What do you think?
Rate this book
Joan Kahn-Harper #1
The Man Who Killed Himself
Arthur Brownjohn has never quite got anything right. Whatever he does, it always seems to go more than a little awry. The same could be said for the murder of his wife - a bungled, inferior affair despite his having consulting all the experts in the field of killings, executions and dastardly deeds. Resolving never to repeat the same mistakes, he enlists the help of Major Easonby Mellon - a man who really knows what he's doing...
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1967
122 people want to read
About the author
Julian Symons
258 books67 followersJulian Gustave Symons is primarily remembered as a master of the art of crime writing. However, in his eighty-two years he produced an enormously varied body of work. Social and military history, biography and criticism were all subjects he touched upon with remarkable success, and he held a distinguished reputation in each field.
His novels were consistently highly individual and expertly crafted, raising him above other crime writers of his day. It is for this that he was awarded various prizes, and, in 1982, named as Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America - an honour accorded to only three other English writers before him: Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Daphne Du Maurier. He succeeded Agatha Christie as the president of Britain's Detection Club, a position he held from 1976 to 1985, and in 1990 he was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writer.
Symons held a number of positions prior to becoming a full-time writer including secretary to an engineering company and advertising copywriter and executive. It was after the end of World War II that he became a free-lance writer and book reviewer and from 1946 to 1956 he wrote a weekly column entitled "Life, People - and Books" for the Manchester Evening News. During the 1950s he was also a regular contributor to Tribune, a left-wing weekly, serving as its literary editor.
He founded and edited 'Twentieth Century Verse', an important little magazine that flourished from 1937 to 1939 and he introduced many young English poets to the public. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry entitled 'Confusions about X', 1939, and 'The Second Man', 1944.
He wrote hie first detective novel, 'The Immaterial Murder Case', long before it was first published in 1945 and this was followed in 1947 by a rare volume entitled 'A Man Called Jones' that features for the first time Inspector Bland, who also appeared in Bland Beginning.
These novles were followed by a whole host of detective novels and he has also written many short stories that were regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In additin there are two British paperback collections of his short stories, Murder! Murder! and Francis Quarles Investigates, which were published in 1961 and 1965 resepctively.
His novels were consistently highly individual and expertly crafted, raising him above other crime writers of his day. It is for this that he was awarded various prizes, and, in 1982, named as Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America - an honour accorded to only three other English writers before him: Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Daphne Du Maurier. He succeeded Agatha Christie as the president of Britain's Detection Club, a position he held from 1976 to 1985, and in 1990 he was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writer.
Symons held a number of positions prior to becoming a full-time writer including secretary to an engineering company and advertising copywriter and executive. It was after the end of World War II that he became a free-lance writer and book reviewer and from 1946 to 1956 he wrote a weekly column entitled "Life, People - and Books" for the Manchester Evening News. During the 1950s he was also a regular contributor to Tribune, a left-wing weekly, serving as its literary editor.
He founded and edited 'Twentieth Century Verse', an important little magazine that flourished from 1937 to 1939 and he introduced many young English poets to the public. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry entitled 'Confusions about X', 1939, and 'The Second Man', 1944.
He wrote hie first detective novel, 'The Immaterial Murder Case', long before it was first published in 1945 and this was followed in 1947 by a rare volume entitled 'A Man Called Jones' that features for the first time Inspector Bland, who also appeared in Bland Beginning.
These novles were followed by a whole host of detective novels and he has also written many short stories that were regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In additin there are two British paperback collections of his short stories, Murder! Murder! and Francis Quarles Investigates, which were published in 1961 and 1965 resepctively.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 18, 2024
2.5 stars.
The story has a couple of intriguing points which manage to hold the reader’s attention — namely, the idea of a man leading a double life, maintaining two households, under two different identities, and his decision to murder his rich wife while in the guise of his alter ego. The surrounding plot-line, however, is rather tedious and it gets more implausible as the novel progresses. The ending itself — I wouldn’t call it ‘denouement’ — depends on a number of unlikely coincidences. ‘Clumsily contrived’ would be les mots justes to describe it.
Symons clearly intended to write a novel of suspense which is also a psychological crime novel but in this, in my opinion, he fails. Arthur Brownjohn, the thoroughly unsympathetic, somewhat grotesque, hapless and ineffectual protagonist, is neither interesting nor convincing, a criticism which applies to most of the novel’s other characters as well. Curious to note that Symons is sniffy about Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh in his study of the genre, Bloody Murder — yet they live on while he is now largely forgotten.
