Malice Aforethought

This is an excellent example of the Golden Age mystery, although it’s more of a suspense novel than a whodunnit. We know from the first page that Dr. Bickleigh plans to murder his wife; it only remains to see how he will accomplish this and whether he gets away with it. This is an era of tennis parties, well-mannered / viciously gossiping ladies, elegant gardens and social distinctions that matter (Dr. Bickleigh’s wife never lets him forget how she has lowered herself to marry a doctor).

Bickleigh comes across in glimmers as sympathetic—neither he nor Julia seem particularly happy in the marriage—but as the book progresses any traces of this sympathy disappear. He fancies himself a bit of a womanizer, and his pursuit of other show more women, “even” for non-sexual affairs, reads as incredibly creepy in the age of #MeToo. The cunning he displays in executing his plans is horrifying and compelling at the same time. The ending is brilliant.

Highly recommended for fans of the Golden Age or classic crime novels. show less

Dr. Edmund (Teddy) Bickleigh is the local GP in the comfortably middle-class hamlet of Wyvern’s Cross; well-liked, he thinks his frequent advances on various women of the region all represent true love, until he meets newcomer Madeleine Cranmere and realizes what true love really is. Unfortunately the good doctor is married - to a harridan of a wife named Julia - but in almost no time, he conceives of a means to rid himself of her once and for all…. “Malice Aforethought” is considered one of the first psychological mysteries in the field, in part because we know from the very first page that Dr. Bickleigh is intending to murder his wife; the story is really about how he goes about it, and what happens next. My feminist show more sensibilities would be somewhat outraged by the point-of-view musings of Bickleigh about women in general, were it not for the fact that he is such a *little* man, in all meanings of the word; as such, I found him quite funny, if contemptuous and rather despicable overall. Published in 1931, the story remains quite believable, grounded as it is in human nature, although some particulars are dated. And I never saw the ending coming at all; always a pleasure in this type of novel! Recommended, keeping in mind that it is of its time. show less

Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles was published in 1931 and will certainly bring thoughts of Agatha Christie to mind, but this book is much more of a psychological character study. The reader is very much aware of what is going on and who is responsible, yet we are drawn along by the well crafted story and the desire to see how it’s all going to work out.

Dr. Bickleigh appears to be a thoroughly henpecked, mousey sort of fellow, one who draws the sympathy of others, especially as they witness his wife’s bullying ways. But slowly we, the reader, get to know another side to this complicated man, a crafty, devious side. He is in actuality a very selfish person who only considers what he wants. At this point in his life, what he wants show more is his wife out of the way permanently.

I found this to be wonderful quirky book with a strong vein of humor, particularly as it pertains to the middle class country life of 1930’s England. The most sinister events often occurred over the tea table and gossip and slander are the main events at most village affairs. Malice Aforethought is a classic example of an “inverted” mystery, and a darned good story. show less

"It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Dr. Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter. Murder is a serious business." These are the first lines of the book, and yet knowing what little henpecked Dr. Bickleigh has decided to do doesn't keep the reader from saying, "Yea, kill her." Mrs. Bickleigh is so unlikeable to her husband, neighbors and the reader that we want to see our timid doctor accomplish his goal. Then he can marry his real love, young heiress Madeleine. But the doctor lets each bit of success go to his head and it turns out that some people really should have their egos restrained by a domineering spouse.
This is one of the best mysteries I've ever read, on par with Murder on the show more Orient Express. It doesn't matter that we know that Dr. Bickleigh is the murderer or that we see his plan step-by-step. The transformation in his and other characters is a masterful and the ending is impossible to guess. show less

This was one of the [b:Eight Perfect Murders|52225186|Eight Perfect Murders (Malcolm Kershaw, #1)|Peter Swanson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562582942l/52225186._SX50_SY75_.jpg|71665754] that I had not read at the time I read Swenson's book, and so when it came up as a group read I was eager to join in. So glad I did!

If I had a list of favorite Golden Age mysteries this would definitely be on it. The writing is very clever and polished, and seems to be from a later period - maybe the 40's or 50's. Much of the behavior would be scandalous by the standards of St. Mary Mead, although the insights into human nature are on a par with Christie's.

The protagonist, Bickleigh, is reprehensible, but so show more many of the other characters are so loathsome that we can almost sympathize with his desire to strike back. Almost - and not in quite the same way. As the book unfolds, so does Bickleigh's character. Is he unraveling, or is his true self just becoming more intense?

The courtroom scenes near the end, presented as is the entire book, from Bickleigh's perspective, are especially entertaining. Actually, the whole book is entertaining; I found myself grinning through most of it.

All in all, a solid 5 stars in the Golden Age category. Not a sub-genre where I spend a lot of time these days, but this one is definitely a winner. show less

Written from the viewpoint of the murderer, rather than as a police procedural, this is an oddly amusing tale of a provincial doctor, who decides to murder his wife, as he belives this will clear the way to spending time with his mistress. However, things get slightly out of hand....

Some would argue that Malice Aforethought is a murder mystery only in the sense that a murder is committed and, for the greater part of the book, there is a mystery as to whether the murderer will be arrested and found guilty. That is indeed true. It is also true that one of the mysteries explored in the book is why seemingly ordinary people commit murder. Yet another mystery explored is the way in which readers, when invited into the point of view of a particular character, often find themselves drawn into the perspective of that character.

Malice Aforethought lays out the difficulties of navigating the complex social hierarchy of England between the wars and it is surprising frank discussion of the relationships between men and woman show more at that time. For the reader who only knows England of that time from reading “cozies” the frank admission that Ivy was, more than once, Dr. Bickleigh’s mistress will come as a shock. Even in the supposedly more sophisticated contemporary detective stories of Ellery Queen and Philo Vance such behaviour is only alluded to when the woman is of “that type.” What the reader realizes is that while the trappings of life have changed much the reality those trappings disguises has changed little.

As was true in the earlier The Murder of Roger Ackroyd we experience the people and events in the book through the eyes and mind of the murderer although in Malice the reader does not read his actual words that same reader is told what he is thinking and feeling. And in neither book is the narration unreliable. In Roger Ackroyd the murderer doesn’t write that he didn’t kill Ackroyd he simply doesn’t tell the reader some key details such as ‘then I killed him.’ However because Roger Ackroyd really is a mystery, in the sense that the reader is not told that the narrator is the murderer until close to the end of the book, there is little exploration of what drove him to that action. In Malice Aforethought Iles allows us to gradually realize that while the reader is reliably told what Bickleigh is thinking and feeling Bickleigh himself has a undependable understanding of other people and himself. As the reader comes to recognize that Bickleigh’s own perceptions are coloured by his psychological needs the deeper mystery becomes how mistaken is Bickleigh in the natures and motivations of those around him.

While Malice Aforethought is set in a time that feels foreign to most modern readers Iles’ examination of what makes the person next door into a murderer is surprisingly relevant and wonderfully refreshing. This is particularly true in his choice to make Bickleigh’s motivations down to earth and hard to distance oneself from. Most of us have not had traumatic childhoods. Most of us have not had horrible tragedies take place in our life. Most of us are, however, ordinary people faced with the day in and day out pick pricks of living with bad choices and suffering from the routine humiliations of life. And so the final mystery is -- is the only thing that keeps each of us from walking down the same path as Dr. Bickleigh happenstance and lack of opportunity? show less