August 2025 – A Crime is Afoot

The Layton Court Mystery (Roger Sheringham Cases #1), 1925 by Anthony Berkeley

The Langtail Press, 2010. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 323 KB. Print Length: 224 pages. ASIN: B004GXA5SY. ISBN: 979-1-78002-020-4. Fist published in 1925 by Herbert Jenkins in London.

Overview: In a typical English country house, a murder is committed. The wealthy Victor Stanworth, who’d been playing host to a party of friends, is found dead in the library. At first it appears to be suicide, for the room was undoubtedly locked. But could there be more to the case? As one of the guests at Layton Court, gentleman sleuth Roger Sheringham begins to investigate. Many come under suspicion, but how could anyone have killed the man and gotten out of the room, leaving it all locked behind?

My take: The Layton Court Murder is Anthony Berkeley’s debut novel. It was published anonymously in 1925 by Herbert Jenkins in London as by “?” and it was the first in the series featuring amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham. It was followed by The Wychford Poisoning Case published in 1926 as by the author of The Layton Court Mystery by Collins, in London.

The complete series, published until 1934, is made up of ten books and several short stories collected in “The Avenging Chance and Other Mysteries from Roger Sheringham’s Casebook,” by Crippen and Landru, 2004, with a second edition with an additional story by Crippen and Landru, 2015. See the full bibliography below.

The story begins with Roger Sheringham being invited to a party at Layton Court, a country house hosted by Victor Stanworth, a wealthy and charming man. However, the weekend takes a dark turn when Stanworth is found dead in his library. The matter seems pretty much staightforward. Both the door and windows of the library were locked from the inside. Mr. Stanworth held a small revolver in his right hand, his fingers still convulsively gripping the trigger. In the center of his forehead was a small circular hole. His head lolled indolently over the back of the chair, his open eyes staring up at the ceiling. Not to mention a note that read: “To whom it may concern. For reasons that concern only myself, I have decided to kill myself.” And his signature at the bottom. In short, it doesn’t seem like it will take the coroner very long to arrive at his verdict.

However, Sheringham, skeptical of the suicide theory, decides to investigate. With characteristic confidence, he interviews guests, deciphers clues, and challenges alibis. Over time, he develops theories that prove misleading, if not completely wrong, but which serve to uncover dark motives and secret relationships. Ultimately, Sheringham’s unconventional investigation leads him to unmask the murderer in a denouement full of unexpected twists.

In conclusion, The Layton Court Mystery is a classic example of the Golden Age detective fiction, notable for its wit, social satire, and psychological insight. It stands out, in my view, thanks to the character of Roger Sheringham, an arrogant amateur detective who frequently makes mistakes in his conclusions; its narrative style, which mocks the genre’s conventions; its unexpected twists and its subtle critiques of other detective novels. However, as some critics have already pointed out, long discussions and monologues take up most of the narrative, which at times makes the story a bit dull.

The Leyton Court Mystery has been reviewed, among others, by Nick Fuller at “The Grandest Game in The World”, Kate Jackson at “Cross-Examining Crime”, Martin Edwards at “Do You Write Under Your Own Name?” and Noah Stewart at “Noah’s Archive”(with spoilers).

About the Author: Anthony Berkeley Cox (1893 – 1971) was a popular British satirical journalist, crime and mystery writer, and literary critic who wrote under the pseudonyms Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley, and A. Monmouth Platts.

Cox was educated at Sherborne School and University College, Oxford. With the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted, attained the rank of lieutenant in the 7th Northumberland Regiment and was gassed in France. Invalided out of the army, his health was seriously affected for the rest of his life. Details about his professional life in the years immediately after the war are somewhat sketchy. As time went by he devoted himself more and more to writing.

Cox’s professional writing career began around 1922, writing satirical stories for Punch and other popular publications. His first detective novel, The Layton Court Mystery, was published anonymously in 1925. In a period of fifteen years, between 1925 and 1939, Cox published twenty-four books, including fourteen classic full-length detective stories and two sublime phycological thrillers.

