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Sir John Appleby #26
The Open House
When his car breaks down on a deserted road, Sir John Appleby wanders up a drive in search of help. Suddenly, a palatial residence appears before him, its every window blazing. In the dining room, candles are lit, champagne is on ice, and dinner is waiting. But not a sound is heard. Anywhere.
Appleby, retired chief of Scotland Yard, is about to embark on one of his strangest adventures ever. In his usual urbane manner Sir John confronts an absent-minded professor, a mysterious lady in white, South American conspirators, several murderers...and their victims.
Appleby, retired chief of Scotland Yard, is about to embark on one of his strangest adventures ever. In his usual urbane manner Sir John confronts an absent-minded professor, a mysterious lady in white, South American conspirators, several murderers...and their victims.
159 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 1972
4 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Michael Innes
128 books90 followersMichael Innes was the pseudonym of John Innes MacKintosh (J.I.M.) Stewart (J.I.M. Stewart).
He was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Oriel College, Oxford. He was Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds from 1930 - 1935, and spent the succeeding ten years as Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1949, to become a Lecturer at the Queen's University of Belfast. In 1949 he became a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a Professor by the time of his retirement in 1973.
As J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of works of non-fiction, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as about twenty works of fiction and a memoir, 'Myself and Michael Innes'.
As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective John Appleby.
He was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Oriel College, Oxford. He was Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds from 1930 - 1935, and spent the succeeding ten years as Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1949, to become a Lecturer at the Queen's University of Belfast. In 1949 he became a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a Professor by the time of his retirement in 1973.
As J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of works of non-fiction, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as about twenty works of fiction and a memoir, 'Myself and Michael Innes'.
As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective John Appleby.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 28, 2018
There are a lot of things happening in this short novel. In the space of one night Sir John Appleby experiences a South American gang of robbers, a woman in white (and another in black!), a returned heir and a very eccentric or even mad professor. Nothing is as it seems but Appleby manages to make sense of it all and solves the mystery in time for breakfast.
November 7, 2025
Retired police commissioner Sir John Appleby's car breaks down on an isolated country road. He heads for the nearest town but instead stumbles on a palatial house, light streaming from all the windows, unlocked and seemingly unoccupied. Intriguing! After Appleby has wandered around for awhile, the befuddled owner appears, his appearance suggestive of "a ripe Edwardian depravity." Then the lights cut out. And someone is murdered. Is the owner really the owner? Is the murdered man the heir? All the people who materialize out of thin air, are they really a butler, a housekeeper, the dead man's ex-fiancee? Can anyone really explain the sentence "But this situation was insusceptible of indefinite continuance - if only because of the frangible quality of what encapsulated the contestants"? Can such a parched apothegm as "He was still perched, indeed, on one of those marble benches which Stride has aspersed as fundamentally unsound" be parsed? Does a reader asperse as turgid such a locution as "Mr. Snodgrass did not animadvert upon the person's attire"?
1972 is a little late for the term nigger to be appearing in a novel (this relates to my continuing project of noting the word's appearance in fiction). Here we see it, indeed, being aspersed and animadverted: "[Adrian Snodgrass] had published a book unendearingly entitled My Niger Niggers, after - and perhaps because of - which he had returned to Azuera and been 'prominent in securing measures of political reform.'"
December 8, 2017
An unexpected late night breakdown of his car leads Appleby into this case as he stumbles upon 'the open house' in his quest for an inn. The house is lit up and the door open but there is no-one to be found inside - at least, at first!
A fun entry in the Appleby series.
A fun entry in the Appleby series.
October 25, 2020
Any stranded traveler would be disconcerted to find a lonely stretch of road with a palatial house all lit up, the door open, and nobody within. Was it some rural Marie Celeste--with dinner ready for one, and even a hot water bottle (hot!) at the foot of the bed. But when the traveler is Sir John Appleby, he knows that there's mischief afoot. When he first meets the uncle of the house's owner, he thinks that there's just burglary in store. But when he finds a murdered man, it's clear that there's something much worse happening.
