Surprisingly wonderful old-fashioned country house mystery originally published in 1936. Poisoned Pen Press in Scottsdale, Arizona, in association with the British Library, has been giving new life to some heretofore forgotten mysteries from the Golden Age. Unfortunately, some of them are best forgotten, as I discovered after purchasing another, less traditional mystery by Farjeon which just didn't cut it. This one, however, is stellar, everything you'd ever want in a country house mystery, including some wit and charm, more than one death, and a romance between John and Anne which is classic. I loved this, and it explains why Farjeon was so respected in his day. Great fun in the very old-fashion - and best - sense of mystery reading fun. Highly recommended for fans of Christie, Alingham, Wentworth and Marsh. ( )

author is brother to Eleanor Farjeon ( )

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley. ( )

3.5 stars

It started off slow but the writing style had energy and I liked the ultimate solution. ( )

... And Then There Were Twelve
Review of the Poisoned Pen Press paperback (2015) of the British Library Crime Classics reprint (2015) of the original hardcover (1936)

J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) put the British Library Crime Classics imprint on the map with the breakthrough renaissance of his Mystery in White (orig. 1937 / reprint 2014) which became a posthumous bestseller. Thirteen Guests somewhat follows the same setup of the weekend country house getaway, although the guests are not isolated by a snowstorm and the setting is not during the winter holiday season.

The number of guests, combined with those of the household and then later the police, might make you think this was going to be a complicated affair. Each person did have enough of an individual character via personality, profession or even just a quirky name, to help distinguish them. I had no trouble following the different types (some stereotyped of course e.g. the journalist, the artist, the actress, etc.) along with the clues and the red herrings.

The solution was harder to come by and relied on several key pieces of information being held back until the climax, particularly the identity of an initially anonymous 'fourteenth' visitor who appears early but who is not explained until much later. There is a nice twist ending where, although Inspector Kendall solves the crime and the mysteries to his satisfaction, he is not made aware of a random occurrence which determined the fate of one of the characters. A tacked-on romance at the very end was completely unnecessary, but was probably required due to the conventions of the era.

Overall, Thirteen Guests was a nice cozy mystery read from the Golden Age of Crime, even if it didn't breakthrough into 4 or 5 star territory. This continues my tradition in recent years to read some British Library Crime Classic mysteries or anthologies every Christmas/New Year time.

See poster at http://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll00206lld42eGFgbNECfDrCWvaHBOcpvmC/nic...
A vintage Cruden Bay Hotel, Aberdeenshire tourism poster (1928), the source of the cover image for "Thirteen Guests." Image sourced from ArtNet

Trivia and Link
The British Library Crime Classic series are reprints of forgotten titles mostly from the 1920's & 1930's, which the series describes as the "Golden Age of Crime". They are up to over 100 titles now (as of early 2022) and you can see a list at the British Library Shop (for North America they are reprinted by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press). There is also a British Library Crime Classics Goodreads Listopia. ( )