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    Thirteen Guests
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    Thirteen Guests
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    Thirteen Guests
    Ebook317 pages4 hours

    Thirteen Guests

    By J. Jefferson Farjeon and Martin Edwards

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    'No observer, ignorant of the situation, would have guessed that death lurked nearby, and that only a little distance from the glitter of silver and glass and the hum of voices, two victims lay silent on a studio floor.'


    On a fine autumn weekend Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Among the guests are an actress, a journalist, an artist, and a mystery novelist. The unlucky thirteenth is John Foss, injured at the local train station and brought to the house to recuperate – but John is nursing a secret of his own.


    Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed, and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall's skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.


    This country-house mystery is a forgotten classic of 1930s crime fiction by one of the most undeservedly neglected of golden age detective novelists.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPoisoned Pen Press
    Release dateSep 1, 2015
    ISBN9781464204906

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    Reviews for Thirteen Guests

    3.5/5

    58 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Another Poisoned Pen Press reprint of the British Crime Classics series . This hearkens back (even though it was written before) to Agatha Christie where there is a group of people sharing a given space and time and a few in their party start to be bumped off. Seems like everyone has a motive and a detective comes and unravels the mystery through a series of interviews with the guests and staff at a large family estate where the people gather for a hunt. You will love this book if you love this type of mystery.
    • 5/5
      "Thirteen Guests" by J. Jefferson Farjeon is a beautifully written mystery first published in 1937. The literary language used in this book is very poetic and by today's standards is very outstanding. This author far exceeds his competitor, Agatha Christie, during that time period. I especially loved the beautiful descriptions in Chapter 10, "Movements in the Night", of wildlife in the English countryside. If you love Agatha Christie's novels, you will love the author, J. Jefferson Farjeon in the British Library Crime Classics series.I would like to thank the publisher Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC to review in the British Library Crime Classics series.
    • 4/5
      Thirteen Guests, A British Library Crime Classic by J. Farjeon is a mesmerizing Country House murder with multiple suspects, murky motives & flowerly language. I gave it four stars."She placed the tray on a sideboard, covered the stained table with a scarcely less stained cloth, & moved the tray to the table. The seed cake presided with dejected majesty on a tall, glass-pedestaled dish. Its mission appeared to be to make thick slices of bread & butter appealing by comparison."I received a complimentary e-copy from Poisoned Pen Press & NetGalley. That did not change my opinion for this review.
    • 4/5
      Ahh the Golden Age... I just love country house mysteries! There is just something about the quaint settings, the big, old manor homes and a whole house full of suspects guests that just makes a good mystery even better! Thirteen Guests had all that and a nice twist at the end to make you question your suspect list! Part of the fun of a country house mystery of course, is trying to figure out who-dun-it! I always tell myself that I wish there were more of them written today but in all honesty, they wouldn't compare to the Golden Age mysteries. That is an era and style of writing that has unfortunately passed on so I will have to be content with hunting down those old classics. So thank you Poisoned Pen for bringing them back and making my hunt a lot easier! Thirteen Guests is a Golden Age classic all mystery lovers should read!
    • 5/5
      Another reprint of a great vintage mystery (this one from 1936) from the British Library/Poisoned Pen Press. An assorted cast of characters at a country house, a hunt, murder, clever sleuths, and a touch of romance. Free advance review copy from Poisoned Pen Press, the US publisher.
    • 4/5
      Joseph Jefferson Farjeon wrote more than 60 mysteries, plays and film treatments around the beginning of the 20th century and was widely known and acclaimed at the time. His work slipped out of the spotlight after WWII and has only recently been revived. "Thirteen Guests" was originally published in London in 1936 by Collins, London. It has been reissued by Poisoned Pen Press in collaboration with the British Library.John Foss is the thirteenth guest at a country house party. He is not an invited guest, but was injured at the local railway station and dragged to Bragley Court by one of the other guests, a beautiful woman.The plot is contrived and quite implausible, but reading the book is a nice way to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon.I received a review copy of "Thirteen Guests: A British Library Crime Classic" by J. Jefferson Farjeon (Poisoned Pen) through NetGalley.com.
    • 4/5
      Will definitely read more from this author.
    • 4/5
      Fun detective story classic plot from an author I'd never heard of.
    • 4/5
      Originally published in 1936 this British Crime Classic has all the elements we expect from a country house mystery. Twelve guests are invited for a weekend at a country manor. When a stranger is injured on the train platform one of the guests, the beautiful Mrs. Leveridge, insists he come with her to the manor where he is kindly welcomed and looked after. That means of course that there is now the unlucky number of 13 guests. Mrs. Leveridge and the stranger, John Foss, have fun watching the front door to see who the last guest to enter will be. The doctor decides Foss needs to stay off his foot for a few days and is placed in a small room off the main hallway and next to the drawing-room. From there he is a witness to the comings and goings of the guests and to their conversations. Later when it becomes likely that one of the guests is a murderer, his observations will be a valuable resource. I liked this Farjeon, it's my third of the 80 novels he wrote! Although the plot becomes rather convoluted and we don’t really know what happened until the inspector gives a summary, I liked it and have no reason not to read more by him.
    • 3/5
      Over the course of an autumn day, a dozen guests representing a sampling of the British elite arrive at the country house of Lord Aveling, an aspiring Conservative politician. To their number is added John Foss, whose ankle sprain compels one of the guests to offer him lodging while he recuperates. His hobbled state leaves him a witness to developments, as clandestine late-night encounters suggest secrets held by many of the people in the house. Thus, when bodies start to appear the next day, Foss is an idea witness for Detective-Inspector Kendall, who must compare stories and uncover clues in an effort to discern who among the assembled party is guilty of murder.With the initial murders not occurring until well over a third of the way into the book, J. Jefferson Farjeon offers his readers a mystery that takes its time to coalesce. The preceding pages are not wasted, though, as he spends it introducing his cast of characters and hinting at the secrets they hold. Once the bodies start dropping, though, the pace picks up quickly as Kendall and his able sidekick Sergeant Price work to discover motive, means and opportunity. While Farjeon's ending is somewhat unusual for a murder mystery, its value is cheapened somewhat by the convoluted result which is designed to provide a degree of moral absolution for the characters involved. It detracts from what is otherwise an enjoyable novel that demonstrates why Farjeon deserves a far wider audience than he has enjoyed since his heyday.