Mon 28 Jul 2025
A Mystery Review by Tony Baer: A. A. MILNE – The Red House Mystery.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
A. A. MILNE – The Red House Mystery. Metheun, UK, hardcover, 1922. E. P. Dutton, hardcover; 1st US edition, 1922. Pocket #81, paperback, 1940. Many later editions.
Mark Ablett is a self important windbag. From meager means, he attracts the favors of an elderly widow who leaves him a healthy and wealthy estate. But this in no wise makes him wise.
He leverages his means to play patron of the arts. Patronizing the middle brow and those of middling money, he hosts his guests with a generosity conditioned upon their servile appreciation of his wit.
Mark receives a letter from his ne’er do well brother Robert, late of Australia, who’s coming for his share.
An argument takes place between the brothers behind closed doors. And when the doors are opened by his Mark’s minion, Robert’s remains remain. Mark is nowhere to be seen.
The guests are sent home, save for a couple amateur sleuths, and the authorities are brought in.
It all seems very obvious. More how done it than whodunit. But there’s more redness to this meat than first blush.
I enjoyed it quite a bit.
July 29th, 2025 at 5:12 am
“With special guest star Winnie-the-Pooh!”
I rerad this too long ago to remember it in detail, but I recall that I agreed with Raymond Chandler’s criticism of it: The central premise hinges on the local cops being idiots.
But I also found it well-written enough to enjoy it anyway!
July 29th, 2025 at 5:14 am
Also reviewed here: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=29116 and https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=51166.
July 29th, 2025 at 11:28 am
Thanks for the links, Tony, as well as the review. It was especially interesting for me to read what I had to say about the book, since I barely remember only having read it and not at all having written a review of it!
August 2nd, 2025 at 1:24 am
This got me thinking of the origins and early history of the country house mystery. I suppose you can trace its early prototypes back to Wilkie Collins, but later Sherlock is mainly metropolitan – and while ‘Baskervilles,’ ‘Valley of Fear’ and some of the short stories do feature country houses or castles, they’re not really country house mysteries in the true sense (with a closed circle of suspects and all that).
The first proper instance I can think of is ‘The Mystery of the Yellow Room’ (1907) followed perhaps by ‘Trent’s Last Case’ (1913) and then of course ‘Styles’ (1920). Are there other early examples that predate Christie’s debut?
August 2nd, 2025 at 3:24 pm
A good question. It will take someone who has read more early detective fiction than I have to answer it properly. I will ask it as its own post and see if anyone reading it can say more.