Anthony WynneRecensioni

The book has a older style of writing and it took me a couple of chapters to settle into it but I had no issues after that. There are barely any slow moments and I finished it in half a day, I'm excited to read more Anthony Wynne in the future!

The elderly Miss Mary Gregor, sister of the laird of Duchlan Castle, is found murdered in a locked bedroom. There's no way for the murderer to have gotten in or out of the room, and the only clue is a fish scale embedded in the death blow. Who killed Miss Gregor, and who will be next to die?

The amateur sleuth in Murder of a Lady, Dr Hailey, is a bland non-entity whose detective approach relies heavily on building up psychological portraits of the suspects. But those portraits are dubious, at best. It's one of the real weaknesses of this book that Anthony Wynne's characters are bundles of stereotypical oddities (arising out of such original assumptions as "Ladies, amirite!"; "This is the Innate Soul of the Scottish Highlander!") whose motivations and reactions to events often struck me as unconvincing. Plus, every time a character or the narrative voice reinforced the idea that despite everything, Oonagh and Eoghan really love one another, I wanted to yell at her to take the kid and run. He believed on no evidence that you were having an affair, and tried to strangle you so forcefully that you were left with bruises all around your neck! Girl, take the kid and leg it back to Ireland!

The other real weakness of the book is the resolution. The whodunnit of this book is reasonably easy to figure out, by process of elimination if nothing else. I can put up with that in a locked-room mystery, when the intellectual satisfaction comes so much from seeing if you can work out howdunnit before the detective does.

The howdunnit here, however, is utterly implausible in everything from timing to physics. The big reveal shouldn't make me choke with incredulity as I'm drinking my morning cuppa. Imagine me à la David Rose from Schitt's Creek declaring "I refuse! Not doing that!"½

”Autumn was dressing herself in her scarlets and saffrons; already the air held that magical quality of light which belongs only to diminishing days and which seems to be of the same texture as the colours it illuminates. He marked the fans of the chestnuts across the burn, place gold and pale green. The small coin of birch leaves a-jingle in the wind, right as the sequins on a girl’s dress, the beeches and oakes, wine-stained from the winds’ Bacchanal, the rowans, flushed with their fruiting.”

The sister of the laird of Duchlan is found murdered in her chamber. The door is locked, the windows are barred. The woman was supposed to be respected and loved by all. Who would possibly want to kill her?

But as Dr. Hailey and the police investigate the murder, secrets about her true character are unearthed, secrets of a tyrannical woman who led an entire family to destruction with bitterness and hatred.

One of the finest locked-room mysteries you’ll ever read, this is a fascinating, atmospheric novel about cruel deaths, but most importantly, about the misery inflicted on two mothers because of the cruelty of a miserable woman and the weakness of a cowardish man. It is a story about the hypocrisy and empty decorum of the ”prominent” families, on the need to control lest tradition is abandoned. God forbid!

The enigmas of the case are seamlessly married to echoes of Scottish folklore and the convictions of the locals, while excellent characters jump off the pages. Dr. Hailey, Dr. McDonald, Eoghan and Oonagh, my absolute favourite.

A perfect mystery for an autumnal evening, beautifully introduced by Martin Edwards.

”We Highland folk,” he said in low tones, ”partake of the spirit of our hills and lochs. That’s the secret of what the Lowlanders, who will never understand us, call our pride. Yes, we have pride; but the pride of blood, of family; of our dear land. Highlanders are ready to die for their pride.”

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Not as much of a fan of this one. A huge build up with a hurried conclusion. Felt a bit cheated on the ending.

Military career of Napoleon the Great; an account of the remarkable campaigns of the "man of destiny"; authentic anecdotes of the battlefield as told by the famous marshals and generals of the first empire,

Agatha Christie mysteries are panto, this is farce. About as ridiculous except the setting is somehow even more contrived. The glass eye falling out of the protagonist's eye socket doesn't get any funnier the 10th time it happens.

Great start, interesting finish, fabulous characters, but oh my didn't this drag on forever...

Also, the Scottish nostalgia theme was a wee bitty much.½

A locked room mystery. The sister of the local laird is stabbed to death one night with seemingly no way in or out of her room. More murders follow of the inspectors sent to investigate the crime, but it is amateur detective Dr. Hailey who finally solves it. Published in 1931 it often seemed dated in attitude and opinion while some of the descriptions of people and their expressions seemed contrived and artificial to my ear, and in general, it went on too long as more people got bumped off and more twists in the investigations were added. On that score it seemed just like the immensely popular UK television series Midsomer Murders, so perhaps the genre is still alive but as television. On the whole though I did find it quite interesting perhaps because of that historical 'dated' quality that brought to life the laird system, describing the Highland villagers --rather unflatteringly-- and their conflict and contrast with the Lowlanders

A golden-age mystery worthy of being revived.

This is an ingenious "impossible crime" murder mystery. Martin Edwards, in his Introduction to this British Library Crime Classic edition, wrote that it will appeal to readers who love "a cunningly contrived puzzle" because it is certainly that. The original crime is compounded when two of the police detectives sent to investigate it are themselves killed, one after another, each in a mysterious fashion. Dr. Eustace Hailey finally figures it all out. An entertaining read.
Recommended.

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

****

It's a shocking locked-room murder: an elderly lady brutally murdered in her bedroom. And she is actually a lady -- she's Mary Gregor, and her brother is the Laird of Duchlan. Her brother, her nephew and the staff can't imagine who would wish her harm, but as Dr. Hailey soon discovers, there was more to that forgiving Christian lady than met the eye.

Overall, this was an OK story. The introduction to this book says it is a good locked-room mystery but Wynne's stories lack the humour of John Dickson Carr, the master of the locked-room mystery. It is true that the narrative is not humorous, but the story itself does become farcical when not one, but TWO detectives end up being murdered. There also appeared to be one glaring continuity error: the second detective is referred to as being from Glasgow and then from Edinburgh, sometimes on the same page. And the action is so choppy in a couple of places (such as when the murderer is revealed) that it almost seems as though the reprinters forgot to print some pages.

This may be worth picking up at the library, but it's not an urgent read.

I thought this book would be just the kind of mystery I'd like, but I got fed up with it about half-way through and didn't finish it. The locked room plot was interesting, but for me, John Dickson Carr does it much better. I will donate this one, and hope it finds a reader who will enjoy it more.

The first paragraph alone is worth the price.

"Murder of a Lady" (released in the USA as "The Silver Scale Mystery") by Anthony Wynne is one of the older British mysteries that are being reprinted by Poisoned Pen Press and The British Library. It was first published in 1931 by Hutchinson, London. The book is set in a small community in Scotland and the cast of characters is small. It is an excellent "locked room" murder, a style that was a speciality of Mr. Wynne.

Miss Mary Gregor, sister of the laird of Castle Duchlan, has been stabbed and lies dead beside her bed. The windows and doors of the room are firmly locked and there is no murder weapon.

Dr. Eustace Hailey, a recurrent character in Mr. Wynne's work, is a guest nearby, and he is called upon by local officials to assist in the investigation. His help is not appreciated by the police who go to great length to explain why police logic is superior to Dr. Hailey's more intuitive, character-based investigative methods.

This is a book that may present difficulties for some readers. Dr. Hailey's deductive methods focus almost exclusively on the character of the victim and the people who surround her. Readers who are not very familiar with the highlands of Scotland and the peculiar people who live there may feel overwhelmed by the picture Mr. Wynne paints of a stiff-necked, proud, dark, stupid and superstitious bunch who are motivated by beliefs and emotions that are alien to us today.

Mr. Wynne was a Scot and he knows his people well. He goes out of his way to help his readers visualize and mentally connect with the Duchlan and his people, but still one is tempted to give up in frustration at this impenetrable culture. I urge you to keep going. The murderer is clear fairly early on but never in a million years will you guess how the deed was done.

I received a review copy of "Murder of a Lady" by Anthony Wynne (Poisoned Pen) through NetGalley.com.

PS For you non-smokers, serious pipe smokers rub the bowl of their pipe on the skin of their nose to keep the bowl from drying and cracking. Nose oil is liquid at room temperature and is readily available to the smoker. However, this isn't a ritual you perform in front of others.

Set in the Scottish Highlands. A woman is found murdered in her bedroom, but the windows are locked and the door is locked from the inside.
Other mysterious deaths follow.
The superstitious people who live near believe that there are fish creatures living in the loch who are responsible.
Inspector Dundas is sent to investigate and uncovers a dastardly plot which has nothing to do with fish.
Another British Library Classic and I hope there are many more to come.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review

Murder Of A Lady: A Scottish Mystery by Anthony Wynne

'Mr. Leod McLeod, Procurator Fiscal of Mid-Argyll, was known throughout that country as "the Monarch of the Glen". He deserved the title, if only because of the shape and set of his head and the distinction of his features. A Highlander, full length, in oils, dignified as a mountain, touchy as a squall, inscrutable, comic in the Greek sense. When at ten o'clock at night he came striding in, past the butler, to the smoking-room at Darroch Mor, even Dr. Eustace Hailey gasped, giving, by that, joy to his host, Colonel John MacCallien.

"I must apologize, gentlemen, for disturbing you at this unseasonable hour."

Mr. McLeod bowed as he spoke, like a sapling in a hurricane.'

Mr. McLeod has come to announce that Miss Mary Gregor has been murdered. The Colonel exclaims that it can't be possible - "Mary Gregor hadn't an enemy in the world. Even tramps and tinkers turned to bless her as she passed them.."

It being the Sabbath, (and the book having been published in 1931) Mr McLeod does not believe the police will be able to get to Loch Fyne until the following day, and therefore, having heard that Dr Hailey was staying with MacCallien, has come to require him to apply his skills to the matter, for Dr Hailey has a reputation as an amateur sleuth. He requests Hailey to accompany him to Castle Duchlan to view the the scene of the crime. There they are greeted by Mary's brother, Major Hamish Gregor, kilted and surrounded by ancient furniture and decaying hunting trophies.

Miss Gregor was found dead in her room, the door and windows of which had been locked from inside, and although there is a deep wound in her shoulder the weapon is nowhere to be found.

It soon becomes clear that Miss Gregor was a piece of work, a manipulative enforcer of a stern and righteous Christianity utterly lacking in true charity, and that she had inculcated in her brother an unhealthy concern with family pride and tradition. Illustrating the goodness of her nature, Duchlan describes how Miss Gregor had insisted that the piper play during dinner as was their tradition, even though she had a headache. "I knew that she was suffering greatly, but she welcomed Angus, my piper, with perfect grace, and, when his playing finished, rose and handed him the loving cup. I'm sure he knew and appreciated her courage."

Hailey and the Glasgow detectives work separately and come to different conclusions. A series of cases are made and knocked down for the guilt or innocence of various members of the household, with motive and character being weighed against each other. There is an implicit case against capital punishment as the subtlety, or lack thereof, in a jury's understanding of character and moral codes is considered as potentially the sole determinant of whether a suspect will live or hang.

The novel plays off the antipathy between Highland and Lowland Scots. While the Highlanders are represented to some extent as bizarre and superstitious people caught in an anachronistic way of life the police who come up from Glasgow are hampered by their own prejudices and narrowness of thought.

The introduction to Murder Of A Lady describes it as "an excellent example of the "impossible crime" mystery, written by a long forgotten master of this ingenious form of detective puzzle". It goes on to quote Robert Adey's study Locked Room Mysteries: Wynne "established himself as the champion of a form of impossible crime: death by invisible agent." The detective is confronted with "situations in which the victim was killed, quite on his own, in plain view of witnesses who were unable to explain how a close-quarters blow could have been struck".

Anthony Wynne was the pseudonym of Robert McNair Wilson (1882-1963), a physician born in Glasgow, who in addition to his detective novels (the Dr Hailey novels appeared from the mid twenties until 1950) also wrote on medical, scientific, historical, and economic matters.

The pleasant image on the cover of this British Library Crime Classic edition is part of a Caledonian Railway poster for the Tarbet Hotel on Loch Lomond with a paddle steamer full of day trippers sailing past.

One of Wynne’s earliest efforts. As usual it starts off with a dramatic scene and travels at a brisk pace. Before the reader reaches page 10 there is an attempted murder and a botched suicide. Then there is a flash forward of several years, two dead bodies turn up and an arrest is made. As usual with Wynne the murder victims appear to have died from two different causes. Plot involves a young doctor who was blackmailing his former two timing fiancé. A truly outrageous solution unveils the murderer as someone in disguise who took years to create an elaborate revenge plot and frame the accused for several murders. A three chapter long monologue in which the killer reveals this plot and how the stunt was pulled off is the crowning glory in this “detective fiction opera.” I don’t think Wynne tops this one in his later years at all. A character in Harry Stephen Keeler’s The Amazing Web mentions reading this book and it is obvious that Keeler has some admiration for the intricate web-like plot. I give it five stars for sheer hutzpah!

Do not let the title of this book mislead you. The relationship of Napoleon & the Countess Waleska is actually more of a subplot of the book. The majority of it deals with the political motives behind the Russian campaign that have been ignored by most historians in favor of the theory that Napoleon had gone mad with power & was a blood-thirsty tyrant bent on continuing war at any cost.
Before reading this book, it was difficult for me to comprehend the Russian campaign, making it seem as unnecessary as the American’s involvement in the Korean war, or the war in Vietnam. Now it can be seen in its proper perspective. Napoleon had believed that conquering Russia was necessary in able to establish a united Europe. One could argue that this had been the reason behind so many wars!
This book cannot be considered a biography of Marie Waleska, either. It tells little of her childhood or up until the time when she did meet Napoleon. It merely mentions her going to school & her marriage to the aging Count, & her life after Napoleon’s departure for Saint Helena (her second marriage, & her death, which is explained only as “suddenly”, with no details of what could have caused it, or her last words even).
Overall, an informative book, but it was just not exactly what I had expected.