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Inspector Kendall #1
Thirteen Guests
On a fine autumn weekend, Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Among the guests are an actress, a journalist, an artist, and a mystery novelist. The unlucky thirteenth is John Foss, injured at the local train station and brought to the house to recuperate – but John is nursing a secret of his own.
Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall’s skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.
This country-house mystery is a forgotten classic of 1930s crime fiction by one of the most undeservedly neglected of golden age detective novelists.
Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall’s skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.
This country-house mystery is a forgotten classic of 1930s crime fiction by one of the most undeservedly neglected of golden age detective novelists.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1936
102 people are currently reading
1515 people want to read
About the author
J. Jefferson Farjeon
89 books91 followersJoseph Jefferson Farjeon was always going to be a writer as, born in London, he was the son of Benjamin Leopold Farjeon who at the time was a well-known novelist whose other children were Eleanor Farjeon, who became a children's writer, and Herbert Farjeon, who became a playwright and who wrote the well-respected 'A Cricket Bag'.
The family were descended from Thomas Jefferson but it was his maternal grandfather, the American actor Joseph Jefferson, after whom Joseph was named. He was educated privately and at Peterborough Lodge and one of his early jobs, from 1910 to 1920, was doing some editorial work for the Amalgamated Press.
His first published work was in 1924 when Brentano's produced 'The Master Criminal', which is a tale of identity reversal involving two brothers, one a master detective, the other a master criminal. A New York Times reviewer commented favourably, "Mr. Farjeon displays a great deal of knowledge about story-telling and multiplies the interest of his plot through a terse, telling style and a rigid compression." This was the beginning of a career that would encompass over 80 published novels, ending with 'The Caravan Adventure' in 1955.
He also wrote a number of plays, some of which were filmed, most notably Number Seventeen which was produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1932, and many short stories.
Many of his novels were in the mystery and detective genre although he was recognised as being one of the first novelists to entwine romance with crime. In addition he was known for his keen humour and flashing wit but he also used sinister and terrifying storylines quite freely. One critic for the Saturday Review of Literature reviewed one of his later books writing that it was "amusing, satirical, and [a] frequently hair-raising yarn of an author who got dangerously mixed up with his imaginary characters. Tricky."
When he died at Hove in Sussex in 1955 his obituary in The Times wrote of his "deserved popularity for ingenious and entertaining plots and characterization".
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
The family were descended from Thomas Jefferson but it was his maternal grandfather, the American actor Joseph Jefferson, after whom Joseph was named. He was educated privately and at Peterborough Lodge and one of his early jobs, from 1910 to 1920, was doing some editorial work for the Amalgamated Press.
His first published work was in 1924 when Brentano's produced 'The Master Criminal', which is a tale of identity reversal involving two brothers, one a master detective, the other a master criminal. A New York Times reviewer commented favourably, "Mr. Farjeon displays a great deal of knowledge about story-telling and multiplies the interest of his plot through a terse, telling style and a rigid compression." This was the beginning of a career that would encompass over 80 published novels, ending with 'The Caravan Adventure' in 1955.
He also wrote a number of plays, some of which were filmed, most notably Number Seventeen which was produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1932, and many short stories.
Many of his novels were in the mystery and detective genre although he was recognised as being one of the first novelists to entwine romance with crime. In addition he was known for his keen humour and flashing wit but he also used sinister and terrifying storylines quite freely. One critic for the Saturday Review of Literature reviewed one of his later books writing that it was "amusing, satirical, and [a] frequently hair-raising yarn of an author who got dangerously mixed up with his imaginary characters. Tricky."
When he died at Hove in Sussex in 1955 his obituary in The Times wrote of his "deserved popularity for ingenious and entertaining plots and characterization".
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews
June 7, 2019
J. Jefferson Farjeon puts it all together like a classic navy blazer paired with a blue gingham shirt, offset by indigo heather trousers and a pair of dark brown leather monk-straps, along with appropriately colored tie, belt, and socks of course, and topped off with a bracelet matching the blazer's brass buttons. Which, quite coincidentally, is the exact outfit I will be wearing tonight. I will be channeling that fashion-forward Thirteen Guests style. It's a good look!
I love the way this novel puts all of its pieces together, so carefully. It doesn't rush. Other reviewers didn't like the slow build-up, the deliberate table-setting, before the mysteries and murders start piling up. Perhaps other reviewers are in a rush and have less time on their hands, shrug. Personally, I don't like to be rushed. I prefer some deliberation, some thoughtfulness, some care with the characters and the situation they've all found themselves in. I like the immersive experiences, even in books as slim and trim as this one. Thirteen Guests wants you to be familiar and comfortable with this closed circle of a world. Certain unwanted guests try to enter that circle, much to their dismay and my delight. J. Jefferson Farjeon serves up the sweet comeuppance alongside the high society style. It was all delicious.
That ending! I just loved it. All the moving parts, the little pieces, now fitting into place. That pleasant character on the edge of the narrative suddenly coming to the center, to show who's boss. The novel features a low-key romance that never became cloying, kudos. It also features a clever and at times quite nervy detective and two amusingly bitchy amateur sleuths who investigate and eventually wrap up the mystery - but who actually don't really understand how efficiently they've all been managed. That was delightful.
Sometimes efficient planning and a careful arrangement of different parts can turn a pleasant little lark into something surprisingly memorable. And so it is with Thirteen Guests.
I love the way this novel puts all of its pieces together, so carefully. It doesn't rush. Other reviewers didn't like the slow build-up, the deliberate table-setting, before the mysteries and murders start piling up. Perhaps other reviewers are in a rush and have less time on their hands, shrug. Personally, I don't like to be rushed. I prefer some deliberation, some thoughtfulness, some care with the characters and the situation they've all found themselves in. I like the immersive experiences, even in books as slim and trim as this one. Thirteen Guests wants you to be familiar and comfortable with this closed circle of a world. Certain unwanted guests try to enter that circle, much to their dismay and my delight. J. Jefferson Farjeon serves up the sweet comeuppance alongside the high society style. It was all delicious.
That ending! I just loved it. All the moving parts, the little pieces, now fitting into place. That pleasant character on the edge of the narrative suddenly coming to the center, to show who's boss. The novel features a low-key romance that never became cloying, kudos. It also features a clever and at times quite nervy detective and two amusingly bitchy amateur sleuths who investigate and eventually wrap up the mystery - but who actually don't really understand how efficiently they've all been managed. That was delightful.
Sometimes efficient planning and a careful arrangement of different parts can turn a pleasant little lark into something surprisingly memorable. And so it is with Thirteen Guests.
July 30, 2020
This novel was written by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883 – 1955), who wrote many mysteries, including the recently republished, “Mystery in White.” “Thirteen Guests” was original published in 1936 and has a traditional Golden Age country house setting.
Twelve guests are headed for Bragley Court, the country house of conservative politician, Lord Aveling. They are joined by a surprise visitor – a young man called John Foss, who trips leaving the train at Flensham station and hurts his foot. Gathered up by beautiful widow, Nadine Leveridge, he is quickly installed at Bragley Court and becomes a witness to all the other guests who arrive. They include actress Zina Wilding, gossip columnist Lionel Bultin, Sussex cricketer Harold Taverley, liberal politican Sr James Earnshaw, artist Leicester Pratt and others. The last arrivals include Mr and Mrs Chater and both bring a sense of unease to the gathering.
Obviously, the weekend is full of secrets, mysterious strangers, blackmail and assignations. Things begin badly, with a family dog killed and Leicester Pratt’s painting of the daughter of Lord and Lady Aveling damaged beyond repair. However, that is not the worst that will befall the weekend guests and, before long, there is murder and the guests become suspects. Detective Inspector Kendall is called in to investigate and begins to unravel the puzzle. This is a really enjoyable mystery, with a great cast of characters and a plot it is virtually impossible to unravel. I hope more of Farjeon’s novels are re-released as I am a great fan of Golden Age mysteries and look forward to discovering more out of print classics. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
Twelve guests are headed for Bragley Court, the country house of conservative politician, Lord Aveling. They are joined by a surprise visitor – a young man called John Foss, who trips leaving the train at Flensham station and hurts his foot. Gathered up by beautiful widow, Nadine Leveridge, he is quickly installed at Bragley Court and becomes a witness to all the other guests who arrive. They include actress Zina Wilding, gossip columnist Lionel Bultin, Sussex cricketer Harold Taverley, liberal politican Sr James Earnshaw, artist Leicester Pratt and others. The last arrivals include Mr and Mrs Chater and both bring a sense of unease to the gathering.
