Death of My Aunt

This was a fun mystery novel with a psychologically realistic and relatable narrator/hero. He's smart but timid and anxious and tends to crack up, and he's very kind. He's a young London stockbroker and it's hardly a spoiler to say that his rich, domineering aunt is murdered. This book was published in 1929, and my brother pointed out that all the stocks the narrator recommends were about to plummet--particularly Swedish Match, which was mired in fraud and scandal. I wonder if the stock market crash will be addressed in the next book in the series, Crime at Christmas. Could the crime be securities fraud?

Malcolm Warren, a junior, rather likeable young stockbroker, is summoned by his aunt to give advice on her vast wealth. Right away, one wonders why the aunt would consider her inefficient nephew’s advice. During his consultation with her, she takes some of a new "tonic" and promptly dies. Avoiding suspicion is hardly possible, so he sets out to solve the crime. There are several candidates for the deed: aunt's new husband, a younger man, out of her class and with no money, an insolent chauffeur, and numerous needy relatives of which Malcolm is one. Published in 1929 when Kitchin was enjoying huge success, this is a treasure from the Golden Age of mystery writing. The elegant writing with subtle wittiness is reminiscent of Evelyn show more Waugh, with just a hint of E.F. Benson.

As well as lawyer, Kitchin also was a stockbroker although much more successful than Malcolm Warren. show less

The corpse is Catherine Cartwright, left a rich woman by her first husband. “Like many rich people, she acted as if her wealth gave her not only infinite power but infinite wisdom.” The suspects, kindly listed and classified by the narrator, are family members wanting legacies, some urgently.

The narrator, the young stockbroker Malcolm Warren is a detached yet compassionate observer of his family’s foibles. The acute observations and witty descriptions of the characters are what make the book so enjoyable.

H. R. F. Keating’s introduction to the Hogarth Crime edition places the novel in its time, and provides a description of Kitchin, an eccentric, cultured man.

Death of My aunt is a sophisticated cosy from the Golden Age of crime show more fiction. show less

Malcolm is a rather inefficient stockbroker who gets an invitation from his wealthy Aunt Catherine to visit for the weekend. He's barely said hello when she is dead of poison. Malcolm and his Uncle Hannibal are both equal suspects in the police's eye, but Malcolm knows he didn't do it and he decides he'd better solve it before the police mess things up.

I tracked this down on a recommendation from a LT friend, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. Malcolm is fairly unsympathetic, but mostly it's just that the story seems to take a long time to tell. And it's not really a long book, but for some reason, it just wandered around too much without enough happening.

Malcolm Warren receives a telegram asking him to come down for the weekend as his Aunt Catherine wants to see him. After a bit of thinking it over Malcolm proceeds to her home at Macebury. The next day she is poisoned and Malcolm finds himself in a mystery as to which of his relations might have engineered the murder. He's not a very good stockbroker and not much better at detection so the Who and the How remain elusive. Meanwhile the police have their own ideas. I might read another by this author.

Found this on a Guardian list of top 10 Golden Age Detective Novels. It was a winner. Good mystery, enjoyable read. Quick, light read.

From the golden age of British mystery writing