The Layton Court Mystery Anthony Berkeley 9781780020204 Books
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A ROGER SHERINGHAM MYSTERY. In a typical English country house, a murder is committed. The wealthy Victor Stanworth, who'd been playing host to a party of friends, is found dead in the library. At first it appears to be suicide, for the room was undoubtedly locked. But could there be more to the case? As one of the guests at Layton Court, gentleman sleuth Roger Sheringham begins to investigate. Many come under suspicion, but how could anyone have killed the man and gotten out of the room, leaving it all locked behind?
The Layton Court Mystery Anthony Berkeley 9781780020204 Books
Author Roger Sheringham has been invited to accompany his friend Alec Grierson to a house party at Layton Court in Hertfordshire by the wealthy Victor Stanworth. Neither man has previously met Victor, who has a reputation for hosting entertaining summer house parties. Lady Stanworth, Victor Stanworth's sister-in-law, acted as hostess and Major Jefferson, retired from the Army and Victor's secretary, kept things organized. Among the current guests are Barbara Shannon, Alec's fiance, and her mother and Mrs. Plant, whose husband worked in the Sudanese Civil Service. One morning, Victor Stanworth, is found shot through the head in his library which is locked from the inside. The police are called, and Inspector Mansfield and Doctor Matthewson agree that Victor has committed suicide, especially since there is a note to that effect on the desk, apparently signed by Victor. However, Roger decides to act as an amateur detective because he doesn't believe Victor is the type to commit suicide. He convinces Alec to act as his "Watson," and together they go about trying to find clues that might indicate that Victor was murdered.Since I just read about Anthony Berkeley in The Golden Age of Murder and do not recall ever having read any of his books, I decided I would start with the first in Roger Sheringham series. I had forgotten that I had purchased the book for Kindle about five years ago, so I started to try to find a copy at the library (no luck) and then looked on Amazon. I was extremely surprised to find that there were no Kindle versions and that the paperback copies available started at $59 and went up to $320 for a hardback copy. I tried Abe books and other places which had similarly high prices and was about to give up when I thought I would do a quick search on my Kindle to see if I actually already owned it. Fortunately, I had purchased it in 2012 for $6! The publisher, Langtail Press, has gone out of business, but it amazes me that no one else has purchased the rights. It was originally published in 1925, so it will still be a few more years until it is in the public domain.
The Layton Court Mystery is indeed a classic of the golden age. The book is well-written and steadily paced. Roger Sheringham is a refreshing detective as he is fallible and probably comes up with as many incorrect solutions as he does correct ones. He is a likable character and has a good relationship with his "Watson," Alec, whose personality contrasts well with Roger's. As Anthony Berkeley states in his introductory letter to his father, "the reader has precisely the same data at his disposal as has the detective." My only criticism is that I thought it a little too easy to solve the murder - I had it figured out from the beginning. It certainly wasn't the obvious solution, and usually, I can guess correctly, but I was pretty certain from the beginning. Perhaps I read the book many years ago and don't recall doing so, but when that's the case, I usually have a sense of familiarity, which I did not with this book.
I am definitely going to look for more in the Roger Sheringham series, but I think they may be difficult to find.
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The Layton Court Mystery Anthony Berkeley 9781780020204 Books Reviews
"The Layton Court Mystery" is the first detective novel by Anthony Berkeley, one of the Golden Age writers. It is delightful! And this edition is quite nice.
I did not care for this novel because I couldn't believe in the main character. The writing is well done but the character development was poor. In fact none of the characters behaved as real people would in a similar crisis.
A. B. Coxe (Anthony Berkeley) was a leading mystery writer in the 1920's and 30's and one of the founders of The Detection Club, an organization of Mystery writers who's membership also included the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Ronald Knox, among others. One of the credos of the club was the use of "fair play" in their writings, which means the reader is given all the clues necessary to solve the crime, nothing is hidden. There are no surprises sprung in the last chapter such as a hidden passageway that no one knows about, or a mysterious identical twin of a suspect.
The Layton Court Mystery is a good example of this type of fair play story. The book introduces the world to Berkeley's amateur sleuth, Roger Sheringham, in the first of 10 novels in which he appeared. In this story, Sheringham is a guest at a country home temporarily occupied by Victor Stanworth, a carefree sixty-something gentleman who is found dead, a victim of an apparent suicide. "Apparent" according to Sheringham, who is the only one, including the other house guests and the police, who can't accept the fact that a man who seemingly was happy and carefree would commit suicide. He suspects murder and the bulk of the book is his attempts to convince friend and fellow house guest, Alec Grierson of the same. The path is a windy one, full of missteps, wrong conclusions and incorrect solutions until the final explanation is given.
Any serious mystery fan who has a sense of the history of the detective novel should read this. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Berkeley's books, and this one in particular, does not read like an "old-timey" novel that is outdated. It is a timeless novel that the reader will enjoy. If you liked this book, any of Berkeley's Roger Sheringham stories will equally satisfy. Berkeley also wrote under the name of Francis Iles, and I can also recommend Before The Fact and Malice Aforethought which were written under that nom de plum.
First published (anonymously) in 1925, "The Layton Court Murder" was Anthony Berkeley's first book. In this book, Roger Sheringham, (novelist, occasional newspaper contributor, and a gentleman amateur sleuth) is first introduced. Roger is attending a house party in the country when the murder occurs, and is prompted to begin his amateur investigation. Roger displays his most juvenile rudeness in this first book (he becomes more polite in later books). The book is an excellent mystery, with extensive character development, brilliant grammar and vocabulary, and a very interesting plot. I would have given the book the full five stars if Roger's character development had not been designed to exhibit such juvenile rudeness. (I highly recommend this series - Roger's juvenile rudeness disappears in the fifth book in the series.)
Author Roger Sheringham has been invited to accompany his friend Alec Grierson to a house party at Layton Court in Hertfordshire by the wealthy Victor Stanworth. Neither man has previously met Victor, who has a reputation for hosting entertaining summer house parties. Lady Stanworth, Victor Stanworth's sister-in-law, acted as hostess and Major Jefferson, retired from the Army and Victor's secretary, kept things organized. Among the current guests are Barbara Shannon, Alec's fiance, and her mother and Mrs. Plant, whose husband worked in the Sudanese Civil Service. One morning, Victor Stanworth, is found shot through the head in his library which is locked from the inside. The police are called, and Inspector Mansfield and Doctor Matthewson agree that Victor has committed suicide, especially since there is a note to that effect on the desk, apparently signed by Victor. However, Roger decides to act as an amateur detective because he doesn't believe Victor is the type to commit suicide. He convinces Alec to act as his "Watson," and together they go about trying to find clues that might indicate that Victor was murdered.
Since I just read about Anthony Berkeley in The Golden Age of Murder and do not recall ever having read any of his books, I decided I would start with the first in Roger Sheringham series. I had forgotten that I had purchased the book for about five years ago, so I started to try to find a copy at the library (no luck) and then looked on . I was extremely surprised to find that there were no versions and that the paperback copies available started at $59 and went up to $320 for a hardback copy. I tried Abe books and other places which had similarly high prices and was about to give up when I thought I would do a quick search on my to see if I actually already owned it. Fortunately, I had purchased it in 2012 for $6! The publisher, Langtail Press, has gone out of business, but it amazes me that no one else has purchased the rights. It was originally published in 1925, so it will still be a few more years until it is in the public domain.
The Layton Court Mystery is indeed a classic of the golden age. The book is well-written and steadily paced. Roger Sheringham is a refreshing detective as he is fallible and probably comes up with as many incorrect solutions as he does correct ones. He is a likable character and has a good relationship with his "Watson," Alec, whose personality contrasts well with Roger's. As Anthony Berkeley states in his introductory letter to his father, "the reader has precisely the same data at his disposal as has the detective." My only criticism is that I thought it a little too easy to solve the murder - I had it figured out from the beginning. It certainly wasn't the obvious solution, and usually, I can guess correctly, but I was pretty certain from the beginning. Perhaps I read the book many years ago and don't recall doing so, but when that's the case, I usually have a sense of familiarity, which I did not with this book.
I am definitely going to look for more in the Roger Sheringham series, but I think they may be difficult to find.
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