Obviously, the weekend is full of secrets, mysterious strangers, blackmail and assignations. Things begin badly, with a family dog killed and Leicester Pratt’s painting of the daughter of Lord and Lady Aveling damaged beyond repair. However, that is not the worst that will befall the weekend guests and, before long, there is murder and the guests become suspects. Detective Inspector Kendall is called in to investigate and begins to unravel the puzzle. This is a really enjoyable mystery, with a great cast of characters and a plot it is virtually impossible to unravel. I hope more of Farjeon’s novels are re-released as I am a great fan of Golden Age mysteries and look forward to discovering more out of print classics. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
June 24, 2015
In Thirteen Guests, first published in 1936, disillusioned John Foss suffers a fall from a railway train when alighting in a small Suffolk town and, thanks to an exquisitely beautiful but mysterious young widow, gets spirited to a grand country house, Bragley Court, to recover. There, Foss finds himself in the midst of a weekend stag-hunting party, one of 13 guests. He finds, in addition to the alluring widow Nadine Leveridge, an affable baron with a wandering eye as host, the baron’s high-strung daughter, two cynics — a painter and a gossip columnist, a conceited lady detective novelist, the shady Mr. Chater and his nervous wife, a jumped-up sausage magnate and his wife and unappealing daughter, and several other fleshed-out characters.
In author J. Farjeon’s deft hands, what could have been a stagnant variation on the country-house murder turns instead into a suspenseful murder mystery and a wonderful character study. Thirteen Guests may be my first Joseph Jefferson Farjeon novel, but it won’t be my last. Farjeon, although nearly forgotten these days, was so popular in his heyday as a playwright and novelist that no less a luminary than Dorothy L. Sayers called him “quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures.” While Thirteen Guests isn’t particularly creepy, readers will find it an expertly crafted example of a Golden Age crime novel. And that ending! Magnificent!
British Library’s Poisoned Pen Press has been steadily bringing back Golden Age crime classics, such as this one by J. (Joseph Jefferson) Farjeon. Some of the reprintings have been a delight, for example, reintroducing John Bude and his The Lake District Murder and The Sussex Downs Murder to modern audiences. Some were not really worth reviving. (I mean, of course, The Notting Hill Mystery, written Charles Warren Adams under the pen name Charles Felix. While The Notting Hill Mystery (1865) is the first detective novel, predating both Émile Gaboriau’s L'affaire Lerouge (1866) and Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone (1868), its value today is mostly for academics and history buffs.) With Thirteen Guests, Poisoned Pen Press has provided a real gift to readers who weren’t even born yet when the novel was still in print. Here’s hoping that they will reprint the dozens of novels Farjeon penned. After this wonderful introduction to Farjeon, I can’t wait to read the next one!
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.
In author J. Farjeon’s deft hands, what could have been a stagnant variation on the country-house murder turns instead into a suspenseful murder mystery and a wonderful character study. Thirteen Guests may be my first Joseph Jefferson Farjeon novel, but it won’t be my last. Farjeon, although nearly forgotten these days, was so popular in his heyday as a playwright and novelist that no less a luminary than Dorothy L. Sayers called him “quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures.” While Thirteen Guests isn’t particularly creepy, readers will find it an expertly crafted example of a Golden Age crime novel. And that ending! Magnificent!
British Library’s Poisoned Pen Press has been steadily bringing back Golden Age crime classics, such as this one by J. (Joseph Jefferson) Farjeon. Some of the reprintings have been a delight, for example, reintroducing John Bude and his The Lake District Murder and The Sussex Downs Murder to modern audiences. Some were not really worth reviving. (I mean, of course, The Notting Hill Mystery, written Charles Warren Adams under the pen name Charles Felix. While The Notting Hill Mystery (1865) is the first detective novel, predating both Émile Gaboriau’s L'affaire Lerouge (1866) and Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone (1868), its value today is mostly for academics and history buffs.) With Thirteen Guests, Poisoned Pen Press has provided a real gift to readers who weren’t even born yet when the novel was still in print. Here’s hoping that they will reprint the dozens of novels Farjeon penned. After this wonderful introduction to Farjeon, I can’t wait to read the next one!
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.
August 17, 2020
This classic mystery of the "Golden Age" detective fiction by J. Jefferson Farjeon was a real fun read. It is not quite a clever mystery, but certainly an engaging one with witty dialogue and satire. This is my first reading of Farjeon and I do like his writing.
In Thirteen Guests, thirteen people from different ranks and occupations are invited to the country house named Bragley Court of Lord Aveling for a hunting party. During the course, a painting is mutilated, a dog is killed, two men (one being a house guest) are dead and a woman (also a house guest) is disappeared. Death and disaster seem to be looming over the Bragley Court and the police are called. Inspector Kendall with his expertise and the help of few amateur sleuths and observant and eavesdropping house guests solves the puzzling mystery.
This was an interesting detective novel, not because of any genius in its plot, it is only a simple premise based on the themes of blackmail and jealousy, but because of the interesting character set Farjeon brings to his story and Farjeon's light, witty and satirical writing. The mystery was alright but not impressive but his writing grabbed me and helped me to a good portion of laughter. This was my first reading of Farjeon and had no idea what to expect, but I wasn't disappointed. I found Thirteen Guest to be quite an entertaining detective novel.
In Thirteen Guests, thirteen people from different ranks and occupations are invited to the country house named Bragley Court of Lord Aveling for a hunting party. During the course, a painting is mutilated, a dog is killed, two men (one being a house guest) are dead and a woman (also a house guest) is disappeared. Death and disaster seem to be looming over the Bragley Court and the police are called. Inspector Kendall with his expertise and the help of few amateur sleuths and observant and eavesdropping house guests solves the puzzling mystery.
This was an interesting detective novel, not because of any genius in its plot, it is only a simple premise based on the themes of blackmail and jealousy, but because of the interesting character set Farjeon brings to his story and Farjeon's light, witty and satirical writing. The mystery was alright but not impressive but his writing grabbed me and helped me to a good portion of laughter. This was my first reading of Farjeon and had no idea what to expect, but I wasn't disappointed. I found Thirteen Guest to be quite an entertaining detective novel.
February 9, 2022
I suspect this style of writing won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s definitely mine. Written in the 1930s, this is a typical country house murder mystery with a group of disparate individuals gathered together for the weekend at Lord Aveling’s country pile. John Foss arrives by accident, literally, as he falls off the train and sprains his ankle. This leads to him being sequestered in a handy anteroom just off the main hall so that he can see and hear much of the goings on.
In many ways, I feel this ‘out-Christie’s’ Christie. The dialogue is often sparkling - think Tracy / Hepburn - and many chapters are introduced by the sort of scene setting we used to hear in old movies. In my head, the voice was George Sanders! The opening paragraphs of Chapter 1 are wonderful. We’re introduced to all the characters with just enough information to have us wanting more. The storyline develops rapidly and is quite complex so that it keeps you on your toes as an amateur sleuth trying to figure it all out. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming at all.
In many ways, I feel this ‘out-Christie’s’ Christie. The dialogue is often sparkling - think Tracy / Hepburn - and many chapters are introduced by the sort of scene setting we used to hear in old movies. In my head, the voice was George Sanders! The opening paragraphs of Chapter 1 are wonderful. We’re introduced to all the characters with just enough information to have us wanting more. The storyline develops rapidly and is quite complex so that it keeps you on your toes as an amateur sleuth trying to figure it all out. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming at all.
December 13, 2015
3 1/2 stars for this classic English Mystery - an enjoyable read.
On a fine autumn weekend, Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Twelve guests are invited, but an unlucky thirteen arrive, one quite by accident.
Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, a man is found dead and another goes missing.
Who among the guests is not quite who he or she claims to be?
Bravo to Poison Pen Press for republishing these classic murder mysteries. They transport us back to a time of taking tea, and dressing for dinner, of hunts and dances, of murder, secret liaisons and intrigue.
Thank you to Poison Pen Press and NetGalley for the gift of this book in exchange for an honest review.
On a fine autumn weekend, Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Twelve guests are invited, but an unlucky thirteen arrive, one quite by accident.
Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, a man is found dead and another goes missing.
Who among the guests is not quite who he or she claims to be?
Bravo to Poison Pen Press for republishing these classic murder mysteries. They transport us back to a time of taking tea, and dressing for dinner, of hunts and dances, of murder, secret liaisons and intrigue.
Thank you to Poison Pen Press and NetGalley for the gift of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 2, 2024
Thirteen Guests is a surprisingly wonderful old-fashioned country house mystery which was originally published in 1936.
Poisoned Pen Press in Scottsdale, Arizona -- in association with the British Library -- has been giving new life to some heretofore forgotten mysteries from the Golden Age. Unfortunately, some of them are best forgotten, as I discovered after purchasing another, less traditional mystery by Farjeon which just didn't cut it for me. But occasionally you find a real gem, and this is one of those.
Thirteen Guests is everything you'd ever want in a country house mystery. It has wit and charm, more than one death, and a wonderful little romance between John and Anne. I really loved this, and it explains to me why Farjeon was so respected in his day, despite my disappointment in one of his other titles.
Great fun in the very old-fashion - and best - sense of mystery reading fun. Highly recommended for fans of Christie, Alingham, Wentworth and Marsh.
Poisoned Pen Press in Scottsdale, Arizona -- in association with the British Library -- has been giving new life to some heretofore forgotten mysteries from the Golden Age. Unfortunately, some of them are best forgotten, as I discovered after purchasing another, less traditional mystery by Farjeon which just didn't cut it for me. But occasionally you find a real gem, and this is one of those.
Thirteen Guests is everything you'd ever want in a country house mystery. It has wit and charm, more than one death, and a wonderful little romance between John and Anne. I really loved this, and it explains to me why Farjeon was so respected in his day, despite my disappointment in one of his other titles.
Great fun in the very old-fashion - and best - sense of mystery reading fun. Highly recommended for fans of Christie, Alingham, Wentworth and Marsh.
July 27, 2020
I find these re-published 'lost classics' a mixed bunch but this was one of the better ones for me, and that's because Farjeon's writing contains flashes of wit and a flair for emotions that are sometimes lacking in this genre.
The story is a classic country house weekend party and there's an info-dump early on of who's who. It also feels a bit like Farjeon gets bored with the murder towards the end and gives us a whole chapter of the police inspector writing out the solution in his notebook!
So I suspect this is one for readers who don't mind a character-led story rather than a twisty plot - the split-second timing of events and the incomplete understanding of the police made me smile. Just watch out for a gruesome hunting scene... compensated for by an engaging love story amidst the mayhem.
The story is a classic country house weekend party and there's an info-dump early on of who's who. It also feels a bit like Farjeon gets bored with the murder towards the end and gives us a whole chapter of the police inspector writing out the solution in his notebook!
So I suspect this is one for readers who don't mind a character-led story rather than a twisty plot - the split-second timing of events and the incomplete understanding of the police made me smile. Just watch out for a gruesome hunting scene... compensated for by an engaging love story amidst the mayhem.
October 22, 2015
Lucky for some...
Twelve guests are invited to the country house of Lord Aveling for the weekend. They're a mixed group – Lord Aveling has political ambitions so some are people he hopes will back him, there's an influential newspaper columnist he hopes will give him some good publicity, an artist who's painting his daughter, an actress for whom he has... ahem... other plans, and a couple of people he doesn't really know, but has invited along at the request of others in the party. When John Foss trips and sprains his ankle at the railway station, one of the invited guests decides to take him along to the Hall for treatment, and Lord Aveling insists on him staying till he's better. Superstition says it's unlucky to be the thirteenth guest, but to John's relief he's not the last to arrive. Which, as it turns out, is lucky indeed, since soon the hall is awash with corpses...
This is a fairly typical Golden Age country house mystery, first published in 1936. It gets off to a good start, with John's accident and his arrival as a stranger to the company providing a good excuse for all the various characters to be introduced to him, and therefore to the reader. The characterisation isn't terribly in-depth, with some of the characters being 'types' rather than individuals – the cricketer who plays with a straight bat, the shifty strangers, the obnoxious journalist, etc. But with such a large cast it would be difficult to fill them all out in a reasonable space and the novel is fairly short, as they tended to be back in those happy far-off times.
The plot is quite complex and there are lots of red herrings running... er... swimming around, so Detective Inspector Kendall has his work cut out for him when he finally arrives. Fortunately, he's a wily old fox who can see through people's lies and evasions, and spot clues that others would miss. He forms an unlikely alliance with the obnoxious journalist, who acts as a kind of unofficial investigator on the inside. Eventually all will be revealed – but with an unexpected twist in the tail that adds an extra layer of interest.
The writing is pretty good if somewhat dated in style, which shows through particularly in the dialogue of which there's a lot. There's a rather unlikely and not terribly romantic romance going on as a sub-plot, but again this is really a device so that two of the characters can have intimate tête-à-têtes to keep the reader informed of what's going on. It starts and finishes well, but I found the middle dragged a bit as Kendall carried out interviews with all the various characters. And in the end, the explanation is pretty much presented to us by the characters telling each other what really happened. In retrospect, I do think it was fair-play, but too fiendishly convoluted for my poor little brain to fathom. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to people who enjoy these old-style mysteries. But, in truth, the more I read of the 'forgotten classics', the more I realise how good the ones are that haven't been forgotten. Enjoyable, but not to be compared to the likes of Christie, Marsh or Sayers. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Twelve guests are invited to the country house of Lord Aveling for the weekend. They're a mixed group – Lord Aveling has political ambitions so some are people he hopes will back him, there's an influential newspaper columnist he hopes will give him some good publicity, an artist who's painting his daughter, an actress for whom he has... ahem... other plans, and a couple of people he doesn't really know, but has invited along at the request of others in the party. When John Foss trips and sprains his ankle at the railway station, one of the invited guests decides to take him along to the Hall for treatment, and Lord Aveling insists on him staying till he's better. Superstition says it's unlucky to be the thirteenth guest, but to John's relief he's not the last to arrive. Which, as it turns out, is lucky indeed, since soon the hall is awash with corpses...
This is a fairly typical Golden Age country house mystery, first published in 1936. It gets off to a good start, with John's accident and his arrival as a stranger to the company providing a good excuse for all the various characters to be introduced to him, and therefore to the reader. The characterisation isn't terribly in-depth, with some of the characters being 'types' rather than individuals – the cricketer who plays with a straight bat, the shifty strangers, the obnoxious journalist, etc. But with such a large cast it would be difficult to fill them all out in a reasonable space and the novel is fairly short, as they tended to be back in those happy far-off times.
The plot is quite complex and there are lots of red herrings running... er... swimming around, so Detective Inspector Kendall has his work cut out for him when he finally arrives. Fortunately, he's a wily old fox who can see through people's lies and evasions, and spot clues that others would miss. He forms an unlikely alliance with the obnoxious journalist, who acts as a kind of unofficial investigator on the inside. Eventually all will be revealed – but with an unexpected twist in the tail that adds an extra layer of interest.
The writing is pretty good if somewhat dated in style, which shows through particularly in the dialogue of which there's a lot. There's a rather unlikely and not terribly romantic romance going on as a sub-plot, but again this is really a device so that two of the characters can have intimate tête-à-têtes to keep the reader informed of what's going on. It starts and finishes well, but I found the middle dragged a bit as Kendall carried out interviews with all the various characters. And in the end, the explanation is pretty much presented to us by the characters telling each other what really happened. In retrospect, I do think it was fair-play, but too fiendishly convoluted for my poor little brain to fathom. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to people who enjoy these old-style mysteries. But, in truth, the more I read of the 'forgotten classics', the more I realise how good the ones are that haven't been forgotten. Enjoyable, but not to be compared to the likes of Christie, Marsh or Sayers. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
April 11, 2021
Agatha Christie ist sicher eine der bekanntesten Autorinnen ihrer Zeit - aber es gab durchaus damals noch einige andere, die spannende Krimis geschrieben haben. Da mir schon "Geheimnis in weiss" von J. Jefferson Farjeon so gut gefallen hat, kam ich an dieser Neuauflage nicht vorbei :)
Auf mich wirken die Bücher aus dieser Zeit meist sehr nüchtern geschrieben - da ist dieser Band mal eine erfrischende Ausnahme, denn der Stil wirkt zeitweise sehr erfrischend in seiner lebendigen Art.
Allerdings war ich manchmal auch etwas irritiert, was die Dialoge betrifft. Die Redewendungen scheinen eben doch teilweise veraltet und ich muss gestehen, dass ich aus manchen nicht schlau geworden bin. Da konnte ich allerdings ganz gut drüber weglesen, denn andere Gespräche der Beteiligten wiederum zeigen ein gutes Feingefühl des Autors und machen die Charaktere interessant.
Das Vorgeplänkel vor dem Mord hat mir etwas zu lange gedauert. Bis alle 13 Gäste schließlich auf dem Landgut von Lord Aveling eingetroffen und dem Leser vorgestellt sind verstreicht schon einige Zeit, gespickt mit einigen Details, die später allerdings wichtig werden. Welche das sind, bleibt herauszufinden!
Danach geht die Ermittlung mit den typischen Befragungen gut voran und man kann prima miträtseln - auch wenn einige Informationen verborgen geblieben sind und erst bei der Auflösung geklärt wurden.
Interessant finde ich bei diesen älteren Werken ja immer, wie damals gesprochen wurde, wie die Menschen miteinander umgegangen sind und wie essenziell die gesellschaftliche Stellung war - und wie sehr darauf geachtet wurde. Wenn heute jemand darüber schreibt kann man ja nur auf Erinnerungen zurückgreifen, aber die Autoren von damals spiegeln die Normen direkt wieder, was mich jedes Mal aufs Neue fasziniert.
Auch wie die Männer teilweise schweigen oder lügen aufgrund von "Ritterlichkeit" den Frauen gegenüber, um sie nicht in missliche Situationen zu bringen oder um sie zu schützen, wirkt irgendwie niedlich. Die Frauen dieser Zeit hatten es in ihrer Rolle sicher nicht leicht, auch immer als das "schwache Geschlecht" angesehen zu werden und der Willkür ihrer Männer ausgeliefert zu sein, aber ich finde dieses Verhalten der "Gentleman" in ihrer Rücksichtnahme auch irgendwie galant.
Und ich finde, auch ihnen steht es zu, dass ihre Rolle auch nicht immer einfach war. Aber es wirkt tatsächlich immer wie ein Schauspiel, ein Theaterstück vor Fremden, vor Freunden und auch der Familie, da ständig auf die Etikette, die Ehre und so viele Details geachtet werden musste.
Das gilt heute teilweise auch noch, nur anders. Immerhin galt damals ein Wort noch als ein Wort, was ich heutzutage sehr vermisse. Das Vertrauen ist einfach nicht mehr da.
Wie gesagt dauert es etwas, bis die Geschichte in Fahrt kommt, aber dann steckt man mitten in den vielen kleinen Rätseln um die Aufklärung, die einige Überraschungen bereit hält. Mir hats gut gefallen!
Auf mich wirken die Bücher aus dieser Zeit meist sehr nüchtern geschrieben - da ist dieser Band mal eine erfrischende Ausnahme, denn der Stil wirkt zeitweise sehr erfrischend in seiner lebendigen Art.
Allerdings war ich manchmal auch etwas irritiert, was die Dialoge betrifft. Die Redewendungen scheinen eben doch teilweise veraltet und ich muss gestehen, dass ich aus manchen nicht schlau geworden bin. Da konnte ich allerdings ganz gut drüber weglesen, denn andere Gespräche der Beteiligten wiederum zeigen ein gutes Feingefühl des Autors und machen die Charaktere interessant.
Das Vorgeplänkel vor dem Mord hat mir etwas zu lange gedauert. Bis alle 13 Gäste schließlich auf dem Landgut von Lord Aveling eingetroffen und dem Leser vorgestellt sind verstreicht schon einige Zeit, gespickt mit einigen Details, die später allerdings wichtig werden. Welche das sind, bleibt herauszufinden!
Danach geht die Ermittlung mit den typischen Befragungen gut voran und man kann prima miträtseln - auch wenn einige Informationen verborgen geblieben sind und erst bei der Auflösung geklärt wurden.
Interessant finde ich bei diesen älteren Werken ja immer, wie damals gesprochen wurde, wie die Menschen miteinander umgegangen sind und wie essenziell die gesellschaftliche Stellung war - und wie sehr darauf geachtet wurde. Wenn heute jemand darüber schreibt kann man ja nur auf Erinnerungen zurückgreifen, aber die Autoren von damals spiegeln die Normen direkt wieder, was mich jedes Mal aufs Neue fasziniert.
Auch wie die Männer teilweise schweigen oder lügen aufgrund von "Ritterlichkeit" den Frauen gegenüber, um sie nicht in missliche Situationen zu bringen oder um sie zu schützen, wirkt irgendwie niedlich. Die Frauen dieser Zeit hatten es in ihrer Rolle sicher nicht leicht, auch immer als das "schwache Geschlecht" angesehen zu werden und der Willkür ihrer Männer ausgeliefert zu sein, aber ich finde dieses Verhalten der "Gentleman" in ihrer Rücksichtnahme auch irgendwie galant.
Und ich finde, auch ihnen steht es zu, dass ihre Rolle auch nicht immer einfach war. Aber es wirkt tatsächlich immer wie ein Schauspiel, ein Theaterstück vor Fremden, vor Freunden und auch der Familie, da ständig auf die Etikette, die Ehre und so viele Details geachtet werden musste.
Das gilt heute teilweise auch noch, nur anders. Immerhin galt damals ein Wort noch als ein Wort, was ich heutzutage sehr vermisse. Das Vertrauen ist einfach nicht mehr da.
Wie gesagt dauert es etwas, bis die Geschichte in Fahrt kommt, aber dann steckt man mitten in den vielen kleinen Rätseln um die Aufklärung, die einige Überraschungen bereit hält. Mir hats gut gefallen!
February 19, 2019
'Do you know, Nadine, we haven't talked about us since the evening you brought me here?'
'Two evenings ago,' she reminded him as she sat down.
'It seems more like two years ago,' he answered. 'Lord, what a lot has happened since then! Have you reckoned up the tragedies?'
So say two of the protagonists on page 252 (of 256) of Jefferson Farjeon's country house whodunnit or, perhaps more appropriately his whathavetheydunnandwherehavetheydunnit tale of intrigue 'Thirteen Guests'. Well, I understand what they mean with their 'seems like two years' for reading the first half of the book seemed to take that long. It was so drawn out with nothing much happening that time hung very heavy. However, I am not too convinced about a lot happening.
A cast of characters who all made their way, mostly by invite, to Bragley Court spend all their time avoiding one another for whatever reasons and when meeting, discussing banal and uninteresting matters. The only guest who arouses much interest is John Foss, who is the 13th and only uninvited guest at the house. He arrived there as a casualty by way of injuring himself when alighting from the train at Flensham station, the station for Bragley. Where he was going no-one knows but he ends up being carried to Bragley Court and given an invalid bed in one of the ante-rooms. From there he plays a very nondescript and passive part in the (in)action but does have his eye on the comings and goings of the other guests. In addition he attempts to form a love match with one of them; this little affair remains a mystery even at the end.
As time drags on, sorry, progresses, a dog is aimlessly killed (why we never know) and then a body is found when some of the guests go out on a stag hunt. Subsequently two more people die, I won't say are killed for it is all a trifle unclear, and the somewhat one-paced Inspector Kendall makes no arrests as the story draws to a most uninspiring, and some could say unclear, close.
I have managed to award three stars because (a) I do usually enjoy JJF, (b) there are some, few and far between admittedly, enjoyable moments in the tale and (c) it does have a great cover! In addition I do admire the British Library for republishing these 'Crime Classics'.
'Two evenings ago,' she reminded him as she sat down.
'It seems more like two years ago,' he answered. 'Lord, what a lot has happened since then! Have you reckoned up the tragedies?'
So say two of the protagonists on page 252 (of 256) of Jefferson Farjeon's country house whodunnit or, perhaps more appropriately his whathavetheydunnandwherehavetheydunnit tale of intrigue 'Thirteen Guests'. Well, I understand what they mean with their 'seems like two years' for reading the first half of the book seemed to take that long. It was so drawn out with nothing much happening that time hung very heavy. However, I am not too convinced about a lot happening.
A cast of characters who all made their way, mostly by invite, to Bragley Court spend all their time avoiding one another for whatever reasons and when meeting, discussing banal and uninteresting matters. The only guest who arouses much interest is John Foss, who is the 13th and only uninvited guest at the house. He arrived there as a casualty by way of injuring himself when alighting from the train at Flensham station, the station for Bragley. Where he was going no-one knows but he ends up being carried to Bragley Court and given an invalid bed in one of the ante-rooms. From there he plays a very nondescript and passive part in the (in)action but does have his eye on the comings and goings of the other guests. In addition he attempts to form a love match with one of them; this little affair remains a mystery even at the end.
As time drags on, sorry, progresses, a dog is aimlessly killed (why we never know) and then a body is found when some of the guests go out on a stag hunt. Subsequently two more people die, I won't say are killed for it is all a trifle unclear, and the somewhat one-paced Inspector Kendall makes no arrests as the story draws to a most uninspiring, and some could say unclear, close.
I have managed to award three stars because (a) I do usually enjoy JJF, (b) there are some, few and far between admittedly, enjoyable moments in the tale and (c) it does have a great cover! In addition I do admire the British Library for republishing these 'Crime Classics'.
October 20, 2015
I have almost every book in the British Library Crime Classics series. I've read nearly all. This one, by J. Jefferson Farjeon, is impossibly boring.
Yes, I say boring even though I have read some very slow starters. But none have taken fully the first 1/3 of the narrative to get the mystery started. I found myself re-reading the first 50 pages because I thought for sure that I'd missed something important; in fact, it was nothing that I'd missed but endless palaver on the part of characters I couldn't really care about. On page 149, our hapless hero, Inspector Kendall, makes his debut. This is just past the half-way point in the book. It takes another 100 pages before you start to care about his investigation...and then the story winds up.
Some reviewers have praised the ending. I, too, will join this chorus: I was so glad to get to the end of this book!
It could have benefited from a good editor. Perhaps as a short story it could have had promise, but please: that banal ending has to go, under any circumstances.
Yes, I say boring even though I have read some very slow starters. But none have taken fully the first 1/3 of the narrative to get the mystery started. I found myself re-reading the first 50 pages because I thought for sure that I'd missed something important; in fact, it was nothing that I'd missed but endless palaver on the part of characters I couldn't really care about. On page 149, our hapless hero, Inspector Kendall, makes his debut. This is just past the half-way point in the book. It takes another 100 pages before you start to care about his investigation...and then the story winds up.
Some reviewers have praised the ending. I, too, will join this chorus: I was so glad to get to the end of this book!
It could have benefited from a good editor. Perhaps as a short story it could have had promise, but please: that banal ending has to go, under any circumstances.
November 15, 2020
2.5
The story took so long to get going, I nearly gave up.
The story took so long to get going, I nearly gave up.
January 2, 2022
... And Then There Were Twelve
Review of the Poisoned Pen Press paperback (2015) of the British Library Crime Classics reprint (2015) of the original hardcover (1936)
J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) put the British Library Crime Classics imprint on the map with the breakthrough renaissance of his Mystery in White (orig. 1937 / reprint 2014) which became a posthumous bestseller. Thirteen Guests somewhat follows the same setup of the weekend country house getaway, although the guests are not isolated by a snowstorm and the setting is not during the winter holiday season.
The number of guests, combined with those of the household and then later the police, might make you think this was going to be a complicated affair. Each person did have enough of an individual character via personality, profession or even just a quirky name, to help distinguish them. I had no trouble following the different types (some stereotyped of course e.g. the journalist, the artist, the actress, etc.) along with the clues and the red herrings.
The solution was harder to come by and relied on several key pieces of information being held back until the climax, particularly the identity of an initially anonymous 'fourteenth' visitor who appears early but who is not explained until much later. There is a nice twist ending where, although Inspector Kendall solves the crime and the mysteries to his satisfaction, he is not made aware of a random occurrence which determined the fate of one of the characters. A tacked-on romance at the very end was completely unnecessary, but was probably required due to the conventions of the era.
Overall, Thirteen Guests was a nice cozy mystery read from the Golden Age of Crime, even if it didn't breakthrough into 4 or 5 star territory. This continues my tradition in recent years to read some British Library Crime Classic mysteries or anthologies every Christmas/New Year time.
[image error]
A vintage Cruden Bay Hotel, Aberdeenshire tourism poster (1928), the source of the cover image for "Thirteen Guests." Image sourced from ArtNet
Trivia and Link
The British Library Crime Classic series are reprints of forgotten titles mostly from the 1920's & 1930's, which the series describes as the "Golden Age of Crime". They are up to over 100 titles now (as of early 2022) and you can see a list at the British Library Shop (for North America they are reprinted by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press). There is also a British Library Crime Classics Goodreads Listopia.
Review of the Poisoned Pen Press paperback (2015) of the British Library Crime Classics reprint (2015) of the original hardcover (1936)
J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) put the British Library Crime Classics imprint on the map with the breakthrough renaissance of his Mystery in White (orig. 1937 / reprint 2014) which became a posthumous bestseller. Thirteen Guests somewhat follows the same setup of the weekend country house getaway, although the guests are not isolated by a snowstorm and the setting is not during the winter holiday season.
The number of guests, combined with those of the household and then later the police, might make you think this was going to be a complicated affair. Each person did have enough of an individual character via personality, profession or even just a quirky name, to help distinguish them. I had no trouble following the different types (some stereotyped of course e.g. the journalist, the artist, the actress, etc.) along with the clues and the red herrings.
The solution was harder to come by and relied on several key pieces of information being held back until the climax, particularly the identity of an initially anonymous 'fourteenth' visitor who appears early but who is not explained until much later. There is a nice twist ending where, although Inspector Kendall solves the crime and the mysteries to his satisfaction, he is not made aware of a random occurrence which determined the fate of one of the characters. A tacked-on romance at the very end was completely unnecessary, but was probably required due to the conventions of the era.
Overall, Thirteen Guests was a nice cozy mystery read from the Golden Age of Crime, even if it didn't breakthrough into 4 or 5 star territory. This continues my tradition in recent years to read some British Library Crime Classic mysteries or anthologies every Christmas/New Year time.
[image error]
A vintage Cruden Bay Hotel, Aberdeenshire tourism poster (1928), the source of the cover image for "Thirteen Guests." Image sourced from ArtNet
Trivia and Link
The British Library Crime Classic series are reprints of forgotten titles mostly from the 1920's & 1930's, which the series describes as the "Golden Age of Crime". They are up to over 100 titles now (as of early 2022) and you can see a list at the British Library Shop (for North America they are reprinted by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press). There is also a British Library Crime Classics Goodreads Listopia.
November 22, 2018
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
Like Seven Dead, this actually includes a love story as well, although of a rather different stripe (and maybe a bit less of the focus, since neither party is seriously suspected of the murders). It’s less prominent than the love story in Seven Dead, and thankfully less creepy as well, with some rather good scenes between the two of them negotiating their relationship. At the same time, there’s a convoluted mystery going on with several deaths, complex interrelationships and, well, the usual stock in trade of Golden Age crime fiction, really. It’s a country house mystery, too, just to hit all those traditional notes.
I found it solidly entertaining, and though it’s a bit less weird/creepy than Seven Dead, I think it was probably stronger for it. There’s something about Farjeon’s writing that I find rather more-ish, and I’d gladly pick up a bunch more of his novels. Sadly, I only seem to have The Z Murders left… though I should check for something by other publishers or maybe as an ebook.
Like Seven Dead, this actually includes a love story as well, although of a rather different stripe (and maybe a bit less of the focus, since neither party is seriously suspected of the murders). It’s less prominent than the love story in Seven Dead, and thankfully less creepy as well, with some rather good scenes between the two of them negotiating their relationship. At the same time, there’s a convoluted mystery going on with several deaths, complex interrelationships and, well, the usual stock in trade of Golden Age crime fiction, really. It’s a country house mystery, too, just to hit all those traditional notes.
I found it solidly entertaining, and though it’s a bit less weird/creepy than Seven Dead, I think it was probably stronger for it. There’s something about Farjeon’s writing that I find rather more-ish, and I’d gladly pick up a bunch more of his novels. Sadly, I only seem to have The Z Murders left… though I should check for something by other publishers or maybe as an ebook.
September 12, 2016
This is a very complex story with a huge amount of protagonists. Apart from the 13 guests in the title there are the hosts' family and servants and various others. The first half of the book, I found to be hard going and quite difficult to follow as all these characters had to be introduced and their various relationships explained in the context of the plot. However, when the police arrive in the second half it livens up nicely and becomes a great page-turner and thoroughly enjoyable. I liked Inspector Kendal and the fact that the author let him help the reader understand what was going on. Farjeon must have had a mind like a computer to work it all out.
Highly recommended but patience required early on.
Highly recommended but patience required early on.
March 29, 2021
This was a torturous experience. J Jefferson Farjeon is not the most boring writer in the world. That honor will always belong to Henry James. JJF does run a close second. He is in no hurry to move the story along, and worse, he writes what he imagines to be funny dialog which is anything but. The first murder doesn't occur until halfway thru the book. The police detective doesn't do anything until the very end. Meanwhile, you get tons of talk and narration. I don't understand what makes these books 'British Classics'. I was bored beyond tears.
June 14, 2020
"With no disrespect to Art, your picture is a secondary consideration," retorted the inspector, rather sharply. "I am merely hoping it will give me a line on graver matters."
Thirteen Guests (1936) by J. Jefferson Farjeon
John Foss, having just been turned down by the girl he wanted to marry, takes his bruised heart and a small bag and heads out of London. Where to? Anywhere. He doesn't much care; he just wants to get away from the crowds of people. When the woman in front of him buys a ticket for Flensham, he decides that is a destination as good as any and follows suit. Upon arrival, he has more than a bruised heart--he manages to mangle his leg a bit as the train moves on before he's quite done getting off.
Nadine Leveridge, the woman he took his travel ideas from, scoops him up into a car and takes him to Bragley Court--the country house where she plans to spend the weekend. She waves aside his protests that Lord Aveling won't be pleased to have an uninvited guest telling him that one more guest among a group that includes an actress, a famous cricketer, an artist, a politician, a journalist with a nose for gossip, a mystery novelist, and a couple who were brought along at the politician's invitation won't bother the lord of the manor at all. She proves herself right when John is toted into the house. Lord Aveling welcomes him, sets him on a couch in an ante room, and offers him all the manor can provide in the way of hospitality. Of course, the norm in lordly hospitality shouldn't include murder, should it?
Foss soon finds himself with a front-row seat to a weekend full of sinister events and murderous activities...beyond the normal bloodshed of a country house hunting party. It starts with the mutilation of Leicester Pratt's latest masterpiece, a portrait of Anne (daughter of the house). Then a noisy dog is silenced permanently, followed by the discovery of the strangled body of an unknown man. More death follows and Inspector Kendall arrives to ferret out the secrets hidden in halls of Bradley Court. Does murder have anything to do with Lord Aveling's dalliance with the actress? Or perhaps with the fact that three of his guests were accosted by the unknown man at the train station? Is Harold Taverley, the cricketer, really as open and honest as he seems? What secrets lie in the past of our politician, Sir James Earnshaw? Just how much of an actress is Zena Wilding? Does she play a part off-stage as well as on? Lionel Bultin is good at nosing out others' secrets and writing them up in the news--how many secrets does he have of his own? And Edyth Fermoy-Jones plots fictional murders for a living--has she decided to try her hand at real life mayhem? There are marriage secrets and fraudulent pasts as well as a bit of blackmail and plenty of criss-crossing trails to keep our official bloodhounds busy.
Farjeon starts strong in this one. He gives us very good descriptions of Nadine Leveridge and John Foss and we're ready to settle down with these two as our main characters. He also provides detailed thumbnail sketches for the rest of the guests and their host and hostess. We get very interested in a few of them--Edyth Fermoy-Jones, for instance. And then the murders happen and John pretty much drops off the face of the earth and Nadine doesn't figure much at all. It's a bit disappointing.
But even though I was disappointed with the follow-through on some of the characters that Farjeon seemed at great pains to bring to our attention, the plot was quite fascinating. I was invested in discovering how the painting and the dog and the mysterious stranger would all tie together. I was waiting for the motive that would explain why three people had to die. I enjoyed Inspector Kendall and his investigative methods. Then the ending comes and the explanation. And it fell just a bit flat. I can't really tell you why without spoiling--so if you'd like to know more, feel free to view the spoiler below. Otherwise, just know that this is a decent outing by Farjeon. Not quite up to his work in The Mystery in White, but still very interesting and fun to read. It definitely was the right book for this past week when I was waiting on medical news for my Dad. My only quibbles are with the character follow-through and some of the wrap-up. ★★★ and 1/2--I had hoped to go higher. [rounded up here]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
Thirteen Guests (1936) by J. Jefferson Farjeon
John Foss, having just been turned down by the girl he wanted to marry, takes his bruised heart and a small bag and heads out of London. Where to? Anywhere. He doesn't much care; he just wants to get away from the crowds of people. When the woman in front of him buys a ticket for Flensham, he decides that is a destination as good as any and follows suit. Upon arrival, he has more than a bruised heart--he manages to mangle his leg a bit as the train moves on before he's quite done getting off.
Nadine Leveridge, the woman he took his travel ideas from, scoops him up into a car and takes him to Bragley Court--the country house where she plans to spend the weekend. She waves aside his protests that Lord Aveling won't be pleased to have an uninvited guest telling him that one more guest among a group that includes an actress, a famous cricketer, an artist, a politician, a journalist with a nose for gossip, a mystery novelist, and a couple who were brought along at the politician's invitation won't bother the lord of the manor at all. She proves herself right when John is toted into the house. Lord Aveling welcomes him, sets him on a couch in an ante room, and offers him all the manor can provide in the way of hospitality. Of course, the norm in lordly hospitality shouldn't include murder, should it?
Foss soon finds himself with a front-row seat to a weekend full of sinister events and murderous activities...beyond the normal bloodshed of a country house hunting party. It starts with the mutilation of Leicester Pratt's latest masterpiece, a portrait of Anne (daughter of the house). Then a noisy dog is silenced permanently, followed by the discovery of the strangled body of an unknown man. More death follows and Inspector Kendall arrives to ferret out the secrets hidden in halls of Bradley Court. Does murder have anything to do with Lord Aveling's dalliance with the actress? Or perhaps with the fact that three of his guests were accosted by the unknown man at the train station? Is Harold Taverley, the cricketer, really as open and honest as he seems? What secrets lie in the past of our politician, Sir James Earnshaw? Just how much of an actress is Zena Wilding? Does she play a part off-stage as well as on? Lionel Bultin is good at nosing out others' secrets and writing them up in the news--how many secrets does he have of his own? And Edyth Fermoy-Jones plots fictional murders for a living--has she decided to try her hand at real life mayhem? There are marriage secrets and fraudulent pasts as well as a bit of blackmail and plenty of criss-crossing trails to keep our official bloodhounds busy.
Farjeon starts strong in this one. He gives us very good descriptions of Nadine Leveridge and John Foss and we're ready to settle down with these two as our main characters. He also provides detailed thumbnail sketches for the rest of the guests and their host and hostess. We get very interested in a few of them--Edyth Fermoy-Jones, for instance. And then the murders happen and John pretty much drops off the face of the earth and Nadine doesn't figure much at all. It's a bit disappointing.
