From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Red House Mystery

A.A. Milne

Start date: August 1, 2016

Finish date: August 31, 2016

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What Members Thought

Jun 30, 2016 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A A Milne wrote a little remembered mystery book before he delved into the 100 Acre Wood and created one of the most beloved classic characters in fiction - Winnie the Pooh. The mystery is set during a country house party, in 1922. Our amateur sleuth arrives to visit a friend, to find someone hammering on the door and a body within. Asked to help, he decides to play Sherlock Holmes, with his friend acting as his Watson. The host has gone missing and his ne'er do well brother, who had just return ...more

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Mar 07, 2018 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: brit-trip, 2018

I've heard this is supposed to be a spoof but I didn't see it. However as a period mystery it was completely charming. It didn't take itself seriously and that made it completely delightful to read. ...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-mystery, mystery, vintage-mystery, country-house, bought-1996

Milne, best known for his children's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood, was a self-proclaimed devotee of the detective novel. He particularly admired the stories that featured an amateur detective up against the amateur villain. No master criminals or investigative experts for him. So, when he decided to try his hand at crime fiction, it was perfectly natural that his mystery would be solved by someone with no detecting background.

The Red House Mystery is, naturally, a coun Milne, best known for his children's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood, was a self-proclaimed devotee of the detective novel. He particularly admired the stories that featured an amateur detective up against the amateur villain. No master criminals or investigative experts for him. So, when he decided to try his hand at crime fiction, it was perfectly natural that his mystery would be solved by someone with no detecting background.

The Red House Mystery is, naturally, a country house mystery--with the added bonus of being a locked room mystery as well. Mark Ablett, owner of the country house in question, is hosting a variety of guests: a widow and her marriageable daughter, a retired major, a willful actress, and Bill Beverley, young man about town. At this time, Mark receives a message that is his long-lost brother (and black sheep of the family) Robert will be arriving soon. Robert shows up and is taken to the library to wait for his brother. Not long afterward, voices raised in argument are heard as well as a shot. The door to library is locked from within and no one answers when the house party members try to enter.

In the meantime, Tony Gillingham, friend to Bill Beverley, arrives at the house. He is on hand to help break in the door and takes on the investigation from the beginning. Entry to the library reveals Robert dead, shot through the head...and Mark is nowhere to be found. It is suggested that in the heat of the argument Mark accidentally shot his brother and then ran away in a panic. Several circumstances do not match this solution, most of all how did Mark get out of the locked room?

Milne does his best to stick to the Golden Age rule of presenting his readers with all the clues necessary to solve the mystery. And he does well with that--the reader can certainly look back and agree that everything was there if it had just been considered correctly. Sticklers for vintage mystery "rules" may quibble with the use of long-lost relatives and secret passages--which were frowned upon by Golden Age novelists. But the air of the mystery is that of light-hearted fun and not take-me-seriously crime fiction. In fact Tony and Bill are having such a grand time playing at Holmes and Watson, that they even feel a bit guilty.

I remember being pleasantly surprised and delighted at this mystery from one of my favorite childhood authors. And being disappointed that, like Tigger, this is the only one. It's a shame that we didn't get to see Milne's skill as a detective novelist develop. All in all, this was a fun romp on the lighter side of vintage fiction that I remember quite fondly. ...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Lesley rated it liked it · review of another edition

This 90 year old droll locked door mystery written by the creator of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin was a thoroughly enjoyable read that kept my attention to the end. And I never knew that A.A. Milne had ever written anything in this genre, let alone for adults!

Set in Edwardian times, mixed with a little of Christie and Holmes, a measure of humour, several doses of suspense and a couple of twists and turns, the pages were kept turning to the last.

A good mystery read for me is where I thin ...more

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Feb 17, 2023 Jazzy Lemon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: english-authors, classics

A brilliant mystery written by A.A. Milne before he was relegated to the nursery.

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Jul 27, 2014 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-mystery, mystery, vintage-mystery, mount-tbr-2016, bought-2014, locked-room, country-house

The Red House Mystery (1922) is the one and only adult mystery novel by A. A. Milne, the author of children's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, and all the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood. According to the dedication page, he wrote the book for his father who had a great fondness for the mystery novel.

Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories, and feel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you have done for me, the least I c The Red House Mystery (1922) is the one and only adult mystery novel by A. A. Milne, the author of children's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, and all the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood. According to the dedication page, he wrote the book for his father who had a great fondness for the mystery novel.

Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories, and feel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you have done for me, the least I can do for you is to write you one.

