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vesper1931's review
mysterious
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
At Alastair Bing's Country Manor Chayning Court a body lies in an upstairs bathroom. Unknown to everyone except the murderer. Mrs Beatrice Bradley watches the guests. Can she unravel the mystery before another death occurs.
An entertaining historical mystery.
Originally published in 1929
An entertaining historical mystery.
Originally published in 1929
ashleylm's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very strange book. I'm not sure what to make of it.
First, the murder victim has a secret--that's fine, they often do. But it's a big secret. And kind of a weird secret. And the book never resolves it. Once the characters learn about it, they mostly forget about it. Time and again characters say some variation of "Oh, that's right, [BIG SECRET], hmm." Nothing comes of it, we never know why the need for the secret arose, it just doesn't happen.
Ibsen would be horrified!
There are many murders, attempts at murders, attempts to get people to attempt more murders, etc., and the characters also seem spectacularly unphased by all this. They're not snowed in, trapped on a boat, etc., there's absolutely no reason for them to stay at this country house and potentially be picked off one after the other, but stay they do.
I enjoyed the characterization of Mrs. Bradley (which was why I picked up the book in the first place, she'd sounded interesting elsewhere), but whoa, there are some serious problems here.
Bumped up from 2.5 to to 3 stars because it's very old and may have seemed more sensible when written.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
First, the murder victim has a secret--that's fine, they often do. But it's a big secret. And kind of a weird secret. And the book never resolves it. Once the characters learn about it, they mostly forget about it. Time and again characters say some variation of "Oh, that's right, [BIG SECRET], hmm." Nothing comes of it, we never know why the need for the secret arose, it just doesn't happen.
Ibsen would be horrified!
There are many murders, attempts at murders, attempts to get people to attempt more murders, etc., and the characters also seem spectacularly unphased by all this. They're not snowed in, trapped on a boat, etc., there's absolutely no reason for them to stay at this country house and potentially be picked off one after the other, but stay they do.
I enjoyed the characterization of Mrs. Bradley (which was why I picked up the book in the first place, she'd sounded interesting elsewhere), but whoa, there are some serious problems here.
Bumped up from 2.5 to to 3 stars because it's very old and may have seemed more sensible when written.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
avrilhj's review against another edition
1.0
I kept reading this book to find out if it could possibly continue to be as bad as it began. And it could! The story begins when the body of a dead woman is found in the bathroom that had been thought to be occupied by Everard Mountjoy. Within a few pages it is agreed that the body IS that of Mountjoy, the well-known and apparently male explorer. Fascinating in a 1929 novel, yes? No! Almost nothing is made of this. We learn nothing about Mountjoy’s life or their decision to become an explorer. We do find that Mountjoy was engaged to Eleanor Bing, a woman who no one likes. The police inspector supposedly investigating Mountjoy’s death says of Eleanor “there’s some young women that are past all bearing, and, if you’ll excuse an entirely unofficial opinion, sir, would be better out of the way; and Miss Eleanor Bing is one of them”. p. 95
Mountjoy’s engagement to this unattractive lady is the subject of sneers: “The feature of this case which I have not yet been able to fathom,” said the Chief Constable slowly, “is why the woman Mountjoy ever allowed herself to become formally engaged to poor Miss Bing. After all, it was a cruel thing to deceive a woman like that. And she must have known that marriage was an impossibility.” ... “The other explanation,” went on Mrs. Bradley, “may sound to you extraordinary, but it is more probably the correct one. Have you heard of sexual perversion?” The Chief Constable nodded. “Not a pleasant subject,” he said briefly. “I do not propose to discuss it,” Mrs. Bradley assured him, “but I do suggest that Mountjoy may have formed a very real and, for the time being, a very strong attachment to Eleanor Bing.” p. 105
But later, after Eleanor herself is murdered, her diary reveals it was she who proposed to Mountjoy, and then murdered them: “It is torture,” another entry read, “to be with my dear Everard as much as I am, and to know that he has no desire to caress me ... I want Everard to be manly and sunburnt.” “Deuced awkward for Everard. I wonder why on earth she ever consented to become engaged to Eleanor,” mused Carstairs ... “After all that, to find that Mountjoy was a woman simply turned the poor girl’s brain. Mrs. Bradley was right - Eleanor killed Mountjoy - but who the devil killed Eleanor?” p. 165
One character tries to murder Eleanor: “Well, I decide I must kill Eleanor before she could harm my Dorothy ... I sprang over the sill like a cat, and rushed at the girl, and with a terrific feeling of savage joy - I could have laughed and laughed aloud for the sheer, hellish pleasure of it! - I held Eleanor’s head under water, while the two taps beat a devil’s tattoo in my brain as they splashed crazily into the bath!” p. 134. The police don’t care about this attempted murder, as the Chief Constable says to the Inspector: “Personally, I’m more inclined to think Eleanor Bing was shielding someone she was fond of. Don’t say a name, Boring,” he concluded, laughing, “or I shall have to institute an official inquiry, and I’m not a bit keen, really, on charging a perfectly harmless person with attempted manslaughter.” p. 151
But it is the detective figure, Mrs. Bradley, who does murder Eleanor, although she doesn’t see it as murder: “I did not, in the everyday, newspaper, pot-house sense of the word murder Eleanor Bing. I merely erased her, as it were, from an otherwise fair page of the Bing family chronicle.” Eleanor was a frustrated spinster, sent mad by her repressions, a danger to beautiful girls and the murderer of Mountjoy. The book suggests that we agree with the character who concludes, “I think that if that old woman did do Eleanor in, then she deserves to be regarded as a benefactor of the human race!” p. 188
Cannot believe how awful this book is. A complete failure as a ‘mystery’ because there is no mystery, and deeply misogynist, homophobic and misanthropic. Ugh!
Mountjoy’s engagement to this unattractive lady is the subject of sneers: “The feature of this case which I have not yet been able to fathom,” said the Chief Constable slowly, “is why the woman Mountjoy ever allowed herself to become formally engaged to poor Miss Bing. After all, it was a cruel thing to deceive a woman like that. And she must have known that marriage was an impossibility.” ... “The other explanation,” went on Mrs. Bradley, “may sound to you extraordinary, but it is more probably the correct one. Have you heard of sexual perversion?” The Chief Constable nodded. “Not a pleasant subject,” he said briefly. “I do not propose to discuss it,” Mrs. Bradley assured him, “but I do suggest that Mountjoy may have formed a very real and, for the time being, a very strong attachment to Eleanor Bing.” p. 105
But later, after Eleanor herself is murdered, her diary reveals it was she who proposed to Mountjoy, and then murdered them: “It is torture,” another entry read, “to be with my dear Everard as much as I am, and to know that he has no desire to caress me ... I want Everard to be manly and sunburnt.” “Deuced awkward for Everard. I wonder why on earth she ever consented to become engaged to Eleanor,” mused Carstairs ... “After all that, to find that Mountjoy was a woman simply turned the poor girl’s brain. Mrs. Bradley was right - Eleanor killed Mountjoy - but who the devil killed Eleanor?” p. 165
One character tries to murder Eleanor: “Well, I decide I must kill Eleanor before she could harm my Dorothy ... I sprang over the sill like a cat, and rushed at the girl, and with a terrific feeling of savage joy - I could have laughed and laughed aloud for the sheer, hellish pleasure of it! - I held Eleanor’s head under water, while the two taps beat a devil’s tattoo in my brain as they splashed crazily into the bath!” p. 134. The police don’t care about this attempted murder, as the Chief Constable says to the Inspector: “Personally, I’m more inclined to think Eleanor Bing was shielding someone she was fond of. Don’t say a name, Boring,” he concluded, laughing, “or I shall have to institute an official inquiry, and I’m not a bit keen, really, on charging a perfectly harmless person with attempted manslaughter.” p. 151
But it is the detective figure, Mrs. Bradley, who does murder Eleanor, although she doesn’t see it as murder: “I did not, in the everyday, newspaper, pot-house sense of the word murder Eleanor Bing. I merely erased her, as it were, from an otherwise fair page of the Bing family chronicle.” Eleanor was a frustrated spinster, sent mad by her repressions, a danger to beautiful girls and the murderer of Mountjoy. The book suggests that we agree with the character who concludes, “I think that if that old woman did do Eleanor in, then she deserves to be regarded as a benefactor of the human race!” p. 188
Cannot believe how awful this book is. A complete failure as a ‘mystery’ because there is no mystery, and deeply misogynist, homophobic and misanthropic. Ugh!
gavreads's review against another edition
Alastair Bing’s guests gather around his dining table at Chaynings, a charming country manor. But one seat, belonging to the legendary explorer Everard Mountjoy, remains empty. When the other guests search the house, a body is discovered in a bath, drowned. The body is that of a woman, but could the corpse in fact be Mountjoy? A peculiar and sinister sequence of events has only just begun…
Speedy Death is the first novel of sixty six to feature Gladys Mitchell’s detective Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, a polymathic psychoanalyst and author, and it sets the model for the all the other ones I’ve read so far. Though it also introduces an aspect of Mrs Bradley’s character that I didn’t (and probably wouldn’t) have known without reading this. I won’t spoil it but it definitely makes her stand out from the Miss Marples of this world.
The body in the bath is a unlocked door mystery where no-one seems to have a strong alibi. This really isn’t a spoiler as the body and the unlocked nature of the room are revealed by the end of the first chapter. What is clever is how Mitchell spends the next 322 pages rattling round the same country house with the same core characters without it feeling drawn out.
