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Roger Sheringham Cases #9
Jumping Jenny
When a murder is committed at a party given in honour of a famous writer-detective, the guests impersonate famous murderers and the victim is found hanging from a fake gallows erected as a joke. '
190 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1933
100 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Berkeley
122 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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October 28, 2022
"In times gone by, a hanged man was sometimes colloquially referred to as a 'Jumping Jack'."
-Martin Edwards
"Two jumping jacks...one jumping jenny...it took...a long time to stuff those chaps with straw...and an old dress...". Now three figures were hanging from a gallows tree erected on the rooftop of Ronald Stratton's house. The gallows were a wonderful embellishment to his murder themed party. Guests came dressed as well known murderers or their victims. Merriment filled the air, as the partygoers danced and drank. Topics of conversation included views on marriage.
"...almost anything to do with marriage was either comedy or tragedy. It depended whether one was looking at it from the outside or the in."
"...I never think the first marriage ought to count...One's so busy learning how to be married at all that one can hardly help acquiring a kind of resentment against one's partner in error. And once resentment has crept in, the thing's finished. Anyhow, there one is, all nice and trained to the house, the complete article for the next comer." And so it goes. David Stratton, younger brother of the party host, wanted a divorce from his wife, Ena.
Ena was the bane of David's existence. She was theatrical, an exhibitionist. She planned on getting drunk at the party. "...sometimes getting drunk seems the only thing worthwhile in life." Ena, an unfulfilled woman who made a spectacle of herself, as usual, abruptly left the ballroom. Ena, found on the rooftop, dangling from the gallows in place of the straw jenny! Was it suicide? Was it murder? She was a universally disliked woman. Partygoers seemed relieved at her demise... but disturbed by the thought of the upcoming police presence.
Amateur sleuth and mystery writer, Roger Sheringham, had been one of the invited guests. Sheringham piped up, "I scent a mystery, and I can't bear mysteries...all human relationships interest me, especially tangles." Sheringham had his theories. He must first "adjust" aspects of the crime scene to fit a possible narrative, then revisit, refine and/or abandon unworkable ideas. Unfortunately, his actions made his own behavior suspect and he was now in danger of being considered a person of interest. His jaded moral compass and manipulation of others helped present a cohesive set of events he hoped would pass police scrutiny.
"Jumping Jenny" (also published under the title Dead Mrs. Stratton) by Anthony Berkeley was published in 1933 during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Sheringham was determined to interpret justice in his own way causing him to make countless mistakes. He had no qualms about crime scene tampering. He might even be "fingered" for a crime if an inquest determined that Ena's death, by strangulation, was not suicide, but murder. Although Ena Stratton was most detestable, as were many of the characters in this read, I found it distasteful that the partygoers felt that she deserved her fate.
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
-Martin Edwards
"Two jumping jacks...one jumping jenny...it took...a long time to stuff those chaps with straw...and an old dress...". Now three figures were hanging from a gallows tree erected on the rooftop of Ronald Stratton's house. The gallows were a wonderful embellishment to his murder themed party. Guests came dressed as well known murderers or their victims. Merriment filled the air, as the partygoers danced and drank. Topics of conversation included views on marriage.
"...almost anything to do with marriage was either comedy or tragedy. It depended whether one was looking at it from the outside or the in."
"...I never think the first marriage ought to count...One's so busy learning how to be married at all that one can hardly help acquiring a kind of resentment against one's partner in error. And once resentment has crept in, the thing's finished. Anyhow, there one is, all nice and trained to the house, the complete article for the next comer." And so it goes. David Stratton, younger brother of the party host, wanted a divorce from his wife, Ena.
Ena was the bane of David's existence. She was theatrical, an exhibitionist. She planned on getting drunk at the party. "...sometimes getting drunk seems the only thing worthwhile in life." Ena, an unfulfilled woman who made a spectacle of herself, as usual, abruptly left the ballroom. Ena, found on the rooftop, dangling from the gallows in place of the straw jenny! Was it suicide? Was it murder? She was a universally disliked woman. Partygoers seemed relieved at her demise... but disturbed by the thought of the upcoming police presence.
