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Thirteen Guests (Inspector Kendall #1)

J. Jefferson Farjeon,

Martin Edwards (Introduction)

Start date: August 1, 2020

Finish date: August 31, 2020

Discussion: Group reads

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What Members Thought

Jun 12, 2020 Bev rated it really liked it

Shelves: british-mystery, bought-2015, mystery, vintage-mystery, mount-tbr-2020, country-house

"With no disrespect to Art, your picture is a secondary consideration," retorted the inspector, rather sharply. "I am merely hoping it will give me a line on graver matters."
Thirteen Guests (1936) by J. Jefferson Farjeon

John Foss, having just been turned down by the girl he wanted to marry, takes his bruised heart and a small bag and heads out of London. Where to? Anywhere. He doesn't much care; he just wants to get away from the crowds of people. When the woman in front of him buys a ticket for "With no disrespect to Art, your picture is a secondary consideration," retorted the inspector, rather sharply. "I am merely hoping it will give me a line on graver matters."
Thirteen Guests (1936) by J. Jefferson Farjeon

John Foss, having just been turned down by the girl he wanted to marry, takes his bruised heart and a small bag and heads out of London. Where to? Anywhere. He doesn't much care; he just wants to get away from the crowds of people. When the woman in front of him buys a ticket for Flensham, he decides that is a destination as good as any and follows suit. Upon arrival, he has more than a bruised heart--he manages to mangle his leg a bit as the train moves on before he's quite done getting off.

Nadine Leveridge, the woman he took his travel ideas from, scoops him up into a car and takes him to Bragley Court--the country house where she plans to spend the weekend. She waves aside his protests that Lord Aveling won't be pleased to have an uninvited guest telling him that one more guest among a group that includes an actress, a famous cricketer, an artist, a politician, a journalist with a nose for gossip, a mystery novelist, and a couple who were brought along at the politician's invitation won't bother the lord of the manor at all. She proves herself right when John is toted into the house. Lord Aveling welcomes him, sets him on a couch in an ante room, and offers him all the manor can provide in the way of hospitality. Of course, the norm in lordly hospitality shouldn't include murder, should it?

Foss soon finds himself with a front-row seat to a weekend full of sinister events and murderous activities...beyond the normal bloodshed of a country house hunting party. It starts with the mutilation of Leicester Pratt's latest masterpiece, a portrait of Anne (daughter of the house). Then a noisy dog is silenced permanently, followed by the discovery of the strangled body of an unknown man. More death follows and Inspector Kendall arrives to ferret out the secrets hidden in halls of Bradley Court. Does murder have anything to do with Lord Aveling's dalliance with the actress? Or perhaps with the fact that three of his guests were accosted by the unknown man at the train station? Is Harold Taverley, the cricketer, really as open and honest as he seems? What secrets lie in the past of our politician, Sir James Earnshaw? Just how much of an actress is Zena Wilding? Does she play a part off-stage as well as on? Lionel Bultin is good at nosing out others' secrets and writing them up in the news--how many secrets does he have of his own? And Edyth Fermoy-Jones plots fictional murders for a living--has she decided to try her hand at real life mayhem? There are marriage secrets and fraudulent pasts as well as a bit of blackmail and plenty of criss-crossing trails to keep our official bloodhounds busy.

Farjeon starts strong in this one. He gives us very good descriptions of Nadine Leveridge and John Foss and we're ready to settle down with these two as our main characters. He also provides detailed thumbnail sketches for the rest of the guests and their host and hostess. We get very interested in a few of them--Edyth Fermoy-Jones, for instance. And then the murders happen and John pretty much drops off the face of the earth and Nadine doesn't figure much at all. It's a bit disappointing.

But even though I was disappointed with the follow-through on some of the characters that Farjeon seemed at great pains to bring to our attention, the plot was quite fascinating. I was invested in discovering how the painting and the dog and the mysterious stranger would all tie together. I was waiting for the motive that would explain why three people had to die. I enjoyed Inspector Kendall and his investigative methods. Then the ending comes and the explanation. And it fell just a bit flat. I can't really tell you why without spoiling--so if you'd like to know more, feel free to view the spoiler below. Otherwise, just know that this is a decent outing by Farjeon. Not quite up to his work in The Mystery in White, but still very interesting and fun to read. It definitely was the right book for this past week when I was waiting on medical news for my Dad. My only quibbles are with the character follow-through and some of the wrap-up. ★★★ and 1/2--I had hoped to go higher. [rounded up here]

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

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Oct 05, 2023 Laura Anne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, british-isles

3.5 stars Slow-paced country house mystery with a large cast of characters, some humorous moments, and sharper writing than I previously found in Farjeon’s Mystery in White. ...more

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Apr 08, 2021 Anna Adams rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I was intrigued because this author was supposedly a favorite of Dorothy L. Sayers, and I LOVE DLS with all my heart. Plus, it starts with a train journey to a country house weekend. Who can resist that if you love a cozy mystery from the "Golden" era? I did enjoy it a lot, and I'm definitely reading more by him. It was surprisingly modern, especially one relationship, and the connection between the characters was pretty much instant, but totally believable. Which I didn't expect. I've rated it ...more

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Jun 21, 2023 Teri-K rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-golden-age

This is my first mystery by this author, and it left me with very mixed feelings. The writing style is a bit flowery and self-conscious, especially in the first half, and that put me off a little. Then there's the simple fact that thirteen different people have joined a family in their country home for the weekend, and that's a lot of characters to keep straight all at once. I finally made a brief list to get them straight in my head.

However, I enjoyed the over-all pacing of the story, and like ...more

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