The story has a couple of intriguing points which manage to hold the reader’s attention — namely, the idea of a man leading a double life, maintaining two households, under two different identities, and his decision to murder his rich wife while in the guise of his alter ego. The surrounding plot-line, however, is rather tedious and it gets more implausible as the novel progresses. The ending itself — I wouldn’t call it ‘denouement’ — depends on a number of unlikely coincidences. ‘Clumsily contrived’ would be les mots justes to describe it.
Symons clearly intended to write a novel of suspense which is also a psychological crime novel but in this, in my opinion, he fails. Arthur Brownjohn, the thoroughly unsympathetic, somewhat grotesque, hapless and ineffectual protagonist, is neither interesting nor convincing, a criticism which applies to most of the novel’s other characters as well. Curious to note that Symons is sniffy about Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh in his study of the genre, Bloody Murder — yet they live on while he is now largely forgotten.
November 18, 2021
Güzel bir polisiye. Dili de samimi ve iyi bir atmosfer oluşturuyor. Ama beni en çok etkileyen bu türde pek görülmeyen Arthur’un varoluşsal sorgulamaları. Kim olduğu, neyi sevdiği, ne yapmak istediği üzerine bitmeyen sorgulamaları…Bizi de Arthur’dan uzak tutarak verişi bu durumu oldukça iyi.
7️⃣
“Hatırladığı gibi bir yerde çocukluğu gerçekten var mıydı? …kendisini dünyanın sert şeylerinden korumaya çalışan bu annenin gerçekle bir ilgisi var mıydı? “
“Hangi anlamda olursa olsun, var olmadığını düşünüyordu. “
7️⃣
“Hatırladığı gibi bir yerde çocukluğu gerçekten var mıydı? …kendisini dünyanın sert şeylerinden korumaya çalışan bu annenin gerçekle bir ilgisi var mıydı? “
“Hangi anlamda olursa olsun, var olmadığını düşünüyordu. “
December 18, 2021
This is not a book about suicide, but rather an enjoyable crime novel that is also an intriguing meditation on the nature of freedom and identity
April 12, 2023
eh... I just didn't much care about this character. He is a terrible person and a weak, terrible person which makes it worse. I do always find it to be an interesting perspective to be from the side of the murderer rather than the detective. Is he going to get away with it? Perversely I sort of wish that he would. In a detective story you know the detective will always solve the crime but in this it might be interesting if he got away with it... he did for awhile but then just could not help himself and messed it up. Is that a spoiler?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2017
murathan mungan'ın yayın yönetmenliğini yaptığı remzi kitabevinin çilek dizisinden boş çıkmaz.
yine çıkmadı. klasik ama ustaca kurulmuş bir polisiye.
yine çıkmadı. klasik ama ustaca kurulmuş bir polisiye.
October 14, 2019
Etwas an den Haaren herbeigezogene Prämisse. Mann mit Doppelleben, eines als Heiratsvermittler bringt eine seiner beiden Frauen um. Liest sich erst ganz nett, wird aber zunehmend langweiliger. 5/10
July 23, 2021
Muy buen final
December 27, 2021
Unusual. Not for me.
February 7, 2022
An odd murder mystery told mostly through the protagonist who ties himself in knots trying come up with the perfect way to murder his wife. Fairly amusing but feels a little dated.
July 11, 2022
Read in Danish. 4 og 4 minus. Very good novel. Best I have read by Julian Symons.
April 18, 2010
This is not the conventional who-done-it mystery I was looking for after reading Symon's, The 31st of February. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining story with a murder and psycological elements.
April 17, 2013
After a gap of many years I have re-read this book. It does seem a pity that Julian Symons is almost unknown nowadays. I really enjoyed reading it again, so I have given it another star.
October 4, 2014
Arthur Brownjohn was a timid and reserved man, inhibited by his wife. I enjoyed the psychological aspect of the story, but found the ending totally disappointing.
April 23, 2017
A shy introverted man named Arthur Brownjohn has assumed a second identity, to free himself from his overbearing and obnoxious wife. Major Eason Allenby is everything Arthur Brownjohn is not, a bold, slightly shady, skirt chaser. However the complications of living two lives start to pile up, Brownjohn decides to give up the second life, but if only he could get rid of his wife, then his first life wouldn't be so unbearable. But how to commit the perfect murder? The answer is obvious- pin the murder on Allenby, who will then disappear forever.
A very entertaining story from Symons, a study in psychology as the author lets us inside Arthur Brownjohn's head; showing us what brings him to create an alternate personality, then drives him to commit a seemingly perfect murder, and then what makes it all fall apart in the end.
A very entertaining story from Symons, a study in psychology as the author lets us inside Arthur Brownjohn's head; showing us what brings him to create an alternate personality, then drives him to commit a seemingly perfect murder, and then what makes it all fall apart in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
September 17, 2018Synopsis: Arthur Brownjohn never gets anything quite right including murdering his wife.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews