Scottish mystery writer Michael Innes, the
nom de plume of J.I.M. Stewart, crafted 35 Sir John Appleby novels of which
Appleby and Honeybath was the 33rd, published in 1983. Born in 1906, the first Appleby,
Death at the President's Lodging, appeared when the author was 30; Innes passed away in 1994. Innes wrote other mysteries, including a series featuring an amateur detective, Charles Honeybath, whose full-time job is Royal Academy portrait painter; in the present volume, Innes puts the two detectives into one tale for the first and last time. (J.I.M. Stewart also wrote a number of books under his real name and was, in real life, an Oxford Don.)
Terrence Grinton, lord of the manor, has a hallowed family history but his only real interest is fox hunting ... and figuring out how to pay taxes on the ancestral manor. He's invited a clutch of guests for the weekend, including his daughter, son-in-law and kids; his wife's friend Judith Appleby and her husband Sir John, retired from Scotland Yard; Charles Honeybath who is to prep for painting his portrait to hang alongside those of his ancestors; and three other seemingly eccentric men and women of various academic backgrounds. The family library, which holds little interest for Terrence, becomes a focal point for one and all when a body is found in it (and as quickly lost). Burrows, the long suffering butler, whose family has butlered at the manor for some generations itself, knows more than he is saying; and Inspector Denver, and his local constabulary, are brought in to search for the missing corpse. Are there treasures to be found in the library, behind secret panels, in the misty past and present of family and guests ... and will the corpse, when found, be found to be murdered at all?
Tongue in cheek, and certainly with mischievous wit, this relatively brief tale unfolds in the course of little more than 24 hours with fingers squarely pointed at one person, then another, then several at once. The writing is superb and quite British; I found myself looking up several words along the way, and "worked out" several others. In places, it reads a bit like a summer stock farce -- there are certainly enough doors and exits and comings and goings! -- though it’s a much richer experience than that and succeeds admirably as a deliciously frothy entertainment.
Happily, House of Stratus has obtained rights to the entire series and has issued the lot in both paper and ebook form. This title is at
Kindle and
Kobo for under $10.