In 1930, Cox founded the legendary Detection Club in London together with leading practitioners of the genre, such as Gilbert K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, R. Austin Freeman, Baroness Orczy and Dorothy L. Sayers. In fact, the Crimes Circle in The Poisoned Chocolates Case can rightly be considered a predecessor of the Detection Club in fiction.

In 1938, he took up book reviewing for John O’London’s Weekly and The Daily Telegraph, writing under his pen name Francis Iles. He also wrote for the Sunday Times in the 1940s and for the Manchester Guardian (later The Guardian) from the mid-1950s until 1970. A key figure in the development of crime fiction, he died in 1971 in St John’s Wood, London.

His 1932 novel (as Francis Iles), Before the Fact was adapted into the 1941 classic film Suspicion, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Trial and Error was turned into the unusual 1941 film Flight from Destiny starring Thomas Mitchell.

Bibliography:

Roger Sheringham series: The Layton Court Mystery published as by “?” (Herbert Jenkins, 1925; Doubleday, 1929); The Wychford Poisoning Case: An Essay in Criminology published as by the author of The Layton Court Mystery (Collins, 1926; Doubleday, 1930); Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery (Collins, 1927; reprinted by Collins as The Vane Mystery; US title: The Mystery at Lovers’ Cave, Simons & Schuster, 1927); The Silk Stocking Murders (Collins, 1928; Doubleday, 1928); The Poisoned Chocolates Case (Collins, 1929; Doubleday, 1929); The Second Shot (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930; Doubleday, 1931); Top Storey Murder (Hodder, 1931; US title: Top Story Murder, Doubleday, 1931); Murder in the Basement (Hodder, 1932; Doubleday, 1932); Jumping Jenny (Hodder, 1933; US title: Dead Mrs. Stratton, Doubleday, 1933); Panic Party (Hodder, 1934; US title: Mr. Pidgeon’s Island, Doubleday, 1934); and The Avenging Chance and Other Mysteries from Roger Sheringham’s Casebook (Crippen & Landru, 2004); 2nd edition with an additional story (Crippen & Landru, 2015).

Other Crime Novels: Cicely Disappears published as by A. Monmouth Platts (John Long, 1927, a shorter version appeared as a serial, The Wintringham Mystery, as by A.B. Cox, in The Daily Mirror); Mr Priestley’s Problem published as by A.B. Cox (Collins, 1927; US title: The Amateur Crime (Doubleday, 1928), The Piccadilly Murder (Collins, 1929; Doubleday, 1930); Trial and Error (Hodder, 1937; Doubleday, 1937); Not to Be Taken (Hodder, 1938; US title: A Puzzle in Poison (Doubleday, 1938); and Death in the House (Hodder, 1939; Doubleday, 1939).

Novels as Francis Iles: Malice Aforethought: The Story of a Commonplace Crime (Gollancz, 1931; Harper, 1931); Before the Fact: A Murder Story for Ladies (Gollancz, 1932; Doubleday, 1932); and As for the Woman: A Love Story (Jarrolds, 1939; Doubleday, 1939)

Collaborative works with members of the Detection Club: The Floating Admiral (Hodder, 1931; Doubleday, 1932); Ask a Policemen (Barker, 1933; Morrow, 1933); Six Against the Yard (Selwyn & Blount, 1936; US title: Six Against Scotland Yard, Doubleday, 1936); and The Scoop and Behind the Screen (both collaborative detective serials written by members of the Detection Club which were broadcast weekly by their authors on the BBC National Programme in 1930 and 1931 with the scripts then being published in The Listener within a week after broadcast. The two serials were first published in book form in the UK by Victor Gollancz Ltd in 1983 and in the US by Harper & Row in 1984)

Further reading: Elusion Aforethought: The Life and Writing of Anthony Berkeley Cox by Malcolm J. Turnbull (Bowling Green State University Press, 1996); The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards (Harper Collins, 2015)

