“It is an agreeable book…written with a deceptive smoothness that is not as easy as it looks.” Raymond Chandler
Description
“Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories…The least that I can do is write you one.” So wrote A. A. Milne to his father, to whom he dedicated this delectable mystery.
Mark Ablett’s stately mansion, the Red House, is filled with very proper guests when his most improper brother returns from Australia. The prodigal brother enters Mark’s study, the parlor maid hears arguing, and the brother dies—rather suddenly, with a bullet between his eyes. The study is locked from the inside, and Mark is missing!
Investigating the crime is wealthy Antony Gillingham, who rivals Sherlock Holmes in his remarkable powers of observation. He is aided by his friend, Bill Beverley, a cheerful young man in white flannels. Echoes of Christopher Robin and his friends chime nostalgically throughout this charming classic of detection!
Praise
“It is an agreeable book…written with a deceptive smoothness that is not as easy as it looks.” Raymond Chandler
“A detective comedy of pronounced élan and ingenuity.” Times Literary Supplement (London)
“Though Milne is immediately associated with Winnie-the-Pooh and pals, he nonetheless wrote a number of adult titles, including this 1922 novel in which guests at a country estate become amateur sleuths when a shooting occurs and all evidence points toward their host.” Library Journal
“This droll whodunit from the creator of Winnie the Pooh sparkles with witty dialogue, deft plotting, and an amusing cast. In between taking tea and playing billiards, an amateur detective and his chum investigate their genial host’s disappearance. A series of lighthearted capers ensues, replete with secret passageways, underwater evidence, and other atmospheric devices.” Goodreads.com
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Dec 31, 1998 |
| Release Date | January 1, 1999 |
| Release Date Machine | 915148800 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Bestselling Mystery, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Literature & Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Suspense, Traditional Detectives, Bestselling Mysteries, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Alan Alexander Milne (1882–1956) was the son of a Scottish schoolmaster. Milne won a scholarship to Westminster School and later read mathematics at Cambridge. His real interest was in lighthearted writing; he edited the undergraduate magazine Granta and at twenty-four he became assistant editor of Punch. After serving as a signals officer in World War I he won additional acclaim as a playwright. His great success, however, came as a writer of children’s literature after publishing a series of verses about his young son Christopher Robin (When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six). Following the acclaim received for the Winnie-the-Pooh books, Milne published several novels as well as an autobiography, It’s Too Late Now (1939).
Narrator Bio
Overview
“Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories…The least that I can do is write you one.” So wrote A. A. Milne to his father, to whom he dedicated this delectable mystery.
Mark Ablett’s stately mansion, the Red House, is filled with very proper guests when his most improper brother returns from Australia. The prodigal brother enters Mark’s study, the parlor maid hears arguing, and the brother dies—rather suddenly, with a bullet between his eyes. The study is locked from the inside, and Mark is missing!
Investigating the crime is wealthy Antony Gillingham, who rivals Sherlock Holmes in his remarkable powers of observation. He is aided by his friend, Bill Beverley, a cheerful young man in white flannels. Echoes of Christopher Robin and his friends chime nostalgically throughout this charming classic of detection!
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