Milne also wanted to write the kind of detective story that he would most like to read. And he had a few rules of his own that the perfect mystery must follow. 1. It must be written in English; that is to say--nice, plain, simple English. Nobody was to be "effecting egresses" when they could quite simply "go out." 2. No love interests for the detective. The detective should be busy detecting and not holding hands with Angela (or Jane or whoever). 3. The detective must not have more special knowledge than the average reader. 4. There must a Watson for the detective to explain things to all along the way--no great, grand summation scene where the detective reveals all the cards he's been holding to his chest or, worse yet, last-minute confession by the culprit. The detective should point out everything he's noticed (both clues and red herrings) to give Watson (and the reader) a chance to solve the crime himself.

Milne's detective is Antony Gillingham, a young man of independent means who has been something of a rolling stone--seeing the world by taking up one profession after another and succeeding at everything from a tobacconist's assistant to a valet to a waiter. He never stays at one job very long and has no trouble finding a new profession when he tires of the old one. "Instead of experience and testimonials he offered his personality and a sporting bet. He would take no wages the first month--and if he satisfied his employer--double wages the second. He always got his double wages." At the beginning of the book, he is between positions and when he finds that he has gotten off the train in Woodham, a small town near The Red House, he recalls that his friend Bill Beverley is staying there. After taking rooms at The George, he decides to drop by The Red House and look up Beverley. He arrives just in time to help discover a murder....and to discover his next profession: sleuth.

Beverley's host, Mark Ablett, had announced at breakfast that his ne'er-do-well brother Robert was arriving that very afternoon from Australia and he would meet with him at about three o'clock. His house guests left for a golf outing, leaving Mark, his cousin and right-hand man--Matthew Cayley, and his housekeeper and maid alone in the house. Robert arrives, the two brothers are overheard arguing in the office, a shot rings out, and when Cayley tries to enter the room to see what's happening he finds the door locked.

Enter Antony Gillingham. He assists Cayley in breaking in at the window and the two men discover the body of Robert Ablett, dead from a gunshot. There is no sign of the master of the house. The crime has every appearance of being a locked room mystery. But where's the gun? And was the window really open when Cayley and Gillingham arrived? And, if not, why would Cayley open it? Gillingham is all set to don his deerstalker and take up a meerscham pipe, if Bill Beverley is prepared to play Watson to his Sherlock.

Antony smoked thoughtfully for a little. Then he took his pipe out of his mouth and turned to his friend.
"Are you prepared to be the complete Watson?" he asked.
"Watson?"
"Do-you-follow-me-Watson; that one. Are you prepared to have quite obvious things explained to you, to ask futile questions, to give me chances of scoring off you, to make brilliant discoveries of your own two or three days after I have made them myself? Because it all helps."
"My dear Tony," said Bill delightedly, "need you ask?"

Gillingham and Beverley have their work cut out for them--looking for clues, discovering secret passages, and observing someone depositing evidence in the estate's pond. There are motives to be examined and people to question. There are various explanations given for some of the evidence--but only one explanation will cover them all. Antony proves himself a proper Sherlock by getting to the bottom of it.

I first read this about 20 years ago or so and have since bought the featured edition to add to my pocket-size edition collection and to reread. Milne's solo foray into the mystery field is delightful--full of humor and fun banter between his "Holmes & Watson." Given that Milne sends nearly all the possible suspects on a golfing expedition, it's not terribly difficult to narrow down the field. I do remember my younger self being fairly surprised at the exact solution, but I was in the ballpark. This story is more enjoyable as a period piece and as an examination of the mystery field itself and makes for a fun, light-hearted read rather than a serious mystery to unravel. Great fun.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks. ...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Frances rated it it was ok

This was a bit of a curiosity read. I was not particularly impressed with the mystery, nor with the style. The dedication shows that Milne wrote this as a gift for his father who enjoyed mysteries and it is clear that he didn't quite manage to get it right. This is a combination of the country house/locked door/missing body plot and most of it can be guessed quite early on (and I am not the sort of reader who usually figures out the mystery before the denouement). And there isn't a cuddly animal ...more

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May 25, 2021 Rachel Burke rated it liked it

Shelves: own-and-read, own-kindle, own

Ok, so author famous for another genre writes a classic in a separate genre.

A.A. Milne is more known for Winnie the Pooh. However in mystery circles The Red House Mystery is considered one of the classics of the Golden Age. And honestly plot and trope wise (locked door mystery , Sherlock/Watson duo, manor house party, etc.) it is.

However, the writing... Yeesh.

First person omniscient sarcastic narrator. I love sarcasm, but this just does not play well in the genre. It's not biting or sinister eno ...more

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