Ranking the Work of Anthony Berkeley by Kate Jackson

The Urbane Innovator: Anthony Berkeley, Aka Francis Iles by Martin Edwards

Murder, M. D., 1943 (Desmond Merrion # 28) by Major John Street writting as Miles Burton

Rare Treasure Editions, 2025. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 582 KB. Print Lenght: 254 pages. ASIN: B0FCJV8R6G. ISBN: 9788087830789. Originally published in 1943 by Collins Crime Club, London and as Who Killed the Doctor? by Doubleday, New York.

Overview: Dr. St. John Cecil of the village of Exton Forcett has been called away to do his medical duty for the war effort, and he has had to install a locum during his absence. The trouble is, Cecil’s wife Hermione is terribly unhappy with the substitute Dr. Wiegler, as are many of the local residents. It’s not that Wiegler is a bad doctor—he’s actually an improvement on Dr. Cecil—but he seems to ruffle everybody’s feathers, and there are whispered rumours that his hobby of birdwatching is a cloak to hide his real activities as a foreign spy.

Is it then so surprising when Dr. Wiegler is found dead at the foot of a nearby cliff, where he had apparently been indulging his ornithological interests? The local police think the death is accidental, but Captain Desmond Merrion—who happens to be visiting with Leonard Corringham whose father is the local squire—diagnoses something more diabolical.

As the mystery deepens in the most deadly ways, one begins to wonder if a doctor’s career is a healthy one. (Source: Ramble House)

My take: Set in the fictional wartime village of Exton Forcett, the story begins when the regular village doctor leaves to serve in the war. His locum, Dr Kurt Wiegler, a naturalized British citizen, quickly becomes unpopular. An interferer and a busybody, he has done nothing but annoy people since taking over. His sudden death, discovered one morning at the bottom of the Gallows Wood pit, has seemed to most people to be an act of providence. All who saw the body agreed that it must have fallen into the pit accidentally. No one even attempted to hide their satisfaction.

By chance, amateur detective Desmond Morris happens to be in Exton Forcett as a mere interested observer and suspects that Dr Wiegler’s death was not accidental. However, since a coroner’s jury, seven good men and women and true, have determined that the death was accidental, he decides to keep his own opinion to himself.

The story takes an unexpected turn when Dr Mountwell, a beautiful and fascinating young woman who succeeds Dr Wiegler as locum, is found murdered. Her death attracts much more attention. After all, she was a completely different person from Wiegler and she seemed to be well-liked by everyone. But if Dr Wiegler was indeed murdered, what connection could there be between the two crimes?

Murder, M.D. finds Miles Burton at the top of his trade, a brilliant small-town mystery that combines puzzle-driven storytelling with captivating character dynamics. All in all, it stands out for its subtle satire of the era in which it’s set, the constant increase in tension as the story unfolds, and a captivating and rewarding final twist. A true gem for any detective fiction aficionado, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Murder, M. D. has been reviewed, among others, by TomCat at”Beneath the Stains of Time”, Kate Jackson at “Cross-Examining Crime”, Nick Fuller at “The Grandest Game in the World”, Steven Barge at “In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel”.

About the Author: Cecil John Charles Street OBE MC (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street, began his military career as an artillery officer in the British Army. During the course of World War I, he became a propagandist for MI7, in which role he held the rank of Major. After the armistice, he alternated between Dublin and London during the Irish War of Independence as Information Officer for Dublin Castle, working closely with Lionel Curtis. He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels written under several pseudonyms including John Rhode, Miles Burton and Cecil Waye. In 1930 Street became one of the founding members of England’s Detection Club, and he remained active in the group for two decades. His greatest friend in the Club, John Dickson Carr and Lucy Beatrice Malleson (who wrote as Anthony Gilbert) remembered him warmly.

Street produced two long-running series of novels: one under the name John Rhode, featuring the forensic scientist Dr Priestley, and another as Miles Burton, mostly featuirng the retired naval officer Desmond Merrion.

The Rhode books are classics of scientific detection in which the elderly Dr Priestley demonstrates how seemeingly impossible crimes have been committed. The Burton series are more traditional detective fiction featuring Desmond Merrion, a military intelligence officer turned private detective, and Henry Arnold, a Scotland Yard inspector. The Burton series began in 1930 with the novel The Secret of High Eldersham and consists of a total of 61 books. The last one, Legacy of Death, was published in 1960.

Street was extremely reticent about his private life. He refused to be listed in Who’s Who, and many reference works do not indicate the exact date of his birth or death. Even after the 1960 publication of Legacy of Death and Death Paints a Picture, Miles Burton’s true identity remained a closely guarded secret. Only after his death did it emerge that the name was a pseudonym for John Street, better known as John Rhode, dozens of whose books were set in the rural England he loved. Street’s talent for remaining a man of mystery was emphasised when Golden Age expert and researcher Tony Medawar revealed in 2003 that in the early 1930s he had also written four obscure mysteries under the name Cecil Waye, featuring “London’s most famous private eye”, Christopher Perrin.

Critic and author Julian Symons places Street as a prominent member of the “Humdrum” school of detective fiction. “Most of them came late to writing fiction, and few had much talent for it. They had some skill in constructing puzzles, nothing more, and ironically they fulfilled much better than S. S. Van Dine his dictum that the detective story properly belonged in the category of riddles or crossword puzzles. Most of the Humdrums were British, and among the best known of them were Major John Street.”

Desmond Merrion Series: The Secret of High Eldersham (1930) (Also published as: The Mystery of High Eldersham [1933]), Menace on the Downs (1931), The Three Crimes (1931), Death of Mr Gantley (1932), Fate at the Fair (1933), Tragedy at the Thirteenth Hole (1933), Death at the Crossroads (1933), To Catch A Thief (1934), The Charabanc Mystery (1934), The Devereux Court Mystery (1935), The Milk-Churn Murder (1935) (US Title: The Clue of the Silver Brush [1936]), Where is Barbara Prentice? (1936) (US Title: The Clue of the Silver Cellar [1937]), Death in the Tunnel (1936) (US Title: Dark Is the Tunnel [1936]), Murder of a Chemist (1936), Death at the Club (1937) (US Title: The Clue of the Fourteen Keys [1937]), Murder in Crown Passage (1937) (US Title: The Man with the Tattooed Face [1937]), Death at Low Tide (1938), The Platinum Cat (1938), Mr Babbacombe Dies (1939), Death Leaves No Card (1939), Mr Westerby Missing (1940), Murder in the Coalhole (1940) (US Title: Written in Dust [1940]), Death Takes a Flat (1940) (US Title: Vacancy with Corpse [1941]), Up the Garden Path (1941) (US Title: Death Visits Downspring [1941]), Death of Two Brothers (1941), This Undesirable Residence (1941) (US Title: Death at Ash House [1942]), Dead Stop (1943), Murder, M.D. (1943) (US Title: Who Killed the Doctor? [1943]), Four-Ply Yarn (1944) (US Title: The Shadow on the Cliff [1944]), The Three Corpse Trick (1944), Early Morning Murder(1945) (US Title: Accidents Do Happen [1946]), Not a Leg to Stand On (1945), The Cat Jumps (1946), Situation Vacant (1946), Heir to Lucifer (1947), A Will in the Way (1947), Devil’s Reckoning (1948), Death in Shallow Water (1948), Death Takes the Living (1949) (US Title: The Disappearing Parson [1949]), Look Alive (1949), Ground for Suspicion (1950), A Village Afraid (1951), Beware Your Neighbour (1951), Murder Out of School (1951), Murder On Duty (1952) Heir to Murder (1953), Something to Hide (1953), Murder in Absence (1954), Unwanted Corpse (1954), A Crime in Time (1955), Murder Unrecognised (1955), Death in a Duffle Coat (1956), Found Drowned (1956), The Chinese Puzzle (1957), The Moth-Watch Murder (1957), Bones in the Brickfield (1958), Death Takes a Detour (1958), Return from the Dead (1959), A Smell of Smoke (1959), Death Paints a Picture (1960), Legacy of Death (1960).

Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, most of these novels are difficult to find, although The British Library Crime Classics recently published The Secret of High Eldersham and Death in the Tunnel.

Other titles that might be of interest and are available in electronic format, as far as I know, are: Death of Mr Gantley (1932), Death at Low Tide (1938), Death Leaves No Card (1939), Murder, M.D. (1943), Death Takes the Living (1949), Look Alive (1949), Heir to Murder (1953), Found Drowned (1956), The Moth-Watch Murder (1957), A Smell of Smoke (1959), Death Paints a Picture (1960), Even though the best ones are probably those published in the 30s and 40s.

John Rhode page at Gadetection

Further reading: Masters of the “Humdrum” Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961 by Curtis Evans, McFarland, 2014.

Constable Guard Thyself! 1934 (Inspector Poole # 4)by Henry Wade

Avarang Books, 2023. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 426 KB. Print Length: 278 pages. ASIN: B0C49G61NM. eISBN: N/A. Originally publishe in 1934 by Constable in London. It was the third in a series of seven novels featuring the character of Chief Inspector Poole, although it was preceded by the 1933 short story collection Policeman’s Lot in which seven of the twelve stories had featured Poole. After his more experimental novel Mist on the Saltings Wade returned to the traditional detective model.

Description: Two threats from a newly released convict—a poacher framed on a murder charge—put Captain Scole, Chief Constable of Brodshire, on his guard. Special men are assigned to protect him. But four days later, Captain Scole is found shot through the head at his desk in Police Headquarters.

A full week later, young Inspector Poole of Scotland Yard is called in to follow a cold trail in the face of open hostility from the local police. And the further he explores the murder, the more baffling it becomes. Could Scole’s First World War past be catching up with him—or something much closer to home? (Source: Goodreads)

My take: Captain Scole, Chief Constable of the rural county of Brodshire, is found dead, shot in the head, at his desk in the Police Headquarters. A few days earlier, a poacher named Albert Hinde, recently released from Fieldhurst Prison after serving a 20 years sentence, had threatened him. Even though there is little doubt about the authorship of the crime, the timing and logistics defy logic. Security had been tightened around Scole, making it seemingly impossible for anyone to enter or leave the police station undetected. The most remarkable thing about the case is that, despite all the police’s efforts, Hinde is nowhere to be seen and appears to have vanished into thin air. Such is the state of affairs when Superintendent Venning, now acting-Chief Constable in Brodshire, finally reluctantly agrees to request the assistance of Scotland Yard. The right thing to do would have been to send a Chief Inspector to Brodshire to handle the case, but unfortunately Scotland Yard could not spare one at the time and instead sent Inspector Poole, the best of their young men, even though he would have to report to Superintendent Venning as his superior in rank. However, before leaving Scotland Yard, Poole was informed that the routine man-haunt was already in full swing and that it could safely be left to others. His task was to determine whether the local police might have missed any clues that could lead to Hinde’s whereabouts and, more importantly, to ensure that the officially accepted theory until then was correct.

I must admit that, after reading three books by Henry Wade, my admiration for his work has only grown. This novel, in particular, stands out for the patience and determination with which Poole approaches the investigation of the case, meticulously reexamining hypotheses, discarding prejudices, and testing different theories. Furthermore, the reader is confronted with a complex puzzle, rich in detail and perfectly crafted. The story is presented as a seemingly impossible crime, but it also serves to raise deeper questions about justice, camaraderie, and belonging.

In a nutshell, we are confronted with an extremely satisfying multi-layered police procedural. Also noteworthy is the author’s ability to capture the internal dynamics of the police force, which enriches the narrative. After all, we must not forget that Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher had professional experience in this field, and his experience in the First World War is also evident throughout the story. Ultimately, Henry Wade speaks to us from what he knows well.

Constable Guard Thyself! has been reviewed, among others, by Jim Noy at “The Invisible Event”, Aidan Brack at “Mysteries Ahoy!”, J F Norris at “Pretty Sinister Books”, TomCat at “Beneath the Stains of Time”, Nick Fullar at “The Grandest Game in the World”, Martin Edwards at “Do You Write Under Your Own Name?”, D for Doom at “Vintage Pop Fictions”

About the Author: Henry Wade was born Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher on September 10, 1887, in Leigh, Surrey, England, the eldest son of Sir Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher and Emily Harriett Wade Aubrey-Fletcher. (“Henry Wade” was a pen name that he adopted in 1926.) Educated at Eton College and New College, University of Oxford, Wade joined the Grenadier Guards in 1908, serving in the First Battalion until his retirement in 1920. He returned to active duty during World War II (1940-1945). Wade was wounded twice during World War I and was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order and the French Croix de Guerre.

In 1911, Wade was married to Mary Augusta Chilton. They had four sons and one daughter. Mary Augusta died in 1963; in 1965, Wade was married to Nancy Cecil Reynolds.

After retiring from the Grenadier Guards, Wade held a number of positions in Buckinghamshire, including justice of the peace, alderman, and high sheriff. He served as lord lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (the queen’s representative in the county) from 1954 until 1961 and was a lieutenant in the Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (1956-1957). Wade succeeded to the baronetcy after his father’s death in 1937.

Wade began his career as a writer in 1926 with the publication of The Verdict of You All. His 1929 novel, The Duke of York’s Steps, introduced Detective Inspector Poole. During a writing career that stretched from 1926 until 1957, Wade produced a total of twenty-one novels (seven featuring Poole) and two collections of short stories, plus one nonfictional work, A History of the Foot Guards to 1856 (published in 1927 under his own name). [He was also one of the founding members of the Detection Club]. Wade’s novels and short stories reflect his extensive experience with police business, as well as his dissatisfaction with the British legal system and its traditions. Wade’s work as a writer was interrupted by World War II, but he resumed writing in 1947 and produced seven novels following the war. He died on May 30, 1969. (Source: EBSCO.com).

Selected Bibliography: The Verdict of You All (1926), The Duke of York’s Steps [Inspector Poole # 2](1929), The Dying Alderman [Inspector Lott # 1] (1930), No Friendly Drop [Inspector Poole # 3] (1931), The Hanging Captain [Inspector Lott # 2](1932), Mist on the Saltings (1933), Constable Guard Thyself! [Inspector Poole # 4] (1934), Heir Presumptive (1935),
The High Sheriff (1937), Released for Death (1938), Lonely Magdalen [Inspector Poole # 6] (1940), Too Soon to Die [Inspector Poole # 7](1953) and A Dying Fall (1955).

Henry Wade page at Golden Age of Detection Wiki

Harcourt and Henry Wade

Further reading: Curtis Evans, The Spectrum of English Murder: The Detective Fiction of Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher and G.D.H. and Margaret Cole (Coachwhip Publications, 2015)

Not to Be Taken aka A Puzzle in Poison, 1938 by Anthony Berkely

British Library Publishing, 2025. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 2,6 MB. Print Lenght: 257 pages. ASIN: B0F2SJXKJ8. eISBN: 978-0-7123-6878-0. Originally serialised in John o’ London’s Weekly from November 1937 to March 1938 as Poison – Not to Be Taken. with a prize offered to readers who could solve the mystery before its final chapter, this new edition includes Berkeley’s final competition report as an appendix. It was republished in book form as Not to Be Taken in 1938 by Hodder & Stoughton, London; and as Puzzle in Poision in 1938 by Doubleday, New York.