The strength of this book is how Mitchell keeps presenting each character for analysis, which giving us time to get to know them and to consider whether they are the murder. Mrs Bradley is, interestingly, placed off to the side though you’d think that being a guest she’d be in the perfect position to snoop and inform the readers in reader.
Instead, another guest instigates the investigation and draws Mrs Bradley into their confidences but having her become interested does draw her into the judgemental gaze of the police. You can see that Mitchell is challenging usual conventions of disbelief like the one where the police accept help without placing any suspicions on the helper.
What is particularly sweet is the other characters reactions to finding out that the male Mountjoy and the women in the bath could be the same person. Not one of them made that the issue, which is unexpected 1929. The setting makes a contemporary version of this novel unrealistic but I feel that today’s grittier writers would make it a source of conflict.
I love the unexpected nature of Mrs Bradley, she’s a bit of unwanted guest here, as it does make herself very useful and indispensable at key moments.
Honestly it ticks all the cosy crime boxes. If you’re a fan of cosy crime or clever mysteries please do give it a go.
Next up in the series for me: The Longer Bodies
Speedy Death is the first novel of sixty six to feature Gladys Mitchell’s detective Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, a polymathic psychoanalyst and author, and it sets the model for the all the other ones I’ve read so far. Though it also introduces an aspect of Mrs Bradley’s character that I didn’t (and probably wouldn’t) have known without reading this. I won’t spoil it but it definitely makes her stand out from the Miss Marples of this world.
The body in the bath is a unlocked door mystery where no-one seems to have a strong alibi. This really isn’t a spoiler as the body and the unlocked nature of the room are revealed by the end of the first chapter. What is clever is how Mitchell spends the next 322 pages rattling round the same country house with the same core characters without it feeling drawn out.
The strength of this book is how Mitchell keeps presenting each character for analysis, which giving us time to get to know them and to consider whether they are the murder. Mrs Bradley is, interestingly, placed off to the side though you’d think that being a guest she’d be in the perfect position to snoop and inform the readers in reader.
Instead, another guest instigates the investigation and draws Mrs Bradley into their confidences but having her become interested does draw her into the judgemental gaze of the police. You can see that Mitchell is challenging usual conventions of disbelief like the one where the police accept help without placing any suspicions on the helper.
What is particularly sweet is the other characters reactions to finding out that the male Mountjoy and the women in the bath could be the same person. Not one of them made that the issue, which is unexpected 1929. The setting makes a contemporary version of this novel unrealistic but I feel that today’s grittier writers would make it a source of conflict.
I love the unexpected nature of Mrs Bradley, she’s a bit of unwanted guest here, as it does make herself very useful and indispensable at key moments.
Honestly it ticks all the cosy crime boxes. If you’re a fan of cosy crime or clever mysteries please do give it a go.
Next up in the series for me: The Longer Bodies
benjaminparris's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
quietjenn's review against another edition
2.0
I heard ages ago that Gladys Mitchell and Mrs. Bradley (her creation) had a reputation as the oddball-weirdo of the Detective Club Lady Mystery Authors, which makes me want to like her. So far though, I've been pretty underwhelmed. I bought a handful of them though, so I'll keep trying. I do think that it probably doesn't help that I watched the Masterpiece Mystery series and loved it and despaired that it was so short but Diana Riggs Mrs. Bradley (very proto-Phyrne Fisher) has almost nothing in common with Mitchell's.
jmthatcher's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A good plot and easy to read dialogue, but it becomes quite confused and entangled within itself as it progresses and this is made more overt by the two-dimensionality of its characters.
rachelmacdonald's review against another edition
1.0
Very unimpressed. Interesting initial idea, but not followed through...
ck_123's review
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
dan78's review
4.0
This book left me with more questions than answers (and I don't want to spoil anything) but
1. Why did nobody seem to care Mountjoy was a Woman? It could have made for some really interesting chapters?
2. Nobody seemed to really care about Eleanor's murderer as she was mad anyway!
3. Nobody was truely surprised that Eleanor attempted murder twice (surely her family should have done something after the first attempt rather than have a hearty breakfast)
4. Why did Gladys Mitchell write her hero as such an ugly old crone (not one nice word was written about her)
Anyway, I enjoyed this Country House setting, the atmosphere, the tension.
I found the Red Herrings a little obvious but fun.
And over all I liked the whole book, even if it left me wanting answers!!
1. Why did nobody seem to care Mountjoy was a Woman? It could have made for some really interesting chapters?
2. Nobody seemed to really care about Eleanor's murderer as she was mad anyway!
3. Nobody was truely surprised that Eleanor attempted murder twice (surely her family should have done something after the first attempt rather than have a hearty breakfast)
4. Why did Gladys Mitchell write her hero as such an ugly old crone (not one nice word was written about her)
Anyway, I enjoyed this Country House setting, the atmosphere, the tension.
I found the Red Herrings a little obvious but fun.
And over all I liked the whole book, even if it left me wanting answers!!