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The Black-Headed Pins
Why didn't the corpses stay put at this Christmas houseparty?
When the miserly Mrs. Ballinger decides to invite her nieces and nephews for Christmas, her paid companion Leigh Smith sees the possibility for some fun. What Smithy doesn’t expect is to encounter the family curse. When a dragging noise is heard in the attic it foretells death. And once a Ballinger dies, if you don’t watch the body until it’s buried, it’s likely to walk...
When the miserly Mrs. Ballinger decides to invite her nieces and nephews for Christmas, her paid companion Leigh Smith sees the possibility for some fun. What Smithy doesn’t expect is to encounter the family curse. When a dragging noise is heard in the attic it foretells death. And once a Ballinger dies, if you don’t watch the body until it’s buried, it’s likely to walk...
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
2 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Constance Little
27 books9 followersJessie Constance Little (1899-1980) co-authored with her sister Gwenyth Little mysteries in the screwball-comedy fashion. The Little sisters are referred to as "queens of the wacky cozy." They were sometimes published as Conyth Little, a portmanteau of their names.
Their youngest sister Iris wrote under the pseudonym Robert James.
Constance Little married Lawrence Baker, a men's clothing designer for the Dubois Uniform Company in New York City.
Their youngest sister Iris wrote under the pseudonym Robert James.
Constance Little married Lawrence Baker, a men's clothing designer for the Dubois Uniform Company in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 6, 2020
A very witty screwball mystery! Which would have made a wonderful 1930's film.
A family gather for Christmas in a rather run down American Country House and are put through their paces by a miser of a host and a family curse.
That mixed with bodies that won't stay where they should had me devouring this book!
A family gather for Christmas in a rather run down American Country House and are put through their paces by a miser of a host and a family curse.
That mixed with bodies that won't stay where they should had me devouring this book!
September 19, 2016
...I realized that the noises in the attic had stopped. The next minute I heard them all pour down into the hall, sounding like a herd of elephants, as men usually do when they're trying to be quiet. (p. 113)
Black-Headed Pins is the second book by Constance and Gwenyth Little and the first in a long line of books with "black" in the title. Their first book, titled The Grey Mist Murders, might count as a shade of black but despite the somber colors of their titles, the Little books are far from somber affairs. The ladies may deal in murders, but they are humorous, madcap affairs rather than chilling, nerve-wracking adventures.
Cozy by nature, the murders happen tidily off-stage and allow for plenty of frantic rushing about and snappy dialogue by the players. The action always takes place in drafty old mansions, hospitals, boarding houses, ocean liners--in short, anywhere that the Littles could convene a gathering of eccentric characters who seem to have wandered in from a B-movie along the lines of Bob Hope in The Ghost Breakers or my Halloween-viewing experience The Thirteenth Guest with Ginger Rogers. The heroine in each stand-alone novel runs very much to type--strong-minded and always willing to speak her mind with a sense of humor and a distinct interest in finding a man who will either do his share of the housework or who is rich enough to hire help to take care of it.
Black-Headed Pins finds Leigh Smith needing a job and having agreed to play companion and housekeeper to Mrs. Ballinger. Only Mrs. Ballinger didn't tell her that she holds on to every penny as though it were the last one ever minted and that they were bound for the drafty, creaky Ballinger mansion in the back of beyond in New Jersey. It isn't long before "Smithy" (as she is known) regrets her decision--there is little food and less heat and no housekeeping funds to speak of. When Mrs. Ballinger takes it into her head to invite the nieces and nephews for Christmas, it all Smithy can do to get the old lady to part with enough cash to provide a little Christmas cheer for the party.
The family doesn't make it any easier by arriving with three unexpected guests--but Smithy does see some possibility of a pleasant weekend. She doesn't, however, anticipate the resurrection of the Ballinger family curse--which comes equipped with ghost dragging bodies back and forth across the attic floor--or that the Ballingers will start dropping like flies from "accidents." Because, you see, when the ghost starts dragging imaginary bodies around that means a Ballinger will die. And once the Ballinger is dead, someone must sit with it till it's firmly planted in the ground or it will start transporting itself around the house.