April 28, 2025
Summary: When his car breaks down, Sir John Appleby walks up a drive. The mansion at the end is suddenly lit with its front door open.
Years ago a friend recommended the mystery novels of Michael Innes. Witty and well-written, I’ve enjoyed them whenever I come across copies, especially in the green-spined Penguin editions. Sadly, the books are out of print. But I found three of them on my trip to John King’s Books recently.
Innes’ detective is Sir john Appleby, the “Sir” coming with his appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Innes develops this character over 50 years from a young Detective Inspector to his eminent position, publishing Appleby novels between 1936 and 1986.
In this story, Sir John is driving down a country road at night when he suddenly discovers his gear shift lever isn’t attached to anything. All he can do is park the car and find assistance. This was before the day of cell phones. He sets foot, trying to find a local inn he thinks is up the road. He turns off a drive that he thinks leads up to it. Everything is dark. Then suddenly it isn’t. Almost like magic, a great country mansion has appeared before him. And when he looks, the front door is open.
Being a proper gentleman, he rings the bell, but no one comes. When he ventures in, he finds no one. But a place is laid for dinner in the dining room. In the main bedroom, pajamas are laid out and a hot water bottle provided to warm the bed. He wanders into the library and figures out this is the house of Adrian Snodgrass, who has made his fortune in South America. Another Snodgrass interrupts him. This is Professor Beddoes Snodgrass, a somewhat daft caretaker whose main job is to open the house up once a year for the arrival of its owner. But he hasn’t turned up for many years. But others from the neighborhood have. As a policeman, Appleby doesn’t approve. But he enjoys a glass of port with the Professor as he recounts the history of the family and the house.
Appleby hears various sounds outside the library, and on going out to search trips over Rev. Absalon, who has dropped by for the open house. There is an appearance of a lady in white, then Leonidas, the recently hired butler who announces that Adrian Snodgrass has arrived. Professor Snodgrass leaves Leonidas to attend to him. Suddenly there is a commotion, a scream, and a fired shot. Appleby finds Adrian Snodgrass has arrived — dead of a gunshot wound. A valuable painting is missing, and worse — people of South American appearance are still rummaging about the house.
Occurring during the night, the story has a fantastic, dreamlike or nightmare-like character involving ladies in white and back, a woman of questionable sanity claiming to be Adrian’s proper wife, and her son who bears a startling resemblance to the deceased. The butler disappears, but not before notifying another near kin. There are chases throughout the house and a safecracking. All the while, Sir John wants to solve the case before breakfast and leave this crazy setting.
Sir John handles himself creditably, despite his years. But we all wonder how he will make sense of all the crazy things going on around him–and will he do it before breakfast? Despite the somewhat implausible plot, this book is a delightful, fast-paced romp. Find yourself a copy if you can!
Years ago a friend recommended the mystery novels of Michael Innes. Witty and well-written, I’ve enjoyed them whenever I come across copies, especially in the green-spined Penguin editions. Sadly, the books are out of print. But I found three of them on my trip to John King’s Books recently.
Innes’ detective is Sir john Appleby, the “Sir” coming with his appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Innes develops this character over 50 years from a young Detective Inspector to his eminent position, publishing Appleby novels between 1936 and 1986.
In this story, Sir John is driving down a country road at night when he suddenly discovers his gear shift lever isn’t attached to anything. All he can do is park the car and find assistance. This was before the day of cell phones. He sets foot, trying to find a local inn he thinks is up the road. He turns off a drive that he thinks leads up to it. Everything is dark. Then suddenly it isn’t. Almost like magic, a great country mansion has appeared before him. And when he looks, the front door is open.
