Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story

"Mystery In White" is a 1930's version of a Christmas Special drama,

It's set on Christmas Eve, a fierce snowstorm, strangers on a stranded train grouping together to look for a way out of moving on with the plans for Christmas, an empty but unlocked Country House in the depths of the English Countryside, with fires lit and food laid but with no one inside.

What follows is a series of "TA DAH!" moments as murders and mysteries are uncovered and we learn more about the group of strangers and, eventually, the occupants of the house.

The strangers are all from central casting: the bright, young charismatic upper-class but friendly brother and sister, the heart-of-gold showgirl, the blustering old bore, the tongue-tied socially awkward show more clerk, the East End ruffian and the de facto leader of the expedition, a fierce, unconventional old man who claims the ability to see the dead and who assumes the role of detective, magistrate and ghost hunter.

This is a book that is bursting at the seams with ideas and people but often doesn't seem to be sure what to do with them. This was a time when genre boundaries had not yet been set and this perhaps explains why sometimes this reads as a Christmas Ghost Story and sometimes as a "The Rivals Of Poirot Christmas Special".

What the book lacks in discipline and character development it makes up for in sheer brio and a Saturday Matinee fascination with adding yet another plot twist. show less

Captivated by Thirteen Guests (1936), I wasted no time downloading the only other J. Jefferson Farjeon novel I could find in the Kindle format: Mystery in White, first published the following year. This novel proved even better than the first — and that’s saying something! Dorothy L. Sayers called Farjeon “unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures,” and he certainly proves it in Mystery in White!

Led by the intrepid and perspicacious Edward Maltby, 60 years old and a proud member of the Royal Psychical Society, a motley crew escaping from a snowed-in train take refuge in an abandoned house. With fires laid in every room, a dining room set for tea, and a kettle on the boil for tea, where has the house’s inhabitant(s) show more gone? While Maltby and the four young people are clearly on the up and up, who is the mysterious Cockney who calls himself “Mr. Smith” and who has also taken refuge in the house? Does Mr. Smith know more than he’s telling about the missing householders? The sharp-eyed Maltby sees and reveals other irregularities, as well, gradually making the other characters — and the reader — more and more uneasy. With the characters trapped in the cottage by the continuing blizzard, the suspense rises to the breaking point, and Farjeon provides so many twists and turns!

How can it be that Joseph Jefferson Farjeon is not better known? How could his books, once justly popular, have fallen into oblivion? Farjeon, while perhaps not up to Dame Agatha Christie’s standard or that of Gladys Mitchell, can hold his own with Patricia Wentworth (also too much neglected), Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, John Bude, Anthony Berkeley, and Miss Sayers herself. British Library’s Poisoned Pen Press has been steadily bringing back Golden Age mystery novels, including two, thus far, by J. (Joseph Jefferson) Farjeon. (Thirteen Guests, which I read before publication, is due out on September 1.) Please, please! You cannot re-release Farjeon’s novels fast enough to suit me! show less

‘’The horrors on the train, great though as it may turn to be, will not compete with the horror that exists here, in this house.’’

It is Christmas Eve and several passengers have found themselves cooped up in a train, heading to their destinations, loaded with presents and dubious intentions. As the train proves to be no match for the greedy snowfall, the strange, newly-formed fellowship decides to venture out and find shelter away from the locomotive. A cosy, yet imposing, country house welcomes them out of the blue. ‘’It’’ being literal because there is absolutely no one else to receive them. The fires are lit, tea is ready, the cupboards full of provisions. But not a single soul in sight. Only a portrait oozing show more authority. And a knife left in the kitchen…

No one does the country-house mystery better than the British. Many try, all fail. This novel is a perfect example of festive mystery, intrigue and spookiness. J.Jefferson Farjeon created a strong plot, rich in all the little, tiny elements that form a highly satisfying mystery, seasoned with elegant and atmospheric references to premonitions and ghosts, faithful to the British tradition of the bond between the Festive and the Spooky. In my opinion, the story excels in atmosphere and characterization. As doors open and close, as the snow keeps on falling and the wind doesn’t stop howling, as death is looming, the passengers have to face the unexplained and unsolved, and the fragile dynamics that develop when the company is new and the nerves are being tested by the minute.

An elderly scientist with a great passion for the paranormal, a young woman and her brother that form an exceptionally clever duo, a chorus girl sensitive to the calling of the house, a highly troubled secretary, a cockney scoundrel, a rude businessman. A good (and this one is so much more than ‘’good) doesn’t need a thousand twists to shine. An interesting cast, a strong plot and the proper background work wonders.

Mystery In White is an exceptional example of the quintessential British Country House festive mystery and one more gift by the British Library to the readers who adore the Golden Age of crime stories.

‘’No, if a tiger eats you, it isn’t really his fault,’’ answered Lydia. ‘’God gave him his appetite.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less

I thought this was going to be one of those old-fashioned, fun-when-you’re-in-the-mood-for-it kind of reads from the past when I tried tackling this back in 2015, but discovered it was simply boring.

The premise certainly had potential, but the execution was terrible. I couldn’t warm to any of the characters or their verbal interactions, and found this one so rough going it seems like I tried reading an entirely different book from many of the other folks praising this turkey. I love the period and genre, and this seemed to be in part of my wheelhouse, but it’s a dud.

I enjoyed this author’s The Thirteenth Guest much more, but believe this is a writer from the past who was very hit and miss. I couldn’t — or at least didn’t show more — finish this, because there wasn’t any reason to keep going; I had kept reading long enough to know it wasn’t going to shift gears and get better.

It’s a recent trend to re-earth and re-package a lot of writers from the Golden Age of mystery, but in an effort to do so — more for a quick buck sometimes (low overhead, public domain?) than to bring attention to the writer, in my opinion — far too many unworthy mystery reads are being shoved on the public, and touted as forgotten classics. Sadly, with this particular title, I feel that’s the case. I suggest giving this one a pass. show less

THE first thing David did on emerging from the front door was to pitch head first into a mound of snow. For a moment or two he nearly suffocated, while countless soft, icy pellets invaded his back as though he were being bombarded by silent salvos from heaven. Then he scrambled out, and strained ears choked with snow for a repetition of the shout. Already he had lost his sense of direction, for all he could see was a bewildering succession of snowflake close-ups, almost blinding vision. During the forty-five minutes he had been in the house the weather had travelled from bad to worse. Snow rushed at him unbelievably from nowhere caking him with white. He would have retreated promptly saving for the knowledge that somewhere in this show more whirling maelstrom was a man in a worse plight; but how to find the man, if his despairing cry was not repeated, seemed a stark impossibility.

Alright, this was a fun book. Despite the excellent, yet misleading, cover, this story does not take place on a train but is essentially a country house mystery.

Our protagonists are a group of strangers who share a compartment on a train and get stuck in a snowstorm just days before Christmas. As they all dislike being stranded, they set out to try and walk to the next station - which may or may not have a connections that are still running.

But... they never get there. The weather conditions worsen and they need to turn in to a nearby house for shelter. They enter looking for its occupants, but no one is there even though the fires are laid on, the tea set is laid out, and the kettle is boiling.

What a great start to a Christmas mystery!

The characters were really cute, too. We have a couple of young women, one of the women's brother, a young clerk suffering from some sort of anxiety disorder, a guy who is a known psychic, and an older chap who is described as "the old bore". We also get to meet a man suffering from shell shock.

I loved the characters. You'd think they were all straight out of the catalogue of British country house mysteries, but each one had a little bit more to them - I especially liked that the author included characters who were going through some mental distress. It is still not that often that I have come across depictions of characters suffering from shell shock in the original 1920s/30s mysteries. They are not really part of Christie's setup and it took me to discover Sayers and Tey to find a representation.

The mystery itself is convoluted and the solution is contrived - the psychic gets involved a lot, and at one point I flashbacks to The Haunting of Hill House - but there is also something gripping about the part of the mystery, which really takes quite a gritty turn.

Almost as good as Death of an Airman, and the book made me laugh a lot.

But first things first. Is anybody getting hungry? Come along, staff. Step on it. We mustn’t keep the family waiting for dinner. I may not be honest and sober, but I am punctual!” Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Smith glanced at each other, then followed the girl obediently into the kitchen. show less

Not your typical closed-room murder, but still with a small group of finite characters. A group of travelers decide to abandon their train after it gets bogged down in a snowstorm and walk to the next station. Not a smart move, they are saved from certain death when they stumble on a lone house. Unlocked, seemingly unoccupied, there is a fire bring, tea ready to be made, and bedrooms readied. But no one around. Thus starts a spooky tale of intrigue and murder, murders in the past as well as the present. First written in 1937, this tale loses none of its appeal in its retelling now.

Six-word review: Classic mystery wrapped in red bow.

Extended review:

>128 [Mystery in White] came in for me at the library just in time. I started it the day it started, December 24th, and finished it when it ended, on Christmas night. Things can sometimes work out perfectly when you arrange them that way.

This new paperback edition draws you in immediately with a delightfully atmospheric cover painting of a stalled train like the one from which our cast of characters escapes on foot through a blizzard. They find a mysteriously empty house with the fires burning and the teakettle aboil. And a menacing presence that soon points to murder.

The story is a thoroughly enjoyable classic Golden Age mystery, set in a snowbound English country show more house, and just right for filling those odd little nooks and crannies of time over a busy holiday. Most of the characters are absurd, but the principals are charming and likeable, especially young Lydia and Jessie the chorus girl.

The premise requires one's sense of the probable and the plausible to show considerable elasticity; and even at that, the ending is a stretch. But that doesn't matter. Even though a story like this is set in the known material world, without the intervention of magic and supernatural forces, it doesn't do to be too exacting about realism. Don't come here to appease your logical faculty but to satisfy your appetite for a lightweight escapist adventure in an appropriately creepy setting, with a helping of seasonal spirit to brighten the mood. show less