Mrs. Ballinger's favorite nephew, John (favorite because he repairs things around the house for free), is the first to go. Liking nothing better than a home-improvement project, he heads to the roof on Christmas Day to fix a few leaks. Next thing we know he's slipped from the roof and died when his scaffolding rope accidentally breaks. Or is it an accident? That "break" in the rope looks an awful lot like a clean cut....The local town cop--Joe by name--shows up to investigate, but Smithy and her two male conquests, Berg--nephew of the house--and Richard Jones, his uninvited guest--decide to play detective themselves and try to get the bottom of things. But another Ballinger will die and an attempt will be made on Berg before they finally explain the dragging noises, the scattering of black-headed pins everywhere, the bloody phone receiver, the mysterious tune on the gong, the lack of blood, and the footprints in the flower bed. Oh...and of course who engineered it all.
Like my previous read, Mayhem in B-Flat, this madcap mystery is great fun--with suspects popping in and out of rooms and dead bodies roaming through the hallways how could it not be? Smithy gets in plenty of witty one-liners and exchanges bon mots with her two beaus...all while giving the local policeman a run for his money in the detecting business. Highly entertaining and I look forward to reading the other three Little novels hanging out on the stacks.
First posted on my blog . Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Black-Headed Pins is the second book by Constance and Gwenyth Little and the first in a long line of books with "black" in the title. Their first book, titled The Grey Mist Murders, might count as a shade of black but despite the somber colors of their titles, the Little books are far from somber affairs. The ladies may deal in murders, but they are humorous, madcap affairs rather than chilling, nerve-wracking adventures.
Cozy by nature, the murders happen tidily off-stage and allow for plenty of frantic rushing about and snappy dialogue by the players. The action always takes place in drafty old mansions, hospitals, boarding houses, ocean liners--in short, anywhere that the Littles could convene a gathering of eccentric characters who seem to have wandered in from a B-movie along the lines of Bob Hope in The Ghost Breakers or my Halloween-viewing experience The Thirteenth Guest with Ginger Rogers. The heroine in each stand-alone novel runs very much to type--strong-minded and always willing to speak her mind with a sense of humor and a distinct interest in finding a man who will either do his share of the housework or who is rich enough to hire help to take care of it.
Black-Headed Pins finds Leigh Smith needing a job and having agreed to play companion and housekeeper to Mrs. Ballinger. Only Mrs. Ballinger didn't tell her that she holds on to every penny as though it were the last one ever minted and that they were bound for the drafty, creaky Ballinger mansion in the back of beyond in New Jersey. It isn't long before "Smithy" (as she is known) regrets her decision--there is little food and less heat and no housekeeping funds to speak of. When Mrs. Ballinger takes it into her head to invite the nieces and nephews for Christmas, it all Smithy can do to get the old lady to part with enough cash to provide a little Christmas cheer for the party.
The family doesn't make it any easier by arriving with three unexpected guests--but Smithy does see some possibility of a pleasant weekend. She doesn't, however, anticipate the resurrection of the Ballinger family curse--which comes equipped with ghost dragging bodies back and forth across the attic floor--or that the Ballingers will start dropping like flies from "accidents." Because, you see, when the ghost starts dragging imaginary bodies around that means a Ballinger will die. And once the Ballinger is dead, someone must sit with it till it's firmly planted in the ground or it will start transporting itself around the house.
Mrs. Ballinger's favorite nephew, John (favorite because he repairs things around the house for free), is the first to go. Liking nothing better than a home-improvement project, he heads to the roof on Christmas Day to fix a few leaks. Next thing we know he's slipped from the roof and died when his scaffolding rope accidentally breaks. Or is it an accident? That "break" in the rope looks an awful lot like a clean cut....The local town cop--Joe by name--shows up to investigate, but Smithy and her two male conquests, Berg--nephew of the house--and Richard Jones, his uninvited guest--decide to play detective themselves and try to get the bottom of things. But another Ballinger will die and an attempt will be made on Berg before they finally explain the dragging noises, the scattering of black-headed pins everywhere, the bloody phone receiver, the mysterious tune on the gong, the lack of blood, and the footprints in the flower bed. Oh...and of course who engineered it all.
Like my previous read, Mayhem in B-Flat, this madcap mystery is great fun--with suspects popping in and out of rooms and dead bodies roaming through the hallways how could it not be? Smithy gets in plenty of witty one-liners and exchanges bon mots with her two beaus...all while giving the local policeman a run for his money in the detecting business. Highly entertaining and I look forward to reading the other three Little novels hanging out on the stacks.