Being a proper gentleman, he rings the bell, but no one comes. When he ventures in, he finds no one. But a place is laid for dinner in the dining room. In the main bedroom, pajamas are laid out and a hot water bottle provided to warm the bed. He wanders into the library and figures out this is the house of Adrian Snodgrass, who has made his fortune in South America. Another Snodgrass interrupts him. This is Professor Beddoes Snodgrass, a somewhat daft caretaker whose main job is to open the house up once a year for the arrival of its owner. But he hasn’t turned up for many years. But others from the neighborhood have. As a policeman, Appleby doesn’t approve. But he enjoys a glass of port with the Professor as he recounts the history of the family and the house.
Appleby hears various sounds outside the library, and on going out to search trips over Rev. Absalon, who has dropped by for the open house. There is an appearance of a lady in white, then Leonidas, the recently hired butler who announces that Adrian Snodgrass has arrived. Professor Snodgrass leaves Leonidas to attend to him. Suddenly there is a commotion, a scream, and a fired shot. Appleby finds Adrian Snodgrass has arrived — dead of a gunshot wound. A valuable painting is missing, and worse — people of South American appearance are still rummaging about the house.
Occurring during the night, the story has a fantastic, dreamlike or nightmare-like character involving ladies in white and back, a woman of questionable sanity claiming to be Adrian’s proper wife, and her son who bears a startling resemblance to the deceased. The butler disappears, but not before notifying another near kin. There are chases throughout the house and a safecracking. All the while, Sir John wants to solve the case before breakfast and leave this crazy setting.
Sir John handles himself creditably, despite his years. But we all wonder how he will make sense of all the crazy things going on around him–and will he do it before breakfast? Despite the somewhat implausible plot, this book is a delightful, fast-paced romp. Find yourself a copy if you can!
June 28, 2025
This is an odd , short and funny little book, it falls short of the quality of other stories by this author. Sir John Appleby, recently retired from the Yard stumbles across a country house , ablaze with light but no one seemingly at home after his car breaks down in the locality. The action proceeds at a breathtaking pace with murdered heirs, South American entanglements, an unbalanced woman in white, a Professor, the local Vicar and various other random people appearing at odd moments. It's silly, diverting and a bit of fun.
February 9, 2023
Witty, amusing, clever - would you enjoy it? If you like sentences such as the following, then yes:
But the situation was insusceptible of indefinite continuance - if only because of the frangible quality of what encapsulated the contestants.
Describing a fight in a room full of mirrors.
But the situation was insusceptible of indefinite continuance - if only because of the frangible quality of what encapsulated the contestants.
Describing a fight in a room full of mirrors.
February 13, 2009
John Appleby, formerly of Scotland Yard, is traveling through unfamiliar countryside when his car breaks down. After setting off to find an inn and get a place to spend the night, his flashlight dies. He has no choice but to hike along the dirt road hoping to find shelter.
He is stunned - literally - when he discovers a large house blazing with light. After he recovers, he heads for the building, hoping to find someone at home. But he can see no one. He discovers dinner on the table, laid for one, a fire and pajamas in the bedroom, but not a single person. He finds the library and helps himself to a drink.
Just like that, Appleby has stumbled onto another of the strange sort of mystery stories that typify Michael Innes. It reminded me of Death by Water or Sheiks and Adders, with that same sort of beginning. Not quite as much fun as those two books, it was still a good read.
He is stunned - literally - when he discovers a large house blazing with light. After he recovers, he heads for the building, hoping to find someone at home. But he can see no one. He discovers dinner on the table, laid for one, a fire and pajamas in the bedroom, but not a single person. He finds the library and helps himself to a drink.
Just like that, Appleby has stumbled onto another of the strange sort of mystery stories that typify Michael Innes. It reminded me of Death by Water or Sheiks and Adders, with that same sort of beginning. Not quite as much fun as those two books, it was still a good read.
July 18, 2011
Some of the quirkiest characters I've ever encountered in Innes' work. But very enjoyable! I love the crazy professor...
December 18, 2013
fun romp. wildly improbable mystery, lots of big words and literary illusions
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews