Tue 17 Jun 2025
Archived Mystery Review: MILES BURTON – Death at Ash House.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[3] Comments
MILES BURTON – Death at Ash House. Inspector Arnold #26. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1942. Published earlier in the UK as This Undesirable Residence (Collins, hardcover, 1942).
Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard is called in when a man’s secretary is murdered, done in by a large piece of iron – dropped from an upper floor of an unoccupied[ed house. When a missing stamp collection is found, the only motive seen for the crime has disappeared.
It is hard to imagine how two detectives sitting around for pages theorizing about the crime could be entertaining, but it is. I love it. And the, with two chapters to go, a revelation is made which in one stroke, illuminates everything. Absolutely terrific.
— Reprinted from Mystery.File.4, March 1988.
June 19th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
It’s been a long busy week. I’m hoping to get another post up tomorrow. Not tonight. Well past my nap time.
For those of of you who might be interested in such things, I’ve added the British publisher and date to the information at the top of the review.
Not commenting on the review itself — not that I’m doubting a word of it — after posting it, I got to thinking about the book itself. I may still have it, but maybe not. If the latter, though, how much would it cost to replace it?
According to Bookfinder.com, there are eight copies offered for sale online right now, at prices ranging from $156 to $386, depending on condition. Old mysteries like this one are really hard to find cheaply anymore.
June 20th, 2025 at 8:01 pm
Merrion and Arnold are by far my favorite Street sleuths, often entertaining, and at times much better.
June 20th, 2025 at 10:45 pm
Quite so. I’ve enjoyed all of the Burton books I’ve read (but wistfully, not as many as I would liked), yet the Dr. Priestley that Cecil Street wrote as by John Rhode, not nearly so much. Same author, but their output affects me very differently. Maybe someday I will know why, or at least a lot better than I have so far.