First posted on my blog . Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
September 16, 2016
Scrooge-like Mrs. Ballinger invites her nephews and nieces to her rickety old New Jersey country house for the Christmas weekend, and is horrified when they turn up with friends in tow -- just think of the expense of all those extra mouths to feed! Even so, cook Doris and "companion" (i.e., underpaid serf) Leigh Smith can be relied upon to do all the additional housework . . .
Even before the guests arrive, Mrs. Ballinger and Leigh -- our narrator -- are terrified by the nighttime sound of a heavy man limping across the attic above their heads. It is, says Mrs. Ballinger, the old family augur: when the limping man is heard, a Ballinger will soon die.
And, sure enough, not long later, while he's fixing her roof for her, her favorite nephew John falls to his death. It's assumed to be an accident -- that the homemade piece of scaffolding he was using failed -- but Leigh notices that the scaffolding's culprit rope didn't simply break but was largely cut through, then faked to look whole. In other words, it's a matter of murder!
Another family tradition is that a dead Ballinger, untended, will walk -- and, again sure enough, that night John seemingly rises from the bed upon which his corpse has been laid to seat himself on the far side of the room.
There'll be another murder and an attempted murder before the mystery is finally solved, largely by one of the house-guests, Richard Jones, with the active help of Leigh -- the two fall in love -- and the local cop, Joe, whom Richard soon discovers "has fewer hayseeds on him than you might suppose."
There are countless better Golden Age mysteries than this one, but I can't remember having more fun with any one of them (unless perhaps it was Pamela Branch's The Wooden Overcoat). The text is full of flippant one-liners -- most of them uttered by Leigh, and some of which had me laughing aloud. (Just occasionally the flippancy is ill timed, and I winced instead.)
The Black-Headed Pins is firmly in the non-realist school of mystery fiction -- characters will see a loved one die today and be joking and/or flirting spunkily tomorrow, while the general improbability of the plot is not so much glossed over as gleefully acknowledged. All in all, the book's just a glorious romp . . . and from me that's high praise.
This is the first time I've read anything by the authors whom I suppose we have to call the Little sisters. Already I have plans to drop heavy hints come birthday and Christmas . . .
Even before the guests arrive, Mrs. Ballinger and Leigh -- our narrator -- are terrified by the nighttime sound of a heavy man limping across the attic above their heads. It is, says Mrs. Ballinger, the old family augur: when the limping man is heard, a Ballinger will soon die.
And, sure enough, not long later, while he's fixing her roof for her, her favorite nephew John falls to his death. It's assumed to be an accident -- that the homemade piece of scaffolding he was using failed -- but Leigh notices that the scaffolding's culprit rope didn't simply break but was largely cut through, then faked to look whole. In other words, it's a matter of murder!
Another family tradition is that a dead Ballinger, untended, will walk -- and, again sure enough, that night John seemingly rises from the bed upon which his corpse has been laid to seat himself on the far side of the room.
There'll be another murder and an attempted murder before the mystery is finally solved, largely by one of the house-guests, Richard Jones, with the active help of Leigh -- the two fall in love -- and the local cop, Joe, whom Richard soon discovers "has fewer hayseeds on him than you might suppose."
There are countless better Golden Age mysteries than this one, but I can't remember having more fun with any one of them (unless perhaps it was Pamela Branch's The Wooden Overcoat). The text is full of flippant one-liners -- most of them uttered by Leigh, and some of which had me laughing aloud. (Just occasionally the flippancy is ill timed, and I winced instead.)
The Black-Headed Pins is firmly in the non-realist school of mystery fiction -- characters will see a loved one die today and be joking and/or flirting spunkily tomorrow, while the general improbability of the plot is not so much glossed over as gleefully acknowledged. All in all, the book's just a glorious romp . . . and from me that's high praise.
This is the first time I've read anything by the authors whom I suppose we have to call the Little sisters. Already I have plans to drop heavy hints come birthday and Christmas . . .
December 22, 2017
As other readers have mentioned, this Golden Age mystery with its clever banter could have been adapted into a screwball mystery/comedy of the Thirties. I easily pictured Ginger Rogers or Irene Dunn as the female lead and Cary Grant or William Powell playing the male leads. I liked the strong female protagonist, down on her luck, but keeping her sense of humor despite a number of corpses turning up. My only complaint was, in the end, there seemed to be a few too many red herrings, but then the characters ate herring frequently during the course of the story, so I shouldn't have been surprised. The brief bio of sisters Constance and Gwyneth Little included in the Rue Morgue edition is almost as interesting as their books.