But even though I was disappointed with the follow-through on some of the characters that Farjeon seemed at great pains to bring to our attention, the plot was quite fascinating. I was invested in discovering how the painting and the dog and the mysterious stranger would all tie together. I was waiting for the motive that would explain why three people had to die. I enjoyed Inspector Kendall and his investigative methods. Then the ending comes and the explanation. And it fell just a bit flat. I can't really tell you why without spoiling--so if you'd like to know more, feel free to view the spoiler below. Otherwise, just know that this is a decent outing by Farjeon. Not quite up to his work in The Mystery in White, but still very interesting and fun to read. It definitely was the right book for this past week when I was waiting on medical news for my Dad. My only quibbles are with the character follow-through and some of the wrap-up. ★★★ and 1/2--I had hoped to go higher. [rounded up here]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
October 29, 2024
A weekend country-house mystery with interesting and layered characters. There's even a tart and barbed romance along with witty dialog and unexpected twists. This felt more adult and well-developed than many crime novels, definitely more character driven than puzzle oriented. The solution is wrapped up a little too quickly and awkwardly, with the ending twist thrown out like an afterthought. Up to the last 33 pages Thirteen Guests was a first rate and engaging mystery, and then a very average resolution as if Farjeon (who I never heard of before) ran out of pages.
February 10, 2019
One of the re-published crime novels of the 1930's in the British Library Crime Classics series.
A bit dated, but fun and easy to read. Plot a bit thin compared to modern crime stories, but enjoyable for its simplicity.
A bit dated, but fun and easy to read. Plot a bit thin compared to modern crime stories, but enjoyable for its simplicity.
November 14, 2020
3.5 stars
It started off slow but the writing style had energy and I liked the ultimate solution.
It started off slow but the writing style had energy and I liked the ultimate solution.
May 2, 2019
Twelve guests arrive to Bragley Court for a hunting weekend with Lord Aveling and his family. Among the guests are an actress, a journalist, an artist, and a mystery novelist. John Foss makes an unexpected thirteenth guest when he is injured at the train station and, with no where else to go, brought to the estate to recuperate. Laid up on the couch, John becomes an outside observer of the party. Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall’s skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.
This book has all that classic Agatha Christie Vibe going for it. Multiple Suspects and country house settings. But it has a completely different spin to it in the writers on way. This is an intriguing and well-written mystery. The author is very good at creating an atmosphere of suspense and violence seething under the surface. The characters are a fascinating variety.............
for full review please visit www.bibliogyan.com
This book has all that classic Agatha Christie Vibe going for it. Multiple Suspects and country house settings. But it has a completely different spin to it in the writers on way. This is an intriguing and well-written mystery. The author is very good at creating an atmosphere of suspense and violence seething under the surface. The characters are a fascinating variety.............
for full review please visit www.bibliogyan.com
February 8, 2019
3.0 - 3.5 . The first half seemed to drag with overly wordy sections . The second half saved it . Entertaining nothing more .
February 5, 2017
The Premise:
Being as brief as possible:
John Foss falls off a train and is scooped up by a ridiculously alluring widow, who drags him against his will to Bragley Court to recuperate. He’s stuck in a conveniently-placed anteroom, where he hears quite a lot of compromising conversations while the mystery blooms. A dog is murdered, a painting is vandalized, a man is found at the bottom of a cliff, then a blackmailer is murdered, and it just gets worse from there. There is a pretentious painter, some uncouth new money, a cynical journalist, a marginal actress, a tomboy heiress and her beau, the aristocrat who wishes he were said heiress’s beau, the aforementioned alluring widow, and the Chaters, whom no one can quite explain. Poor Foss is trapped in the middle with, potentially, multiple murderers.
The Good:
All the elements are there for a classic novel of the Golden Age of Mystery. There is a country house, a closed set of suspects, a long string of bizarre happenings, and several dead bodies, and they all fit together nicely.
I loved the description, even though some of it got a little overly-introspective. It felt like a Golden Age mystery ought to feel, if that makes any sense.
I loved Inspector Kendall and his dry snark and the back-and-forth between himself and the country police he’s been tasked with sharpening up.
I also love the (wee spoiler, here) twist ending. As far as twist endings go, it wasn’t outlandish and eyeroll-inducing, as they often are. I genuinely did not see it coming, and it genuinely made sense, with the information the reader is given.
The Bad:
Too many characters to keep track of. I know it’s called Thirteen Guests, and that the number is an important point, but there wasn’t enough time to develop any individual characters, and as a result, all thirteen are shallow archetypes. They’re good archetypes, but not particularly interesting characters. This is definitely a plot-driven story (which is not a ‘bad’ point, but I prefer more balance than Thirteen Guests provided).
The dialogue also did not age well. I’m going to assume that some of these exchanges would have made sense to a reader when it was written, but even as a regular reader of period literature and a historian, a lot of these conversations meant absolutely nothing. It wasn’t even a question of slang so much as (I’m assuming) subtext and cultural innuendo. There was a lot of it, and it made for very slow reading.
In fact, much of it made for slow reading. I mentioned lovely, atmospheric description, but the quantity was excessive. Nowhere near Moby Dick levels of description, but there were several scattered pages that, frankly, bored me.
In Conclusion:
A pretty solid three-and-a-half stars. I liked it. It was good sitting-by-the-lake-in-a-folding-chair-with-a-steaming-cup-of-tea literature. I don’t know that I’d pick up another by Farjeon when I have a whole shelf of Christy staring reproachfully at me.
The really interesting thing here is British Library Crime Classics’ reprinting of works that had become quite rare, and I enjoyed this opportunity to read something that had disappeared for so many years.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Being as brief as possible:
John Foss falls off a train and is scooped up by a ridiculously alluring widow, who drags him against his will to Bragley Court to recuperate. He’s stuck in a conveniently-placed anteroom, where he hears quite a lot of compromising conversations while the mystery blooms. A dog is murdered, a painting is vandalized, a man is found at the bottom of a cliff, then a blackmailer is murdered, and it just gets worse from there. There is a pretentious painter, some uncouth new money, a cynical journalist, a marginal actress, a tomboy heiress and her beau, the aristocrat who wishes he were said heiress’s beau, the aforementioned alluring widow, and the Chaters, whom no one can quite explain. Poor Foss is trapped in the middle with, potentially, multiple murderers.
The Good:
All the elements are there for a classic novel of the Golden Age of Mystery. There is a country house, a closed set of suspects, a long string of bizarre happenings, and several dead bodies, and they all fit together nicely.
I loved the description, even though some of it got a little overly-introspective. It felt like a Golden Age mystery ought to feel, if that makes any sense.
I loved Inspector Kendall and his dry snark and the back-and-forth between himself and the country police he’s been tasked with sharpening up.
I also love the (wee spoiler, here) twist ending. As far as twist endings go, it wasn’t outlandish and eyeroll-inducing, as they often are. I genuinely did not see it coming, and it genuinely made sense, with the information the reader is given.
The Bad:
Too many characters to keep track of. I know it’s called Thirteen Guests, and that the number is an important point, but there wasn’t enough time to develop any individual characters, and as a result, all thirteen are shallow archetypes. They’re good archetypes, but not particularly interesting characters. This is definitely a plot-driven story (which is not a ‘bad’ point, but I prefer more balance than Thirteen Guests provided).
The dialogue also did not age well. I’m going to assume that some of these exchanges would have made sense to a reader when it was written, but even as a regular reader of period literature and a historian, a lot of these conversations meant absolutely nothing. It wasn’t even a question of slang so much as (I’m assuming) subtext and cultural innuendo. There was a lot of it, and it made for very slow reading.
In fact, much of it made for slow reading. I mentioned lovely, atmospheric description, but the quantity was excessive. Nowhere near Moby Dick levels of description, but there were several scattered pages that, frankly, bored me.
In Conclusion:
A pretty solid three-and-a-half stars. I liked it. It was good sitting-by-the-lake-in-a-folding-chair-with-a-steaming-cup-of-tea literature. I don’t know that I’d pick up another by Farjeon when I have a whole shelf of Christy staring reproachfully at me.
The really interesting thing here is British Library Crime Classics’ reprinting of works that had become quite rare, and I enjoyed this opportunity to read something that had disappeared for so many years.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 30, 2015
I really enjoyed this fun mystery! Loads of interesting characters and possible suspects. I especially enjoyed the banter between the artist, Pratt, and the journalist, Bultin. Sneaky blackmailer, ruthless politician, simpering actress and strong, gorgeous socialite among the guests. And poor John Foss, the stranger from the train station, laid up in the ante-room on a couch missing all the action but hearing everything! Inspector Kendall is a grand detective and the culprit was not who I thought! I never would have guessed this one. Good puzzler and several sub-plots woven in!
After the disappointment that was The Z Murders I was really pleased with this book. Mystery in White was not the odd one out it seems!
