowls, the taking of tea and other genteel pursuits, Tony and Bill attempt to crack the perplexing case of their host’s disappearance and its connection to the mysterious shooting. Can the pair of sleuths solve the Red House mystery in time for their afternoon game of croquet?

MY THOUGHTS: The Red House Mystery is A.A. Milne's one and only mystery novel. It was well received and so I have to wonder why he never wrote another. Antony Gillingham is an entertaining sleuth and Bill Beverley the ideal side-kick. They would have been ideal fodder for a series. And this would make an ideal movie. It is delightfully old-fashioned, and extremely entertaining with mothers trying to make good marriages for their daughters, house parties, tennis and croquet.

The plot involves a dead body in a locked room, secret passages, midnight jaunts and hidden evidence. I did solve the mystery quite early on concerning the who, but it was the why I couldn't deliver on. I did have a theory, but it was wide of the mark.

There is one line in particular that I absolutely loved and which I must share - No, not a murderer; not X. That was rot, anyway. Why, they had played tennis together. I rather think Mr Milne was having a little fun with his readers, writing tongue-in-cheek, which only increased my enjoyment.

⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheRedHouseMystery #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, to parents Vince Milne and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, a small public school run by his father.

He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted". He was 74 years old when he passed away in 1956.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pushkin Press, Pushkin Vertigo, via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Yes, the author of Winnie the Pooh wrote a mystery novel!! And I loved this latest edition of it!!! 🕵️‍♂️

Definitely gave off Sherlock Holmes vibes - albeit an amateur Sherlock and Watson - mixed with Agatha Christie! ❤️ I don’t know why I didn’t see the twist coming - I feel like I should have, but I didn’t!! 🙌

Highly recommend for lovers of locked room and classic mysteries!! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

The Red House Mystery is a solid, but not spectacular, whodunnit by the amazing A.A. Milne. NetGalley allowed me to read this classic mystery and I enjoyed the plot. I did find the story a bit tedious (which may reflect the mood I was in while reading the story.) Give me an old-fashioned country house, some solid characters, and Sherlock the Pooh as the great detective. Okay, that last part was my feverish invention! Settle back and enjoy the read.

I received a copy of A. A. Milne's only mystery novel from NetGalley. It is quite an enjoyable read, but I kept on forgetting that the book is by Milne! It is a dramatic departure from the world of Winnie-the-Pooh, and it is easy to see why this mystery is not widely beloved like our "silly old bear," but it is still entertaining enough!