October 1, 2015
I picked this up at a used book shop in Boston that has a huge outdoor display that has tons of $1-$2 titles... most are what you'd expect, but they had a few gems, including this one. (it's not in great shape, but it is intact, that's all I care about). I grabbed it simply because it was a mystery and it looked old.. apparently the authors are a bit of a secret pleasure of hardcore mystery fans (at least the internet says so). This was their 2nd of 21 books, which are notable because they're not a series in any way.
Reading it now, it seems very much a set piece... a family gathering in an old rickety house (involving, of course a few outsiders as guests, and lots of strange romantic entanglements) is subject to an accidental death that quickly turns to murder. The main character, a female servant that I'd call a lady's maid if this was set in England, is what I'd call 'spunky'. She butts into everything, flirts with the single men, and is only a little afraid of everything... not enough to stop her from getting into trouble. Apparently, such female leads are a trademark of the authors.. and they almost always get married in the end, but I digress.
What I liked about this book is it doesn't take itself too seriously... the mistress of the house is cheap to the point of ridiculousness because she saves all her money and donates it to charities so she can have her name on stuff. The men and women seem like they trade partners every 10 pages, but most of it turns out to be teasing and misdirection. Behind all that is a very solid mystery that was just clever enough to be entertaining without being either obvious or ridiculous. I was also greatly impressed with the tone and writing style.. it's not dated at all. If you added in some electronics, it could easily take place today. I'll happy read another of their books if I come across them.
Reading it now, it seems very much a set piece... a family gathering in an old rickety house (involving, of course a few outsiders as guests, and lots of strange romantic entanglements) is subject to an accidental death that quickly turns to murder. The main character, a female servant that I'd call a lady's maid if this was set in England, is what I'd call 'spunky'. She butts into everything, flirts with the single men, and is only a little afraid of everything... not enough to stop her from getting into trouble. Apparently, such female leads are a trademark of the authors.. and they almost always get married in the end, but I digress.
What I liked about this book is it doesn't take itself too seriously... the mistress of the house is cheap to the point of ridiculousness because she saves all her money and donates it to charities so she can have her name on stuff. The men and women seem like they trade partners every 10 pages, but most of it turns out to be teasing and misdirection. Behind all that is a very solid mystery that was just clever enough to be entertaining without being either obvious or ridiculous. I was also greatly impressed with the tone and writing style.. it's not dated at all. If you added in some electronics, it could easily take place today. I'll happy read another of their books if I come across them.
December 1, 2016
At first I thought this was going to be a little bit of a boring read and I didn't care for any of the characters. Having enjoyed another Littles book, The Black House, I decided to keep reading and I ended up really enjoying this wacky mystery and liking the heroine very much! I think I would like to collect all their books!
December 24, 2024
A wonderful and extremely entertaining read!
April 26, 2018
These are so much fun, and I preferred this one to the first by the Littles.
I realised what makes them so enjoyable--they really capture the flavour of the 1930s (especially as viewed through a filter of Hollywood films, since I wasn't there at the time)--it was a time where people still valued wit over sincerity, where being a raconteur was a decent job prospect, where lines could be delivered archly and no one would raise an eyebrow. The Littles' writings have that kind of flavour.
In large measure the whole book is a Gothic, except that the tone is all wrong (had it been a Gothic through-and-through I would have found it dull by comparison). There's a house party, drinks, flirtations, and humour, mixed in with a spooky old house, mysterious noises, a destitute governess, and corpses. Although somewhat later, Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry" had much the same mood.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
I realised what makes them so enjoyable--they really capture the flavour of the 1930s (especially as viewed through a filter of Hollywood films, since I wasn't there at the time)--it was a time where people still valued wit over sincerity, where being a raconteur was a decent job prospect, where lines could be delivered archly and no one would raise an eyebrow. The Littles' writings have that kind of flavour.
In large measure the whole book is a Gothic, except that the tone is all wrong (had it been a Gothic through-and-through I would have found it dull by comparison). There's a house party, drinks, flirtations, and humour, mixed in with a spooky old house, mysterious noises, a destitute governess, and corpses. Although somewhat later, Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry" had much the same mood.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
November 14, 2018
What a fun read this was. So, the story was written in 1938, feels so current. But more accurately the dialogue feels like a Hepburn and Grant exchange with even more crazy nutty characters.
