British mysteries at their best
Originally published in the Dunwoody Crier
If you follow my columns, you had to know it wouldn’t be long before I returned to British mysteries. I don’t consciously say to myself, “It’s time to return to England,” but somehow that’s what happens. Once again, I can’t recall where I heard about these two, but I’m delighted I discovered them. One was written during the Golden Age between the two world wars, the other is set in that era. Both were immensely enjoyable.
“Mystery in White” by J. Jefferson Farjeon
Originally published in 1937, this novel was republished as a British Library Crime Classic in 2014. Farjeon was as well known in the Golden Age as authors like Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. Sayers described him as “quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures.”
The setup is eerily reminiscent to that of Christie’s “Death on the Orient Express” which was published three years prior, but a train encountering a blizzard is the only similarity. The action quickly moves beyond the train when a group of passengers venture out and trudge through the snow to a deserted house. There, they find the fires laid and food in the pantry—as though the occupants stepped out for a brief moment.
Red herrings are masterfully strewn among the clues, and witty dialogue abounds. Only a very careful reader is likely to solve the entire mystery before the end. I say “entire” because there are several components to the “Mystery in White.” If you like classic Golden Age mysteries, this is the book for you.
“Death in Focus” by Anne Perry
Set between the World Wars, this is the first in what is now the five-book Elena Standish series. Anne Perry is well known for three series: William Monk, Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, and Daniel Pitt—all set in Victorian England.
Her newest series features a twenty-eight-year-old British heroine who is visiting the Amalfi Coast as a photographer. In the blink of an eye, she discovers a dead body and is off to Berlin with a man she’s just met. This spontaneity is not only out of character for Elena, but also dangerous. Berlin in 1933 is not the place to be.
Add in her grandfather as a former head of MI6, and the result is a thriller / mystery combo. Elena is witness to the book burning in Berlin, where the “works of Jewish authors like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud went up in flames alongside blacklisted American authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller, while students gave the Nazi salute.”
For me, the bonus in a novel like this is the opportunity to see historical events described so well that I feel like I am witnessing them firsthand. I can see the books going up in flames. Read “Death in Focus” for the intrigue, the strong heroine, and the added benefit of a history lesson. I’ll be adding “A Question of Betrayal” to my TBR list so I can get to know Elena Standish better.
The good news for me is that my husband gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate earlier this year. The bad news is I will have the devil of a time deciding which books to buy. Odds are they’ll be set in England.
Happy Reading!
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