The Red House Mystery (Dover Mystery Classics)

Rating:
Summary: A tad overrated
Review: "I envy those readers who are coming to this lighthearted masterpiece for the first time," writes Douglas G. Greene in the introduction of A. A. Milne's "The Red House Mystery." Since Greene is considered the leading expert on John Dickson Carr--one of the greatest Golden Age detective novelists--I was tremendously excited by his recommendation and plunged into the book straightaway.

It took me a little under two weeks to finish. Yes, for a book that isn't even two hundred pages. The story features Antony Gillingham and Bill Beverley as a rather unlikely Holmes and Watson who set out to unravel a bizarre murder at the Red House. Although Gillingham and Beverley make an interesting pair, the way they tackle the problem is a bit too languid and leisurely for my taste (and I usually thrive on cozy mysteries), and since there is virtually no action and almost no other major characters to focus on--well, it's not exactly a page-turner. There are a few nifty plot tricks--one twist involving a door key is particularly clever--but the resolution (which falls back on that most irritating of cliches, the letter of confession) doesn't carry much in the way of suspense or surprise.

Still, it's all very witty and well-written, and the droll humor that spawned "Winnie-the-Pooh" is very much in evidence. Anglophiles will treasure it for its delineation of mid-1920s England alone. But I was expecting a masterpiece, and as a detective novel, "The Red House Mystery" is no masterpiece--but then again, Mr. Milne is no John Dickson Carr.

Rating:
Summary: A tad overrated
Review: "I envy those readers who are coming to this lighthearted masterpiece for the first time," writes Douglas G. Greene in the introduction of A. A. Milne's "The Red House Mystery." Since Greene is considered the leading expert on John Dickson Carr--one of the greatest Golden Age detective novelists--I was tremendously excited by his recommendation and plunged into the book straightaway.

It took me a little under two weeks to finish. Yes, for a book that isn't even two hundred pages. The story features Antony Gillingham and Bill Beverley as a rather unlikely Holmes and Watson who set out to unravel a bizarre murder at the Red House. Although Gillingham and Beverley make an interesting pair, the way they tackle the problem is a bit too languid and leisurely for my taste (and I usually thrive on cozy mysteries), and since there is virtually no action and almost no other major characters to focus on--well, it's not exactly a page-turner. There are a few nifty plot tricks--one twist involving a door key is particularly clever--but the resolution (which falls back on that most irritating of cliches, the letter of confession) doesn't carry much in the way of suspense or surprise.

Still, it's all very witty and well-written, and the droll humor that spawned "Winnie-the-Pooh" is very much in evidence. Anglophiles will treasure it for its delineation of mid-1920s England alone. But I was expecting a masterpiece, and as a detective novel, "The Red House Mystery" is no masterpiece--but then again, Mr. Milne is no John Dickson Carr.

Rating:
Summary: A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY
Review: NOT REALLY A REVIEW JUST A VOTE FOR THIS DELIGHTFUL BOOK. THOSE WHO LOVE ENGLISH MYSTERIES WILL LIKE THIS.

Rating:
Summary: pleasant enough reading experience
Review: Of course it's very hampering being a detective, when you don't know anything about detecting, and when nobody knows that you're doing detection, and you can't have people up to cross-examine them, and you have neither the energy nor the means to make proper inquiries; and, in short, when you're doing the whole thing in a thoroughly amateur, haphazard way. -A.A. Milne (The Red House Mystery)

A.A. Milne is, of course, best remembered for his series of Winnie the Pooh tales. In addition, he wrote for the famous British humor magazine Punch, was a fine playwright and, though he served in WWI, became an outspoken pacifist. In the midst of all this, he wrote one of the classic English drawing room mysteries--The Red House Mystery. The book ends on a note which seems to imply that further adventures will follow, but sadly none did.

The Red House is a British manor, home to Mark Ablett, and gathering place for his fun loving friends. But the bucolic setting is disrupted when Ablett's long lost brother, black sheep of the family, is murdered and Mark goes missing. Two guests, Antony Gillingham, a sort of Holmsian jack of all trades, and Bill Beverley, a mildly dense Watson-like sidekick, take it upon themselves to solve the crime. What follows is a reasonably dated but still amusing "intuitive" mystery. Raymond Chandler apparently went out of his way to attack the story as one of the worst examples of the genre, wholly lacking in genuine criminological methodology and requiring enormous intuitive leaps on the part of the "detectives". Still, take it for what it is and it offers a pleasant enough reading experience.

GRADE: C+

Rating:
Summary: The Red Mystery
Review: The Red House Mystery by A.A Milne was a mystery set in the late 1900's. The story was about a lady named Miss Stevens in the red house. There is a man or a woman that is killing people, so the public has to try and figure out who did it, when and how. This is probably one of the best mystery stories I have ever read. This book really had a lot of suspense and surprising points. I think you'll be very shocked about what happens at the end. I recommend this book to whoever likes mysteries or who is at a high school level.

Rating:
Summary: The Red Mystery
Review: The Red House Mystery by A.A Milne was a mystery set in the late 1900's. The story was about a lady named Miss Stevens in the red house. There is a man or a woman that is killing people, so the public has to try and figure out who did it, when and how. This is probably one of the best mystery stories I have ever read. This book really had a lot of suspense and surprising points. I think you'll be very shocked about what happens at the end. I recommend this book to whoever likes mysteries or who is at a high school level.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Entertaining Read
Review: This is Milne's only foray into writing an adult-level book (unfortunately), having written it for the sake of his father (a consummate lover of mysteries). A country side mansion is a common gathering point for several of the upper crust of British society. One of the guests invites a friend of his over to meet the host. As the friend arrives the host suddenly dies behind a locked door. Foul play is immediately suspected, but the police are stumped. Somewhat formulaic, this mystery had a couple of unexpected twists and turns which kept me guessing, until near the end, what had happened to the host (yes, even the manner of his death is mysterious). I was pleasantly suprised when I realized that all of the data to solve the mystery had been there all along, but I had missed it! This smacked a little of Christie and Holmes wrapped together (perhaps an unfair comparison, but I did enjoy this book). Well worth the purchase price. 156pp. I wish there had been more books like this from the author. A shame.

Rating:
Summary: Murderously Fun
Review: This was the most fun I've had reading a mystery since I read the Hardy Boys as a kid. It seems you should be reading it under the covers with a flashlight. In The Red House Mystery, A.A. Milne (of Pooh fame) lets us pal around with Tony Gillingham, a jack-of-all-trades who is trying his hand a being a detective. The setting is an English country house loaded with guests, including the British major, the willful actress, and the dim-but-lovable young athlete. These are stock characters; Tony and his friend Bill even gleefully refer to each other as "Holmes" and "Watson". It's all very playful, despite the corpse. So much so that Tony and Bill are guilty about how much fun they are having.

There are tons of mentions of amateur theatricals and acting. Tony is playing at being a detective and so is the reader, which draws you into the story alongside him. In a way you are competing with Tony and Bill to solve the crime. It's a fair contest: only amateurs allowed. Milne gives you all the clues, even to the point of saying things like "This would be important later." In the reader's head a siren goes off and a sign lights up saying "CLUE". Tony and Bill bounce theories off each other and the theories change as the clues mount up. Still, Tony is always ahead of Bill (and probably the reader). He knows the real question in a mystery is not "How?" but "Why?"

The best parts are the gasps of surprise and moments of anticipation while we wait in darkness for the sounds of approaching footsteps. Milne has a great way of setting the mood, whether it's nervous tension or eager curiosity. A fun mystery is like opening up a big present: You can't wait to know what it is. Milne conveys this sense of "I need to know" in this his one-and-only mystery novel. If you're like me, you'll need to know and keep saying to yourself, "One more chapter and I'll put out the light."