Leigh Smith, has been the “slave” for Mrs. Ballinger since her beau died and while the offer was made as a gesture of kindness- Mrs. Ballinger is anything but that- she is a stingy woman.
After inviting her relatives over for Christmas it seems one by one are dying! Leigh and a couple of the men folk along with Joe, a very smart policeman, try and keep an eye on this household of crazy sniping people eating everything in sight and arguing etc....
At the end, I my prime choice was the murderer but I didn’t narrow it down until the very end for sure. Super fun and really a fast read. Now going to find more by this author since I know there are some of the Rue Morgue releases at the library!
Leigh Smith, has been the “slave” for Mrs. Ballinger since her beau died and while the offer was made as a gesture of kindness- Mrs. Ballinger is anything but that- she is a stingy woman.
After inviting her relatives over for Christmas it seems one by one are dying! Leigh and a couple of the men folk along with Joe, a very smart policeman, try and keep an eye on this household of crazy sniping people eating everything in sight and arguing etc....
At the end, I my prime choice was the murderer but I didn’t narrow it down until the very end for sure. Super fun and really a fast read. Now going to find more by this author since I know there are some of the Rue Morgue releases at the library!
January 18, 2024
Every Little mystery is a treat. Hard to guess many times and always a fun ride along the way.
September 26, 2008
This was an entertaining little cozy that has definitely stood the test of time. Originally published back in 1938, the Little sisters were pioneers of the cozy mystery genre, though I'm not even sure if it was called that back then.
The story takes place in a drafty, old mansion, owned by a miserly, old woman named Mrs. Ballister. Living in the house with Mrs. Ballister is her cook, Doris, and her housekeeper and companion, Leigh Smith. It's Leigh who narrates the story, which is told from the first person point-of-view.
Mrs. Ballister has decided to call all her nieces and nephews together for a Christmas party at her house. Yet the night before everyone is to arrive, a strange dragging sound is heard coming from the attic up above. Mrs. Ballister is immediately on alert and tells Leigh that the noise portends the coming death of someone from the Ballister family who will meet with a fatal accident, and that if the body is not watched until it is buried, it will walk again! Unfortunately, with a number of relatives due to arrive tomorrow, this is not very welcome news.
And so the story goes.... One by one, several of the relatives begin to meet with unfortunate accidents around the house. And always the night before each incident, the strange dragging sound is heard up in the attic. With the help of Joe the cop and Berg's friend Richard, Leigh finds herself playing sleuth and stealing through the large house looking for clues. But will they be able to figure out who's behind it all before the mystery haunter strikes again?
The story takes place in a drafty, old mansion, owned by a miserly, old woman named Mrs. Ballister. Living in the house with Mrs. Ballister is her cook, Doris, and her housekeeper and companion, Leigh Smith. It's Leigh who narrates the story, which is told from the first person point-of-view.
Mrs. Ballister has decided to call all her nieces and nephews together for a Christmas party at her house. Yet the night before everyone is to arrive, a strange dragging sound is heard coming from the attic up above. Mrs. Ballister is immediately on alert and tells Leigh that the noise portends the coming death of someone from the Ballister family who will meet with a fatal accident, and that if the body is not watched until it is buried, it will walk again! Unfortunately, with a number of relatives due to arrive tomorrow, this is not very welcome news.
And so the story goes.... One by one, several of the relatives begin to meet with unfortunate accidents around the house. And always the night before each incident, the strange dragging sound is heard up in the attic. With the help of Joe the cop and Berg's friend Richard, Leigh finds herself playing sleuth and stealing through the large house looking for clues. But will they be able to figure out who's behind it all before the mystery haunter strikes again?
April 16, 2015
3.5 stars This is a cozy mystery with humor. If this novel is a good example of the Little sisters' style, I'm surprised their novels were never adapted into movies. The plot could very easily fit into the old-dark-house/comedy genre alongside Bob Hope's versions of The Cat and the Canary and The Ghost Breakers.
June 15, 2017
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
April 29, 2008
I enjoyed reading this cozy. I've always liked old 30's and 40's black and white mystery movies and this read just like one of those.
February 19, 2012
I love these sarcastic heroines that the Littles write. The crazy mysteries are worth reading mainly because of the fabulous quirky characters and smart quips between them. B rating.
December 18, 2012
I love the snarky banter the Littles use, and this one has just enouh creepiness to give you the shivers.
Want to read
March 11, 200803/10/08 rec via pbs
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews