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Roger Sheringham Cases #7
Top Storey Murder
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First published January 1, 1931
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About the author
Anthony Berkeley
121 books166 followersAnthony Berkeley Cox was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley Cox, and A. Monmouth Platts. One of the founders of The Detection Club
Cox was born in Watford and was educated at Sherborne School and University College London.
He served in the Army in World War I and thereafter worked as a journalist, contributing a series of humourous sketches to the magazine 'Punch'. These were later published collectively (1925) under the Anthony Berkeley pseudonym as 'Jugged Journalism' and the book was followed by a series of minor comic novels such as 'Brenda Entertains' (1925), 'The Family Witch' (1925) and 'The Professor on Paws' (1926).
It was also in 1925 when he published, anonymously to begin with, his first detective novel, 'The Layton Court Mystery', which was apparently written for the amusement of himself and his father, who was a big fan of the mystery genre. Later editions of the book had the author as Anthony Berkeley.
He discovered that the financial rewards were far better for detective fiction so he concentrated his efforts on that genre for the following 14 years, using mainly the Anthony Berkeley pseudonym but also writing four novels and three collections of short stories as Francis Isles and one novel as A Monmouth Platts.
In 1928 he founded the famous Detection Club in London and became its first honorary secretary.
In the mid-1930s he began reviewing novels, both mystery and non-mystery, for 'The Daily Telegraph' under the Francis Isles pseudonym, which he had first used for 'Malice Aforethought' in 1931.
In 1939 he gave up writing detective fiction for no apparent reason although it has been suggested that he came into a large inheritance at the time or that his alleged remark, 'When I find something that pays better than detective stories I shall write that' had some relevance. However, he produced nothing significant after he finished writing with 'Death in the House' (Berkeley) and 'As for the Woman' (Isles) in 1939.
He did, however, continue to review books for such as 'John O'London's Weekly', 'The Sunday Times', 'The Daily Telegraph' and, from the mid-1950s to 1970, 'The Guardian'. In addition he produced 'O England!', a study of social conditions and politics in 1934.
He and his wife lived in an old house in St John's Wood, London, and he had an office in The Strand where he was listed as one of the two directors of A B Cox Ltd, a company whose business was unspecified!
Alfred Hitchcock adapted the Francis Isles' title 'Before the Fact' for his film 'Suspicion' in 1941 and in the same year Cox supplied a script for another film 'Flight from Destiny', which was produced by Warner Brothers.
His most enduring character is Roger Sheringham who featured in 10 Anthony Berkeley novels and two posthumous collections of short stories.
He died on 9 March 1971.
Gerry Wolstenholme
January 2012 (less)
Cox was born in Watford and was educated at Sherborne School and University College London.
He served in the Army in World War I and thereafter worked as a journalist, contributing a series of humourous sketches to the magazine 'Punch'. These were later published collectively (1925) under the Anthony Berkeley pseudonym as 'Jugged Journalism' and the book was followed by a series of minor comic novels such as 'Brenda Entertains' (1925), 'The Family Witch' (1925) and 'The Professor on Paws' (1926).
It was also in 1925 when he published, anonymously to begin with, his first detective novel, 'The Layton Court Mystery', which was apparently written for the amusement of himself and his father, who was a big fan of the mystery genre. Later editions of the book had the author as Anthony Berkeley.
He discovered that the financial rewards were far better for detective fiction so he concentrated his efforts on that genre for the following 14 years, using mainly the Anthony Berkeley pseudonym but also writing four novels and three collections of short stories as Francis Isles and one novel as A Monmouth Platts.
In 1928 he founded the famous Detection Club in London and became its first honorary secretary.
In the mid-1930s he began reviewing novels, both mystery and non-mystery, for 'The Daily Telegraph' under the Francis Isles pseudonym, which he had first used for 'Malice Aforethought' in 1931.
In 1939 he gave up writing detective fiction for no apparent reason although it has been suggested that he came into a large inheritance at the time or that his alleged remark, 'When I find something that pays better than detective stories I shall write that' had some relevance. However, he produced nothing significant after he finished writing with 'Death in the House' (Berkeley) and 'As for the Woman' (Isles) in 1939.
He did, however, continue to review books for such as 'John O'London's Weekly', 'The Sunday Times', 'The Daily Telegraph' and, from the mid-1950s to 1970, 'The Guardian'. In addition he produced 'O England!', a study of social conditions and politics in 1934.
He and his wife lived in an old house in St John's Wood, London, and he had an office in The Strand where he was listed as one of the two directors of A B Cox Ltd, a company whose business was unspecified!
Alfred Hitchcock adapted the Francis Isles' title 'Before the Fact' for his film 'Suspicion' in 1941 and in the same year Cox supplied a script for another film 'Flight from Destiny', which was produced by Warner Brothers.
His most enduring character is Roger Sheringham who featured in 10 Anthony Berkeley novels and two posthumous collections of short stories.
He died on 9 March 1971.
Gerry Wolstenholme
January 2012 (less)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 27, 2025
It is a suprisingly enjoyable read and the best thing about it is the author's irony and humour portraying the protagonist, a young writer conducting his own investigation, and his thoughts and actions. And the story had an unpredictable ending, at least for me.
March 26, 2021
B:
This one has Berkeley's trademark elegant prose, flavoured with a dash of Richard Hull's mischievous approach to solution. Sheringham comes off as a bit of a creep in this (he hires the niece of the murder victim because he likes the look of her and then treats her as a bit of a curio of sorts) but there's enough in this mystery to work in spite of that. Overall, a consistently great series.
This one has Berkeley's trademark elegant prose, flavoured with a dash of Richard Hull's mischievous approach to solution. Sheringham comes off as a bit of a creep in this (he hires the niece of the murder victim because he likes the look of her and then treats her as a bit of a curio of sorts) but there's enough in this mystery to work in spite of that. Overall, a consistently great series.
August 7, 2016
Очень захотелось какой-нибудь детективной гимнастики для ума, но с этой книгой как-то не срослось :(. Хотя было любопытно, т.к. текст вроде как классика британского детективного жанра, написанный ещё в 1930-х.
Не понравилось:
1) Скучно, затянуто, много лишних диалогов, много про характеры и отношения второстепенных и проходных персонажей. Наверное, для беллетристики того времени такой темп текста нормален, но я буквально начинал несколько раз засыпать над текстом - динамика сюжета крайне вялая :(
2) Автор относится к категории детективщиков-"шулеров". Поясню. Следишь по ходу чтения за расследованием; строишь какие-то свои гипотезы вместе с героями; и вот уже ближе к финалу вырисовываются 1-2-3 правдоподобные версии преступления.
А автор берёт, и в самый последний момент (буквально на последней странице!) предлагает какую-то совершенно неправдоподобную развязку событий! Делает это подобно тому, как вдруг шулер достаёт из рукава лишний в колоде козырной туз, и выигрывает партию. Вроде как: "Опа! А вот и не угадали преступника, дорогие читатели!".
Вот для меня лично в детективах - это дешёвый приём :(.
Понравилось:
1) Самый настоящий прекрасный английский юмор/ирония, которого в романах действительно МНОГО.
2) Очень британский по духу текст. Вот просто даже захотелось почитать его в оригинале. Это, конечно, не Диккенс ;)), но, думаю, удовольствие было бы что надо.
3) Больше понравился второй роман (про отравленные шоколадки), т.к. там действительно было где размять мозги :) Было целых шесть (!) версий одного и того же преступления, каждая из которых была по-своему очень убедительна. Автор, конечно, очень скупо выдавал с каждой версией новые улики и обстоятельства, но анализировать всё это было занимательно. (Хотя в финале всё равно нашулерил!).
Но! в качестве резюме: если вы привыкли к современным динамичным детективам, то читать крайне не советую - очень длинно и скучно :(( А вот если вы фанат жанра и британской культуры - то очень даже рекомендую ;)
Не понравилось:
1) Скучно, затянуто, много лишних диалогов, много про характеры и отношения второстепенных и проходных персонажей. Наверное, для беллетристики того времени такой темп текста нормален, но я буквально начинал несколько раз засыпать над текстом - динамика сюжета крайне вялая :(
2) Автор относится к категории детективщиков-"шулеров". Поясню. Следишь по ходу чтения за расследованием; строишь какие-то свои гипотезы вместе с героями; и вот уже ближе к финалу вырисовываются 1-2-3 правдоподобные версии преступления.
А автор берёт, и в самый последний момент (буквально на последней странице!) предлагает какую-то совершенно неправдоподобную развязку событий! Делает это подобно тому, как вдруг шулер достаёт из рукава лишний в колоде козырной туз, и выигрывает партию. Вроде как: "Опа! А вот и не угадали преступника, дорогие читатели!".
Вот для меня лично в детективах - это дешёвый приём :(.
Понравилось:
1) Самый настоящий прекрасный английский юмор/ирония, которого в романах действительно МНОГО.
2) Очень британский по духу текст. Вот просто даже захотелось почитать его в оригинале. Это, конечно, не Диккенс ;)), но, думаю, удовольствие было бы что надо.
3) Больше понравился второй роман (про отравленные шоколадки), т.к. там действительно было где размять мозги :) Было целых шесть (!) версий одного и того же преступления, каждая из которых была по-своему очень убедительна. Автор, конечно, очень скупо выдавал с каждой версией новые улики и обстоятельства, но анализировать всё это было занимательно. (Хотя в финале всё равно нашулерил!).
Но! в качестве резюме: если вы привыкли к современным динамичным детективам, то читать крайне не советую - очень длинно и скучно :(( А вот если вы фанат жанра и британской культуры - то очень даже рекомендую ;)
August 14, 2020
Berkeley is on fine form here presenting a two solutions ala Poisoned chocolates case
April 10, 2022
Not a bad mystery, but with one of the worst main protagonists I have ever had the misfortune to read. Roger Sheringham's arrogant, amoral, selfish, misogynistic personality makes him an unpleasantly difficult read, and spoils what would have been quite a good mystery. Not sure if I will read another in this series. Might try one more, but probably no more than that.
January 21, 2023
Roger Sheringham appears in his sixth novel, interfering in another murder investigation, this time involving an "old woman" (aged 48!) who is murdered in a top-floor flat. It gets off to a slow start, but then becomes an entertaining mystery, with one of Berkeley's brilliant endings.
June 17, 2023
Refreshing to listen to dialogue of the 1930s where old dears are silly and they can be called it ... being an old dear myself, I like to hear more realistic and unemotional verbalising.
Refreshingly free from PC fearfulness, and unrealistic females.
Give me male [almost] heroes every time.
Refreshingly free from PC fearfulness, and unrealistic females.
Give me male [almost] heroes every time.
December 16, 2018
For my full review click here:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
November 16, 2024
Roger Sheringham really shouldn't be so likeable. He employs a young woman and treats her badly and it's probably only because she can more than hold her own that the book ended up being so hilarious. That and the fact that Roger is such an amusingly bad detective. It starts slowly but once it really gets going it's an intriguing mystery with some great characters.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews