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The house by the river
After the inquest, The Chase had plenty to talk about. Mrs. Ambrose and Mrs. Church were kept very busy. For few of The Chase had been actually present in the flesh—not because they were not interested and curious and indeed aching to be present, but because it seemed hardly decent. Since the great Nuisance Case about the noise of the Quick Boat Company's motor-boats there had been no event of communal importance to The Chase; life had been a lamentable blank. And it was an ill-chance that the first genuine excitement, not counting the close of the Great War, should be a function which it seemed hardly decent to an inquest on the dead body of a housemaid from The Chase discovered almost naked in a sack by a police-boat at Barnes. Nevertheless, a sprinkling of The Chase was there—Mrs. Vincent for one, and Horace Dimple, the barrister, for another—though he of course attended the inquest purely as a matter of professional interest, in the same laudable spirit of inquiry in which law students crowd to the more sensational or objectionable trials at the High Court. There were also Mr. Mard, the architect, who was on the Borough Council, and Mr. and Mrs. Tatham, who had to visit the Food Committee that day. These, being in the neighborhood of the Court, thought it would be foolish not to "look in." Few of them overtly acknowledged that the others were visibly there, or, if they were compelled to take notice, smiled thinly and looked faintly surprised.
- GenresCrime
236 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1920
5 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
A.P. Herbert
132 books10 followersSir Alan Patrick Herbert, CH (usually writing as A.P. Herbert or A.P.H.) was an English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist. He was an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford University for 15 years, five of which he combined with service in the Royal Navy.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 5, 2022
Murder and waffle…
Fashionable poet Stephen Byrne lives with his wife in Hammerton Close, in a lovely house overlooking his beloved Thames. When he’s not poeting, he’s to be found out on the river, paddling his rowing boat over to the island opposite the house, or going further afield in his motor boat. Often he’s accompanied by his best friend, John Egerton. So when Stephen “accidentally” strangles his maid to death when she unaccountably resists his attempts to seduce her while his wife is out, it’s to John he turns for assistance in disposing of the body, and where better than in the river? But submerged bodies have a habit of rising to the surface…
There’s actually a great little story hidden in here, but it’s surrounded by so much waffle that I had to exercise maximum willpower to stick it out to the end, and even then I eventually began to skip past the endless descriptions and digressions.
When the inquest is held, circumstances arise that throw suspicion on John, though there’s not enough evidence for the police to arrest him. So what we have are two competing moral dilemmas, and two contrasting characters. Stephen is selfish and egotistical, easily able to find reasons why everything is always someone else’s fault. His belief in himself as a great poet means he feels he is more valuable than all the ordinary people in the world. John, on the other hand, is loyal to a fault, ready to accept a sacrifice of his own reputation to save Stephen and, more chivalrously, Stephen’s wife from the consequences of Stephen’s guilt. But if it looks as if John will be arrested, will Stephen allow him to take the rap even if it means John will be hanged? And will John’s loyalty take him all the way to the gallows?
The book is quite short, so I felt that it could easily be filled by these dilemmas and the impact of them on the two men and the wider community. Instead, Herbert fills the pages with extraneous waffle – a lengthy description of the new styles of dancing, endless descriptions of the river and its human inhabitants, jocular character portraits of people who play no real part in the plot. The entire extent of the police investigation is that they turn up when the body is found, ask the two men if they know anything and accept their assurances that they don’t. We never hear another word about the police – they interview no one, search no houses, make no effort to find if the maid had any personal relationships, etc. Herbert could have got some drama into it by having the police net slowly tighten around the guilty men, but instead he prefers to describe the river again and again.
And then there’s the treatment of the maid. No one in the Close is bothered about her having been murdered. It doesn’t even make them fear that there might be a madman on the loose. Even those who suspect John merely seem to rather disapprove of murdering maids, mostly because good maids aren’t easy to get. The girl’s parents don’t appear to care either – they see it as a money-making opportunity, demanding that John pay them compensation. It’s all too unrealistic, even for this era.
And yet those central dilemmas are interesting and Herbert handles them well, when he’s paying attention to them. The sections where we are allowed inside the minds of the two men are excellent, and both feel psychologically believable in how they act and then react as time passes. The denouement is very good, with some of the tension that I felt should have been there all along. And the ending is quite satisfying, though marred by another lengthy, supposedly humorous digression between the climax and the last pages. As a novella, this could have been great. As a novel, the story is strangled by digressions, smothered by descriptions, and drowned in the endless river. 2½ stars for me, so rounded up.
I downloaded this one from Project Gutenberg.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Fashionable poet Stephen Byrne lives with his wife in Hammerton Close, in a lovely house overlooking his beloved Thames. When he’s not poeting, he’s to be found out on the river, paddling his rowing boat over to the island opposite the house, or going further afield in his motor boat. Often he’s accompanied by his best friend, John Egerton. So when Stephen “accidentally” strangles his maid to death when she unaccountably resists his attempts to seduce her while his wife is out, it’s to John he turns for assistance in disposing of the body, and where better than in the river? But submerged bodies have a habit of rising to the surface…
There’s actually a great little story hidden in here, but it’s surrounded by so much waffle that I had to exercise maximum willpower to stick it out to the end, and even then I eventually began to skip past the endless descriptions and digressions.
When the inquest is held, circumstances arise that throw suspicion on John, though there’s not enough evidence for the police to arrest him. So what we have are two competing moral dilemmas, and two contrasting characters. Stephen is selfish and egotistical, easily able to find reasons why everything is always someone else’s fault. His belief in himself as a great poet means he feels he is more valuable than all the ordinary people in the world. John, on the other hand, is loyal to a fault, ready to accept a sacrifice of his own reputation to save Stephen and, more chivalrously, Stephen’s wife from the consequences of Stephen’s guilt. But if it looks as if John will be arrested, will Stephen allow him to take the rap even if it means John will be hanged? And will John’s loyalty take him all the way to the gallows?
The book is quite short, so I felt that it could easily be filled by these dilemmas and the impact of them on the two men and the wider community. Instead, Herbert fills the pages with extraneous waffle – a lengthy description of the new styles of dancing, endless descriptions of the river and its human inhabitants, jocular character portraits of people who play no real part in the plot. The entire extent of the police investigation is that they turn up when the body is found, ask the two men if they know anything and accept their assurances that they don’t. We never hear another word about the police – they interview no one, search no houses, make no effort to find if the maid had any personal relationships, etc. Herbert could have got some drama into it by having the police net slowly tighten around the guilty men, but instead he prefers to describe the river again and again.
And then there’s the treatment of the maid. No one in the Close is bothered about her having been murdered. It doesn’t even make them fear that there might be a madman on the loose. Even those who suspect John merely seem to rather disapprove of murdering maids, mostly because good maids aren’t easy to get. The girl’s parents don’t appear to care either – they see it as a money-making opportunity, demanding that John pay them compensation. It’s all too unrealistic, even for this era.
And yet those central dilemmas are interesting and Herbert handles them well, when he’s paying attention to them. The sections where we are allowed inside the minds of the two men are excellent, and both feel psychologically believable in how they act and then react as time passes. The denouement is very good, with some of the tension that I felt should have been there all along. And the ending is quite satisfying, though marred by another lengthy, supposedly humorous digression between the climax and the last pages. As a novella, this could have been great. As a novel, the story is strangled by digressions, smothered by descriptions, and drowned in the endless river. 2½ stars for me, so rounded up.
I downloaded this one from Project Gutenberg.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
January 19, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2021
This is two books: a chilling dissection of selfishness and misguided loyalty, and a love poem to the river Thames. I really enjoyed both elements.
January 5, 2026
I read this book expecting something like the author's marvellous "Misleading Cases". This was totally different though a few scenes carried hints of his comic genius. Instead there was an accidental killing, a cover up, a broken promise to speak up for the man suspected and an unexpected climax to the story.
If anyone knows of an ebook or audiobook source for the "Misleading Cases" I would appreciate the details.
If anyone knows of an ebook or audiobook source for the "Misleading Cases" I would appreciate the details.
June 26, 2025
AP Herbert was a talented writer and original thinker, and his Uncommon Law books remain classics. This novel is an interesting voyage into a very different time - London between the wars, with expectations of behaviour and class now long vanished. The problem is the central plot point just isn't believable, so I found myself less engaged in the story than I would have been otherwise.
Want to read
June 4, 2025Synopsis: nothing much was happening at The Chase until the almost naked body of a housemaid was found in a sack by the police in the nearby river.
November 22, 2020
Stephen Byrne a poet and respected gentleman lives by the Thames upstream happily married. Men like him, women adore him, what could go wrong?
Well as the river ebbs and flows so do his fortunes when drunk late after a dinner party and in a moment of unrequited passion with a house maid ,he commits the ultimate crime.
In his panicked state his neighbour and good friend the weak John Egerton happens by and Byrne ropes him in as an accomplice to dispose of the body and into a web of deceit that ultimately destroys their friendship.
The story goes on for years more where Egerton is shrouded in suspicion as the quiet and shy public servant while Byrne goes on with his life and career and has a child while continuing to reek of success , but the guilt slowly eats away at him.
He writes a poem that tells the whole story as a confessional metaphor with a medieval theme and is published to acclaim. Egerton picks up on the metaphor.
Soon after his downfall begins and the river claims it's victim ,while only his wife who reads his real written confession and Egerton ever know the truth. The confession is destroyed.
His name is revered posthumously and a statue is erected on an island in the river to celebrate the poets life .
I enjoyed the novel that contains many stream of consciousness passages ala James Joyce though i found the 2 main characters spineless and pathetic. One wants to wake Egerton up with a firm slap to get him to push back at Byrne who has him wrapped around his finger.
Well as the river ebbs and flows so do his fortunes when drunk late after a dinner party and in a moment of unrequited passion with a house maid ,he commits the ultimate crime.
In his panicked state his neighbour and good friend the weak John Egerton happens by and Byrne ropes him in as an accomplice to dispose of the body and into a web of deceit that ultimately destroys their friendship.
The story goes on for years more where Egerton is shrouded in suspicion as the quiet and shy public servant while Byrne goes on with his life and career and has a child while continuing to reek of success , but the guilt slowly eats away at him.
He writes a poem that tells the whole story as a confessional metaphor with a medieval theme and is published to acclaim. Egerton picks up on the metaphor.
Soon after his downfall begins and the river claims it's victim ,while only his wife who reads his real written confession and Egerton ever know the truth. The confession is destroyed.
His name is revered posthumously and a statue is erected on an island in the river to celebrate the poets life .
I enjoyed the novel that contains many stream of consciousness passages ala James Joyce though i found the 2 main characters spineless and pathetic. One wants to wake Egerton up with a firm slap to get him to push back at Byrne who has him wrapped around his finger.
August 24, 2024
Has not stood the test of time. I’m sure it would have seemed better in the past
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews