Yes, I know AA Milne is the guy who wrote Winnie the Pooh, but he also wrote this book! It is a classic mystery novel based on the Sherlock Holmes titles with witty references to Watson and Holmes. The characters are vivid and surprisingly fresh, I enjoyed this mystery because AA Milne believed that no one wanted to read a mystery or detective novel with a love story:
'A reader, all agog to know whether the white substance on the muffins was arsenic or face-powder, cannot be held up while Roland clasps Angela's hand "a moment longer than the customary usages of society dictate." Much might have happened in that moment, properly spent; foot-prints made or discovered; cigarette-ends picked up and put in envelopes. By all means let Roland have a book to himself in which he clasps anything he likes, but in a detective story he must attend strictly to business.'
(sorry if anything is mis-spelt I was typing with one hand)
He wrote this in 1926 and I wish someone else would listen to it. It is the most perfect detective novel because it is fast-paced, witty, full of quick thinking and clues, the detective is an amateur and we can all pretend to be as astute as he.
For lovers of The Moving Toyshop and Sherlock Holmes this is a gem. Other readers should pick it up, just so they can see what AA Milne was capable of, not just Tigger's and Piglet's but complex murder mystery plots! A perfect companion to your Hundred Acre Wood collection!!!
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