From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Mystery in White

J. Jefferson Farjeon,

Martin Edwards (Introduction)

Start date: December 1, 2016

Finish date: December 31, 2016

Discussion: Group reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 27, 2014 Susan rated it really liked it

This Golden Age mystery was first published in 1937. It is Christmas Eve and a group of people are stranded on a train after heavy snow. There are a good cast of characters, including an elderly bore, a psychic, a brother and sister, a young office clerk and a chorus girl travelling to an audition. The psychic, Edward Maltby, decides to leave the train and attempt to find another station and he is soon followed by others from his train carriage. Indeed, eventually the travellers find themselves ...more

27 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2017 BrokenTune rated it really liked it

Shelves: christmas

THE first thing David did on emerging from the front door was to pitch head first into a mound of snow. For a moment or two he nearly suffocated, while countless soft, icy pellets invaded his back as though he were being bombarded by silent salvos from heaven. Then he scrambled out, and strained ears choked with snow for a repetition of the shout. Already he had lost his sense of direction, for all he could see was a bewildering succession of snowflake close-ups, almost blinding vision. During t THE first thing David did on emerging from the front door was to pitch head first into a mound of snow. For a moment or two he nearly suffocated, while countless soft, icy pellets invaded his back as though he were being bombarded by silent salvos from heaven. Then he scrambled out, and strained ears choked with snow for a repetition of the shout. Already he had lost his sense of direction, for all he could see was a bewildering succession of snowflake close-ups, almost blinding vision. During the forty-five minutes he had been in the house the weather had travelled from bad to worse. Snow rushed at him unbelievably from nowhere caking him with white. He would have retreated promptly saving for the knowledge that somewhere in this whirling maelstrom was a man in a worse plight; but how to find the man, if his despairing cry was not repeated, seemed a stark impossibility.

Alright, this was a fun book. Despite the excellent, yet misleading, cover, this story does not take place on a train but is essentially a country house mystery.

Our protagonists are a group of strangers who share a compartment on a train and get stuck in a snowstorm just days before Christmas. As they all dislike being stranded, they set out to try and walk to the next station - which may or may not have a connections that are still running.
But... they never get there. The weather conditions worsen and they need to turn in to a nearby house for shelter. They enter looking for its occupants, but no one is there even though the fires are laid on, the tea set is laid out, and the kettle is boiling.

What a great start to a Christmas mystery!

The characters were really cute, too. We have a couple of young women, one of the women's brother, a young clerk suffering from some sort of anxiety disorder, a guy who is a known psychic, and an older chap who is described as "the old bore". We also get to meet a man suffering from shell shock.

I loved the characters. You'd think they were all straight out of the catalogue of British country house mysteries, but each one had a little bit more to them - I especially liked that the author included characters who were going through some mental distress. It is still not that often that I have come across depictions of characters suffering from shell shock in the original 1920s/30s mysteries. They are not really part of Christie's setup and it took me to discover Sayers and Tey to find a representation.

The mystery itself is convoluted and the solution is contrived - the psychic gets involved a lot, and at one point I flashbacks to The Haunting of Hill House - but there is also something gripping about the part of the mystery, which really takes quite a gritty turn.

Almost as good as Death of an Airman, and the book made me laugh a lot.

But first things first. Is anybody getting hungry? Come along, staff. Step on it. We mustn’t keep the family waiting for dinner. I may not be honest and sober, but I am punctual!” Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Smith glanced at each other, then followed the girl obediently into the kitchen. ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2016 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, holiday

A different spin to the 'manor house murder' subgenre. The few paranormal aspects to this were just the right amount to lend a certain spookiness to the story while not stretching my credulity too far. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2018 Anissa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018, british-fiction-uk-ireland, mystery-suspense-crime, christmas-and-winter-mysteries, british-library-crime-classics

As the year closes, I'm still getting in mysteries with snow and Christmas themes and Mystery In White seemed a good choice. Funnily enough, it reminded me of The Christmas Card Murder that I just read in an anthology with regard to the setup. On Christmas Eve, passengers on a snowbound train disembark and in this instance, take refuge in a country house. Here, the blizzard rages and the house stands empty but appears set for guests with a boiling kettle on the stove, fires ablaze in multiple he ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2016 Doris rated it it was ok

Shelves: mystery, z-2016-challenge

A couple of unnecessary characters cluttered up this story, and I didn't care for the psychic element. But a quick, entertaining read. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2016 Andréa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, mystery-thriller-crime, travel-transportation, british-isles, digital, netgalley-edelweiss, christmas-hanukkah, classics

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2015 Ellen rated it it was ok

Started ok but got tedious quite quickly.

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May 05, 2016 Laura Hannaway rated it it was amazing

Shelves: british-library-crime-classics

Thoroughly enjoyable in the best tradition of Christie!! This was absorbing, entertaining and very very spooky! I loved it from the first page to the last and will definitely be reading more books by this author. It's a real shame that he's been forgotten for so long, but hopefully more of his catalogue will be published even if only in e-book form! Highly recommended! ...more

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Nov 30, 2016 Jill rated it liked it

Shelves: j-jefferson-farjeon

Really liked the start of this book and think the author conjured up the atmosphere of the snowy conditions well, but then found it all sort of slowed up. The amount of comings and goings seemed too much for the conditions that we were led to believe were impassable.

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Dec 25, 2017 Neer rated it liked it

Shelves: reads-17, vintage-mystery, brit-lit, 1930s, downloads, mysteries

Don't expect a conventional mystery and you won't be disappointed. Actually 3 and a half stars.

*

First Line: THE Great Snow began on the evening of December 19th.

Source: Faded Page ...more

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