Such a Jolly Little Murder!

The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne (1922) – Two young friends play Holmes and Watson when the long-lost brother of their country manor host suddenly appears, and just as suddenly dies. Their host disappears and now they have to weave the threads of the mystery together in a classic “locked room” mystery.

Yes, it’s THAT A. A. Milne.

Before he led us all into the delights of the Hundred Acre Wood, Milne tried his hand at a mystery. He was a fan of the genre as a reader, but wanted to create something different from the standard mysteries of the day. So a pair of amiable amateurs lead the way, with nothing but their wits to get them to the answer before the local constabulary. The homage to Holmes is direct, Tony Gillingham insists that his young friend Bill Beverley serve as his “Watson” and brings the idea up throughout the story. The police play a very small role in the story, mostly as genial plodders who are always a step or two behind the plot.

The book is easy enough to read, but it struck me as little more than a bit of fluff. Milne had written for the legendary English humor magazine Punch, eventually becoming an editor. The breezy style is evident here. If you choose to skim the surface, the book is enough fun, but don’t bother trying to go deep. The main characters, Tony and Bill, spend a lot of time being very impressed with themselves, and have a cheery word for one and all. The murder doesn’t seem to bother them much. “Not quite cricket” would sum it up. Meanwhile, they continue to take advantage of the hospitality of a likely suspect as the murderer, and wander across the fields around the house.

The murder itself is classic in the “locked room” tradition. Room locked, all exits covered, a body with a bullet in its head inside but the murderer vanished without a trace. Too close an examination results in more and more lapses in logic appearing. The key element in how the murderer did it is never explained, and its existence makes little to no sense. It’s unlikely that it could have unfolded the way Milne reveals it. Again, it’s only a problem if you pay the story more attention than it demands.

Milne was a successful writer and playwright before Christopher Robin, and a certain bear of very little brain enchanted us all. That success buried all the rest of his work and made his son’s life (the model for the boy) a misery. American author and critic Alexander Woollcott called Milne’s only mystery “one of the three best mysteries of all time.” I can’t imagine what he was thinking when he wrote that. Frothy and fun, but unlikely to make the list of the top 100 Mysteries of All Time.

Rating – *** Worth A Look