Mystery

The Red House Mystery

 
Author: A. A. Milne
Genre: Mystery
Pages/Length: 228 pages

★★★☆☆ 3.5 stars

Book Summary:
Anthony Gillingham takes charge in a whodunit murder mystery, employing Bill Beverly as his sidekick. Only, this isn’t your typical murder mystery. The prime suspect? Gone. The witness? Clearly hiding something. Who holds more secrets? The house itself or the people inside it…

Book Review:
This book totally gave me Clue vibes. It was very clever, well thought out, and the ending was GENIUS. Huge twist, original, unpredictable, and the last thing that I was expecting. It’s hard to find original plot twists, everything is overused. But this, this I’ve never seen before– it was so smart and perfectly executed. I would definitely recommend this book to people who like whodunit mysteries, and it also reminded me a little of the movie Knives Out. Anthony is a smart main character, and Bill is the comedic sidekick. Their dynamic is light, funny and constantly compared to Holmes and Watson. This was definitely an entertaining read. The only thing I didn’t love was the writing style. But I think that’s only because it’s a little outdated and consists of jargon that I couldn’t imagine anyone saying today.

Quotes:
“From what I’ve read of detective stories, inspectors always do want to drag the pond first.”
“You know, when once you’ve discovered a secret yourself, it always seems as if it must be so obvious to everybody else.”
“‘Go on talking as if I were here. After a minute or two turn round as if I were sitting on the grass behind you, but go on talking.”

Spoilers:
I want to start off by saying that Cayley tricking the cops into draining the lake and then hiding stuff there once it was refilled was brilliant. I’m not sure if this strategy has been used before, and if it has, I’ve never heard of it. But tricking the police into searching the place was so smart because, after all, why would they think to look again after they already drained it? I also loved the ending, and that Mark’s brother was never there in the first place. It totally changed the way that I looked at the story and I never even noticed that we never saw Mark and Robert interact. I also love the passageways! Totally adds to the mysterious vibe of the book.

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