Overview: John Waterhouse has died of some gastric complication. Exhumed at his brother’s request, the discovery of death by arsenical poisoning catches the interest of a hungry press and fans the flames of gossip in the sleepy village of Anneypenny. The problem is, nobody seems to have a motive for having killed the victim.

My take: Not to Be Taken, set in Anneypenny, Dorset, near the Somerset border, is a stand-alone novel by Anthony Berkeley.

The story is narrated in the first person by Douglas Sewell, a fruit grower. His nearest neighbour, John Waterhouse, a kindly, old-fashioned chap, feels ill one evening. He dismisses it as indigestion, but his doctor, Glen Brougham, believes it to be an incipient gastric ulcer, caused by eating and drinking too much for too many years and smoking a pipe too often. In any case, Waterhouse refuses to take any medication. But after five days of apparent improvement, Waterhouse dies unexpectedly after a brief coma. His doctor, Glen Bougham, surprised but not astonished, issues a death certificate, listing epidemic diarrhea as the cause of death.

The matter would have ended there if not for his estranged brother, Cyril Waterhouse, who insists on an autopsy, likely resentful of not having been properly notified of his brother’s death. In any case, he suspects his brother was poisoned and considers it his duty to verify or refute that suspicion. As expected, this situation will generate much gossip in Anneypenny, even though the autopsy doesn’t confirm any other illness, except for slight reddening of the duodenum and, to a lesser extent, the jejunum—precisely what anyone would expect, in fact, after a diarrhea epidemic—the matter obviously doesn’t end there. Cyril insists that the usual organs be sent to a hospital for analysis. And as expected, given this is a mystery novel, the results confirm that death was due to acute arsenic poisoning.

Waterhouse’s death raises several questions. Who would have wanted to kill him? He was a kind and caring man. Everyone loved him and wished him well; it was impossible to believe that someone could have deliberately poisoned him. Besides, John wasn’t the type to commit suicide, especially without the required coroner’s note. And if it was a fatal accident, how could he have ingested the arsenic?

The tone of the story is rather discreet, and Berkeley himself, through Sewell, the narrator, points out that his story cannot be considered a detective novel for the simple reason that there is no detection: that is, there is no detective as a central figure whose investigations, findings and suspicions can be shared with the reader.

It’s also worth noting that Berkeley offers an Elley Queen-style “Challenge to the Reader,” inviting lectors to answer the following questions:

1. Who (or what) was responsible for John Waterhouse’s death?

2. How did the arsenic find its way into John Waterhouse’s body, and why? Give a concise outline of the story behind his death.

3. List as many deductions as you can draw from Douglas Sewell’s narrative, and the clues to them.

4. Do you think there is a Dominant Clue in this story? If so, what is it?

In an appendix, Anthony Berkeley analyses in depth, in a fascinating article dated 11 March 1938, reprinted in this issue, the best responses received. And in this same article he explains what fair play means in a detective novel.s. An author plays fair with the reader by presenting all the clues, without withholding any vital evidence. Therefore, the solution is simply a matter of careful reading and the ability to distinguish a hare from a red herring.

In this sense, I have no doubt that Berkeley plays fair with the reader. While it’s true that the story may be somewhat slow at first, it’s also worth noting that toward the middle of the plot, it begins to gain substance and becomes very engaging. It’s a clever and well-crafted story. The characterization is superb, and Berkeley embellishes his narrative with a good dose of red herrings. Some critics consider it Berkeley’s most conventional work; I don’t think so, especially taking into account that the story was an editor’s request for a competition. In any case, that doesn’t make it any less interesting, even if it has been overshadowed by Berkeley’s other, better-known titles.

Not to Be Taken has been reviewed, among others, by Nick Fuller at “The Grandest Game in the World”, Kate Jackson at “Cross-examining Crime”, Martin Edwards at “Do You Write Under Your Own Name?”, Xavier Lechard at “At the Villa Rose” and Jim Noy at “The Invisible Event”.