Warning for animal lovers, a dog does get killed in this story. Very sad, but thankfully not described in any detail! In the summing up of the chain of events when Inspector Kendall gets to the bit about the dog he states: 'The death of a dog may not by some be regarded as a tragedy, but some dogs are more worthy than some men, and can be more justly mourned.'
I highly recommend you try a J Jefferson Farjeon novel if you love mystery!
Here's a sample from the book:
"I don't kill," said Pratt. Then he recalled the moment when he had seen red in the passage, and again when he had found himself trembling in the studio. He held up his hand. It was perfectly steady. He smiled. "No; I don't kill. The murder may appear in Miss Fermoy-Jones' shocker, but it won't be reported in Monday's newspaper. I'm afraid I won't be giving you that paragraph. Just the same, Lionel," he went on contemplatively, "theres a lot beneath a quiet surface. The person who spoilt my picture may have been a quiet sort of person. He may have been more surprised than any one at his action. A sudden moment of passion, eh? A sudden dizziness? It can happen." He raised a slender finger. "Listen! Dead quiet, isn't it? Not a sound! But if we could really hear, Lionel? Storms brewing in the silence? There's silence in the passage outside this door here - silence in the hall below - silence on the lawn, silence in the studio - silence in a room where an invalid lies. A brooding silence, my boy - that's not going to last!"
After the disappointment that was The Z Murders I was really pleased with this book. Mystery in White was not the odd one out it seems!
Warning for animal lovers, a dog does get killed in this story. Very sad, but thankfully not described in any detail! In the summing up of the chain of events when Inspector Kendall gets to the bit about the dog he states: 'The death of a dog may not by some be regarded as a tragedy, but some dogs are more worthy than some men, and can be more justly mourned.'
I highly recommend you try a J Jefferson Farjeon novel if you love mystery!
Here's a sample from the book:
"I don't kill," said Pratt. Then he recalled the moment when he had seen red in the passage, and again when he had found himself trembling in the studio. He held up his hand. It was perfectly steady. He smiled. "No; I don't kill. The murder may appear in Miss Fermoy-Jones' shocker, but it won't be reported in Monday's newspaper. I'm afraid I won't be giving you that paragraph. Just the same, Lionel," he went on contemplatively, "theres a lot beneath a quiet surface. The person who spoilt my picture may have been a quiet sort of person. He may have been more surprised than any one at his action. A sudden moment of passion, eh? A sudden dizziness? It can happen." He raised a slender finger. "Listen! Dead quiet, isn't it? Not a sound! But if we could really hear, Lionel? Storms brewing in the silence? There's silence in the passage outside this door here - silence in the hall below - silence on the lawn, silence in the studio - silence in a room where an invalid lies. A brooding silence, my boy - that's not going to last!"
August 18, 2017
This is a book that could be easily be mistaken for an Agatha Christie classic..
It has all the right elements, a murder, a ruined painting, a dead dog and a terribly upper class vibe.
Set in a country house, John Foss unexpectedly finds himself one the thirteen guests at Lord Avelings weekend party.
The other twelve guests are a mixture of people, a widow, a painter and a gossip columnist among the few. When one guests suggest the old superstition that death befalls the thirteenth person to enter the room at dinner it does get very entertaining.
Poor old John, holed up on a couch in the next room, due to his injury after falling from a train can only see what's happening through the doorway and from what the guests tell him while they fleetingly visit him to stop him getting bored finds himself falling for the beautiful widow.. Nadine Leveridge.
Thirteen Guests is a brilliant crime drama. originally written in 1936, again this British Crime Classic has lost none of it's edge, and I think in another 100 years it will still be a brilliant and fresh read.
There are a lot of characters, it's quite difficult keeping up, and a few clues as to what is going on, and I do think that this would a perfect TV drama. It is a fun and solid tale and is the 4th in the series that I have read.... onto number 5.
It has all the right elements, a murder, a ruined painting, a dead dog and a terribly upper class vibe.
Set in a country house, John Foss unexpectedly finds himself one the thirteen guests at Lord Avelings weekend party.
The other twelve guests are a mixture of people, a widow, a painter and a gossip columnist among the few. When one guests suggest the old superstition that death befalls the thirteenth person to enter the room at dinner it does get very entertaining.
Poor old John, holed up on a couch in the next room, due to his injury after falling from a train can only see what's happening through the doorway and from what the guests tell him while they fleetingly visit him to stop him getting bored finds himself falling for the beautiful widow.. Nadine Leveridge.
Thirteen Guests is a brilliant crime drama. originally written in 1936, again this British Crime Classic has lost none of it's edge, and I think in another 100 years it will still be a brilliant and fresh read.
There are a lot of characters, it's quite difficult keeping up, and a few clues as to what is going on, and I do think that this would a perfect TV drama. It is a fun and solid tale and is the 4th in the series that I have read.... onto number 5.
January 7, 2021
I don’t really know why I persisted with this book because Mystery in White was utterly dreadful, but I had a copy knocking around so I thought I’d give it a go. Marginally better than Mystery In White although not so much as you really notice. The start was very tedious (the writer obviously thinks he writes terribly clever conversation, which is a shame as he doesn’t), and then the second half picked up a bit when the inspector arrived but still relied on an awful lot of telling and not showing at the end. What I don’t like about this author is that his stories rely a lot on one character just suddenly accurately guessing what has happened, and you suddenly find out about characters being involved who have never been mentioned before. He also frequently forgets bout many of his characters for pages at a time, and many of them seem so unimportant at the end of the book that their inclusion was utterly pointless. Also (and I do realise that this is partly to do with when the novel was written) this book included a number of interludes of casual racism, which are always eyebrow raising to stumble upon. I would give other books in the Crime Classics series a go, but doubt I will try any more by this author.
November 21, 2020
Over the course of an autumn day, a dozen guests representing a sampling of the British elite arrive at the country house of Lord Aveling, an aspiring Conservative politician. To their number is added John Foss, whose ankle sprain compels one of the guests to offer him lodging while he recuperates. His hobbled state leaves him a witness to developments, as clandestine late-night encounters suggest secrets held by many of the people in the house. Thus, when bodies start to appear the next day, Foss is an idea witness for Detective-Inspector Kendall, who must compare stories and uncover clues in an effort to discern who among the assembled party is guilty of murder.
With the initial murders not occurring until well over a third of the way into the book, J. Jefferson Farjeon offers his readers a mystery that takes its time to coalesce. The preceding pages are not wasted, though, as he spends it introducing his cast of characters and hinting at the secrets they hold. Once the bodies start dropping, though, the pace picks up quickly as Kendall and his able sidekick Sergeant Price work to discover motive, means and opportunity. While Farjeon's ending is somewhat unusual for a murder mystery, its value is cheapened somewhat by the convoluted result which is designed to provide a degree of moral absolution for the characters involved. It detracts from what is otherwise an enjoyable novel that demonstrates why Farjeon deserves a far wider audience than he has enjoyed since his heyday.
With the initial murders not occurring until well over a third of the way into the book, J. Jefferson Farjeon offers his readers a mystery that takes its time to coalesce. The preceding pages are not wasted, though, as he spends it introducing his cast of characters and hinting at the secrets they hold. Once the bodies start dropping, though, the pace picks up quickly as Kendall and his able sidekick Sergeant Price work to discover motive, means and opportunity. While Farjeon's ending is somewhat unusual for a murder mystery, its value is cheapened somewhat by the convoluted result which is designed to provide a degree of moral absolution for the characters involved. It detracts from what is otherwise an enjoyable novel that demonstrates why Farjeon deserves a far wider audience than he has enjoyed since his heyday.
November 19, 2025
A book of its time. Set in October in a country house guests meet to go hunting. But unfortunately the stag is not the only death. The deaths happen with very little emotion or sadness. The people who die aren’t ones to be mourned. The death of the poor dog Haig and the stag are mourned and rightly so. Books written in the era often have the murdered people as dislikable characters and it’s their own fault getting murdered! I felt there were too many characters in the book. Clues were given but it wasn’t obvious to me who murdered who!
November 11, 2024
A good solid country house Golden Age mystery by an author who should be better known! Thanks to the British Library crime classics (I wonder whose amazing idea was this series? they should be knighted) for bringing this to 21st century readers.
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