Reviews for English country house murders

The average rating for English country house murders based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-03-20 00:00:00 Ronald Chmiel I bought this book (in hard cover!) many years ago. I read The Usual Suspects, but couldn't get into the authors that had fallen into obscurity. I'm now an enthusiastic Golden Age mystery reader, so I thought I'd give these stories another try. The Adventure of Abbey Grange by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not every story in this book is Golden Age - and what collection of mysteries would be complete without a Sherlock Holmes! This isn't one of Doyle's best, but it certainly gives some interesting insights into Holmes' character and his relationship with the faithful Dr Watson! 3★ A Marriage Tragedy by Wilkie Collins. I tried (& failed) to read The Moonstone many years ago. Maybe I would be more open to it now. I wasn't definitely intrigued enough to finish to find out what had happened to husband from Hell, James Smith. This is by far the longest selection in this book (most of the others are less than 20 pages) and it did drag in a couple of places and the ending was somewhat gloomy. 3.5★ Lord Chizelrigg's Missing Fortune by Robert Barr. Entertaining but very improbable. Lord Valmont is like an early version of Hercule Poirot! 3★ The Fordwych Castle Mystery by Baroness Orczy. Looks like it wasn't just the obscure writers I was disappointed by! Silly, improbable, melodramatic and didn't make much sense. I was really disappointed as Lady Molly was one of the first female detectives. 2★ The Blue Scarab by R. Austin Freeman. Competent mystery with workmanlike writing. Similar in style to Conan Doyle, but less engaging. 3★ The Doom of the Darnaways by G.K. Chesterton. Very engaging writing with a cleverly constructed mystery. The clues are there for you - you just need to know where to look! 4★ The Shadow on the Glass by Agatha Christie. I read this last year in The Mysterious Mr. Quin I thought this was one of the slighter stories in that collection. I still think that 3★ The Queen's Square by Dorothy L. Sayers. This was just too short to carry all the ideas & potential this mystery had. Bit of a shame. 3.5 ★

Review # 2 was written on 2012-11-27 00:00:00 Charles Madison An excellent compilation of 22 shorts featuring the quintessential writers of the genre. If you want a taste of what makes these authors so good at their craft, this is a nice reference book to begin with. Many of these (Ethel White, Christianna Brand and Nicholas Blake) were new to me, but after a sampling of their work, I'll be looking into longer books from them. Personal favorites include Ethel White's The Unlocked Window (deliciously creepy), Philip MacDonald's The Wood-for-the-Trees (a great ending), Agatha Christie's The Shadow on the Glass (duh, Agatha Christie, hello...), Wilkie Collins' A Marriage Tragedy (more modern then I expected from this Victorian writer) and finally Christianna Brand's The Man on the Roof (great twist). Really, there wasn't a dud in the bunch. My only quibble (and it's a minor one) is that I don't consider the book's title and premise was completely true. While the majority of the shorts did feature both a country house with a murder, some of the stories quite frankly did not (either no country house or no murder). A minor thing, but still false advertising. Otherwise, highly recommended reading for mystery lovers.