Amateur sleuth and mystery writer, Roger Sheringham, had been one of the invited guests. Sheringham piped up, "I scent a mystery, and I can't bear mysteries...all human relationships interest me, especially tangles." Sheringham had his theories. He must first "adjust" aspects of the crime scene to fit a possible narrative, then revisit, refine and/or abandon unworkable ideas. Unfortunately, his actions made his own behavior suspect and he was now in danger of being considered a person of interest. His jaded moral compass and manipulation of others helped present a cohesive set of events he hoped would pass police scrutiny.
"Jumping Jenny" (also published under the title Dead Mrs. Stratton) by Anthony Berkeley was published in 1933 during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Sheringham was determined to interpret justice in his own way causing him to make countless mistakes. He had no qualms about crime scene tampering. He might even be "fingered" for a crime if an inquest determined that Ena's death, by strangulation, was not suicide, but murder. Although Ena Stratton was most detestable, as were many of the characters in this read, I found it distasteful that the partygoers felt that she deserved her fate.
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 9, 2023
Looking at the date this book was first published I see that it is celebrating its ninetieth anniversary this year, a very good year for it to be republished!
This is my second book by this author featuring Roger Sheringham who is famous for his detecting skills. Unfortunately for him his skills do not show up well in this story where he makes quite a few wrong assumptions, knowingly destroys evidence, and almost gets himself arrested for committing the crime. The reader on the other hand knows who dunnit and can afford to smile while Sheringham digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble.
After all the debating and rushing around trying to make the evidence match the crime, most of this revolving around a certain chair, the author manages to surprise both Sheringham and the reader right at the end. Classic Golden Age crime, beautifully written, the book is dated of course but still charming and fun to read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
This is my second book by this author featuring Roger Sheringham who is famous for his detecting skills. Unfortunately for him his skills do not show up well in this story where he makes quite a few wrong assumptions, knowingly destroys evidence, and almost gets himself arrested for committing the crime. The reader on the other hand knows who dunnit and can afford to smile while Sheringham digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble.
After all the debating and rushing around trying to make the evidence match the crime, most of this revolving around a certain chair, the author manages to surprise both Sheringham and the reader right at the end. Classic Golden Age crime, beautifully written, the book is dated of course but still charming and fun to read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Read
October 21, 2024A 1930s mystery that turns pretty much every convention of the genre on its head. We see the murder, we know who did it, and the plot is basically the Great Detective deciding the victim deserved it and doing his best to obstruct the police investigation, while finding out who did it for his own satisfaction. Plot twist: He is terrible at both.
It's hard not to conclude that in this, the ninth Roger Sheringham outing, the author had come to loathe his smug twat detective as much as any reader will. That said, it's written in an entertainingly breezy manner. You might also think the entire 'bitch had it coming' storyline was an exercise in misogyny, though it does have an excellent supporting cast of women, and the real villain (as so often in books of this period) is the divorce laws.
A weird but entertaining read. Roger Sheringham is still the most loathsome of all Golden Age tecs and it's nice to see him fail.
It's hard not to conclude that in this, the ninth Roger Sheringham outing, the author had come to loathe his smug twat detective as much as any reader will. That said, it's written in an entertainingly breezy manner. You might also think the entire 'bitch had it coming' storyline was an exercise in misogyny, though it does have an excellent supporting cast of women, and the real villain (as so often in books of this period) is the divorce laws.
A weird but entertaining read. Roger Sheringham is still the most loathsome of all Golden Age tecs and it's nice to see him fail.
November 1, 2022
This is not a mystery novel that I expected, the genre and writers, different from what was published in 1933, when the book was written by the author. And, while it was different, it was a good different, a breath of freshness into mystery writing, a de-evolution of the mystery genre to a book in the spectrum with a different twist of how to write one with psychological implications. Because, to understand why it was written by the author the way in which it was we have to think about what society, and the knowledge society has, as a general whole, at the time. All there was of the study of psychology was really Freud, at the time, really mainstream so, when we read a mystery from that time period, instead of the who-done-it, it is really a tale of why the person who did it, did it. Explaining why each character would have committed the murder to discover the person who did it. Just a great example of the mystery writing genre to produce along the spectrum to show us what was for readers, at one time on the earth and a book well worth reading as a whole. And, that the whole book has reader questioning their own morality, during the read, if they could sympathize with the victim of the murderer. When you have a victim who victimizes others, always makes for a good story and a definite thought about how the reader feels, to help the story move along, be engaging.
October 17, 2022
We start off with a fancy dress party where the theme is famous murderers and their victims attended by Roger Sheringham, a famous author and detective. To add flavour, the host has constructed a gallows, complete with dummies of two jumping Jack's and one Jenny. Later, one of the guests ends up replacing the jumping Jenny with herself. The reader is there at the scene of the crime, so we know who did it but unlike most inverted mysteries I've read, we aren't there watching the detective try to work things out, we watch as the detective tampers with evidence to make it appear suicide.
The victim is portrayed as a singularity loathsome woman who deserved what she got. A couple of party goers had remarked that she needs a husband who'd give her a beating to keep her in line, and most seem to think she should be locked up in an assylam. I'm used to casual misogyny in older books, but this was going some. That said, the whole plot was nonsense really, so it wasn't like I could take anything in the book seriously, and it was entertaining. The characters were all pretty unpleasant, and the main detective has no moral compass, but I would be interested in reading more of the series. (I have previously only read The Poisoned Chocolates Case).
*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*
The victim is portrayed as a singularity loathsome woman who deserved what she got. A couple of party goers had remarked that she needs a husband who'd give her a beating to keep her in line, and most seem to think she should be locked up in an assylam. I'm used to casual misogyny in older books, but this was going some. That said, the whole plot was nonsense really, so it wasn't like I could take anything in the book seriously, and it was entertaining. The characters were all pretty unpleasant, and the main detective has no moral compass, but I would be interested in reading more of the series. (I have previously only read The Poisoned Chocolates Case).
*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*
June 29, 2021
C+:
This novel had a premise with great potential, but Berkeley wastes it by moulding it into an inverted mystery that feels self-satisfied and rushed. The Sheringham books always revealed Roger to be a suspect character, but it's taken until the 9th instalment to properly address his frayed moral compass, in which his tampering of evidence completely muddies the waters, even threatening to incriminate him in the crime. The longer this series goes on, the more I'm convinced that Berkeley hates women (or at least a certain type of woman) as this is yet another example of Sheringham trying to protect the killer because the female victim is such a harridan unworthy of living. The author's atttempts to introduce a final page twist are also beginning to feel a little arbritary.
This novel had a premise with great potential, but Berkeley wastes it by moulding it into an inverted mystery that feels self-satisfied and rushed. The Sheringham books always revealed Roger to be a suspect character, but it's taken until the 9th instalment to properly address his frayed moral compass, in which his tampering of evidence completely muddies the waters, even threatening to incriminate him in the crime. The longer this series goes on, the more I'm convinced that Berkeley hates women (or at least a certain type of woman) as this is yet another example of Sheringham trying to protect the killer because the female victim is such a harridan unworthy of living. The author's atttempts to introduce a final page twist are also beginning to feel a little arbritary.
April 17, 2023
This Golden Age British mystery, recently published again by British Library Crime Classics and Poisoned Pen Press, has many of the grand, classic elements of mysteries from that era - a "murder party" in a country house setting, an unsympathetic victim, and a plethora of suspects tying themselves in knots trying to avoid being implicated. First among these is Roger Sheringham, Berkley's series character across ten novels, an amateur detective attending the party who messes with the case and seemingly views the police investigator as his nemesis. While I found Sheringham, with his know-it-all attitude, to be as unlikable as the victim, the twists and turns of the investigation kept me glued to the story. This is ultimately more of a "whydunit" than a "whodunit," because the perpetrator is seemingly revealed early in the action, but the reader should be prepared for surprises that won't disappoint. The reprints in this excellent series continue to delight.
Note: I was pleased to receive an advance review copy from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.
Note: I was pleased to receive an advance review copy from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.
July 4, 2024
Roger Sheringham was a real nosy bastard and this was a delightful read. Ending was a clincher!! 😁
March 1, 2022
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
To read some further thoughts I had after a re-read click the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
To read some further thoughts I had after a re-read click the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
March 22, 2025
During my twenties, I read almost all mystery stories, mostly British, written throughout the 1900s. The oldest stories I read were Agatha Christie’s which I quite enjoyed but I never read any books from her Golden Age of Detective Fiction contemporaries.
I’ve read two of Anthony Berkeley Cox’s books in the past few weeks (Before the Fact written under the pen name of Francis Iles was the first) and ‘unpredictable’ seems the best way to describe them. Written during the 1930s, I assumed I would be reading traditional literary puzzles of that time. Both reading experiences were pleasantly surprising and unexpected. I look forward to reading more of the Berkeley/Iles books, as well as other selections published by British Library Crime Classics.
I’ve read two of Anthony Berkeley Cox’s books in the past few weeks (Before the Fact written under the pen name of Francis Iles was the first) and ‘unpredictable’ seems the best way to describe them. Written during the 1930s, I assumed I would be reading traditional literary puzzles of that time. Both reading experiences were pleasantly surprising and unexpected. I look forward to reading more of the Berkeley/Iles books, as well as other selections published by British Library Crime Classics.
January 24, 2023
This particular mystery twists the familiar plot of a whodunit by adding a comedy of errors, and a morality play into it. So you get to see "up to a point" information that leads to murder. And thankfully the person who I picked as the victim was indeed the victim. Now after this, things are tweaked and twisted both with evidence and with giving statements almost to the point where- the police do suspect murder but everyone on the other side is working against them in a sense- all the way to the point of you wondering if it wasn't murder but suicide at times. Then finally after much trying to figure out what actually happened and then the inquest, there is at the end a final reveal which makes it all worth it. (No reading ahead- no cheating.)
If you want more than just a regular mystery - this is for you.
Would give this 3.5 stars as was fun but thought it was a tad long winded in areas.
If you want more than just a regular mystery - this is for you.
Would give this 3.5 stars as was fun but thought it was a tad long winded in areas.
July 17, 2016
This is an undeservingly lost masterpiece. Except from the inherent boring nature of the setting (middle-high class party and characters in Britain at the turn of the last century) and one bit too high dose of Britishness, this book is pure genius. The way all the standard logical algorithms of crime fiction are turned on their head in a hilarious mixture of luck, incompetence and over-zealousness is just beautiful. Sheringham character showed me again that the most dangerous people in the world are intelligent people who overestimate themselves and think that they are geniuses; they can make such a mess of simple situations by overthinking stuff (very common in politics unfortunately). If you like deconstructive genre work in general this is a book you shouldn't miss; there is a very good kick in the end too; if you are into that.
June 3, 2023
Excellent! I love a good twist of an ending.
January 25, 2024
I had to debate the rating of this one for a few minutes. It is the kind of book that is a better book than it is and a worse one. It is an anti-mystery — two-thirds the way towards a post-modern parody of the Great Detective novel — that eventually loses its heart and swings more mean and meandering than it can sustain.
It starts out lively, witty, and clever at a party where most of the guests are dressed as famous murderers. The reader meets the guests alongside the Main Detective — Roger Sheringham: a frenetic mix of costumes and personalities and failed marriages and successful affairs with only a few breadcrumbs to help with the free association required to find a way back home. And there is a wicked witch in the midst of this Golden Age Suburban Fairy Tale: Ena Stratton. She is hated by everyone at the party, including Sheringham, soon after meeting her. Why? Exhibitionism, drunkenness, unruly behavior, meddling, threatening to go to authorities about some twaddle, wanting to dance at a party with dancing, climbing on furniture, gossip, calling out affairs that are actually affairs. Very unruly, truly. Maybe also a bit lonely. She's horny in a house full of horny people. A central paradox of the book looking back decades later is the fact that "modern sensibility" of people loving who they love is clashed against the notion that Stratton might be a better person if a stronger husband took her hand and disciplined her more.
That she is the murder victim is a shame because there are only three good characters in this novel: Sheringham, Stratton, and a tired but sensible Scottish man (Colin Nicholson) who acts as an ad hoc Watson (and reader stand-in) during the madness that follows. Berkeley had to kill her off because that is the joke: death for being a drunken bitch around the kind of people who could use some bitchiness in their daily routine.
This is where the book dives deeply into its anti-mystery trappings. First, we are "shown" the murder.* Ena Stratton is hanged and made to look like a suicide. Sheringham realizes a mistake, that the killer must have moved the chair, so he puts it back because he does not want the police to realize it is a murder so that he can be the one to solve it (and/or hide it). Nicholson thinks Sheringham's mental machinations to solve it are a admittance of guilt and so wipes the chair clean of fingerprints (a running joke that Nicholson is perfectly fine with hiding a murder to protect the detective).
Then begins a long stretch of the middle third in which people sit around for chapters talking about the nature of guilt (and the nature of being a truly awful woman because of reasons above) and nearly immediately come to the conclusion that Stratton was too big a bitch to be left alive. Sheringham makes several Very Wrong Conclusions. Instead of using these conclusions to trap a murderer, he instead of tries to un-solve the mystery and make it so that the police cannot actually catch the killer. He covers up evidence, incites a conspiracy of lies, confounds the detectives investigating the death, and frets and fawns over how this might impact his standing with the police if it ever came to light.
It is very darkly comic and should nearly be instant classic of the genre but it is not. It is enjoyable, maybe even close to essential for those who want to see some deep cuts of the genre, but it is also a failed experiment.
The over analysis of literary detective is well-written and vital to the heart of the novel but also overlong and a bit tedious. The fact that Stratton died because she was upsetting people at a party and might foil a clean divorce to somewhat protest her husband's own possible infidelities is precisely in line with the heart of an anti-mystery but also just collapses into pointless, repetitive cruelty (the final line being laugh out loud humorous but also perhaps the most mean the book gets). The philosophy of justice being perverted to hide a murder so that suburban middle-class folks can live in peace has enough steam to fuel a short story or novella but here stretches to its limits. The convoluted architecture of the house, the aping of elaborate locked room mystery devices with a simple chair being a stress point, the ready detective/police stereotypes: all is right there, very nearly striding upon the surface, but just as often sinking back into the murky depths. It needed more or less and instead found itself exactly where it was.
Three stars, flat out.
====
* It is probably not a spoiler to say this next bit, but just in case: .
It starts out lively, witty, and clever at a party where most of the guests are dressed as famous murderers. The reader meets the guests alongside the Main Detective — Roger Sheringham: a frenetic mix of costumes and personalities and failed marriages and successful affairs with only a few breadcrumbs to help with the free association required to find a way back home. And there is a wicked witch in the midst of this Golden Age Suburban Fairy Tale: Ena Stratton. She is hated by everyone at the party, including Sheringham, soon after meeting her. Why? Exhibitionism, drunkenness, unruly behavior, meddling, threatening to go to authorities about some twaddle, wanting to dance at a party with dancing, climbing on furniture, gossip, calling out affairs that are actually affairs. Very unruly, truly. Maybe also a bit lonely. She's horny in a house full of horny people. A central paradox of the book looking back decades later is the fact that "modern sensibility" of people loving who they love is clashed against the notion that Stratton might be a better person if a stronger husband took her hand and disciplined her more.
That she is the murder victim is a shame because there are only three good characters in this novel: Sheringham, Stratton, and a tired but sensible Scottish man (Colin Nicholson) who acts as an ad hoc Watson (and reader stand-in) during the madness that follows. Berkeley had to kill her off because that is the joke: death for being a drunken bitch around the kind of people who could use some bitchiness in their daily routine.
This is where the book dives deeply into its anti-mystery trappings. First, we are "shown" the murder.* Ena Stratton is hanged and made to look like a suicide. Sheringham realizes a mistake, that the killer must have moved the chair, so he puts it back because he does not want the police to realize it is a murder so that he can be the one to solve it (and/or hide it). Nicholson thinks Sheringham's mental machinations to solve it are a admittance of guilt and so wipes the chair clean of fingerprints (a running joke that Nicholson is perfectly fine with hiding a murder to protect the detective).
Then begins a long stretch of the middle third in which people sit around for chapters talking about the nature of guilt (and the nature of being a truly awful woman because of reasons above) and nearly immediately come to the conclusion that Stratton was too big a bitch to be left alive. Sheringham makes several Very Wrong Conclusions. Instead of using these conclusions to trap a murderer, he instead of tries to un-solve the mystery and make it so that the police cannot actually catch the killer. He covers up evidence, incites a conspiracy of lies, confounds the detectives investigating the death, and frets and fawns over how this might impact his standing with the police if it ever came to light.
It is very darkly comic and should nearly be instant classic of the genre but it is not. It is enjoyable, maybe even close to essential for those who want to see some deep cuts of the genre, but it is also a failed experiment.
The over analysis of literary detective is well-written and vital to the heart of the novel but also overlong and a bit tedious. The fact that Stratton died because she was upsetting people at a party and might foil a clean divorce to somewhat protest her husband's own possible infidelities is precisely in line with the heart of an anti-mystery but also just collapses into pointless, repetitive cruelty (the final line being laugh out loud humorous but also perhaps the most mean the book gets). The philosophy of justice being perverted to hide a murder so that suburban middle-class folks can live in peace has enough steam to fuel a short story or novella but here stretches to its limits. The convoluted architecture of the house, the aping of elaborate locked room mystery devices with a simple chair being a stress point, the ready detective/police stereotypes: all is right there, very nearly striding upon the surface, but just as often sinking back into the murky depths. It needed more or less and instead found itself exactly where it was.
Three stars, flat out.
====
* It is probably not a spoiler to say this next bit, but just in case: .
July 15, 2025
This novel was chosen as part of my summer reading project to read Golden Age authors this summer. I had never read anything from Anthony Berkeley before, and this one was great fun. In a nutshell, the premise is that a group of friends gather at a country house for a themed costume party. The somewhat grim theme is real life murderers, preferably those that have murdered a spouse or partner. The party is in full swing when Ena Stratton, the wife of one of the partiers, has an abrupt argument and ostensibly leaves the house in a huff. No one at the party mourns her departure since she is a dramatic, attention-seeking person that is uniformly disliked. Some time later, her dead body is discovered on the roof-top patio, and the investigation ensues.
This novel was a different take on the traditional murder mystery since the reader observes the murder taking place and knows the culprit from the beginning. Instead of trying to determine the killer for the typical reasons, amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham is instead feverishly attempting to misdirect the police and protect his friends, especially Ena's husband David Stratton, whom Roger believes killed his wife. It is very amusing to watch him strategizing to defeat the investigation and coaching party-goers on the correct answers for the police. Ultimately Roger receives a comeuppance which is also enjoyable.
Readers accustomed to murder mysteries from this era will not be surprised to know that there is a great deal of stereotyping and misinformation in this novel about mental illness and suicide, reflecting the knowledge and biases of the period. For those not familiar with reading books of this vintage, you have been warned. It is a part of experience to perceive the various belief systems and prejudices of that era.
That being said, I had a great deal of fun reading this one and will definitely read more from Anthony Berkeley.
This novel was a different take on the traditional murder mystery since the reader observes the murder taking place and knows the culprit from the beginning. Instead of trying to determine the killer for the typical reasons, amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham is instead feverishly attempting to misdirect the police and protect his friends, especially Ena's husband David Stratton, whom Roger believes killed his wife. It is very amusing to watch him strategizing to defeat the investigation and coaching party-goers on the correct answers for the police. Ultimately Roger receives a comeuppance which is also enjoyable.
Readers accustomed to murder mysteries from this era will not be surprised to know that there is a great deal of stereotyping and misinformation in this novel about mental illness and suicide, reflecting the knowledge and biases of the period. For those not familiar with reading books of this vintage, you have been warned. It is a part of experience to perceive the various belief systems and prejudices of that era.
That being said, I had a great deal of fun reading this one and will definitely read more from Anthony Berkeley.
April 6, 2022
A very entertaining example of the ‘inverted mystery’ genre, where the identity of the murderer is known to the reader (but not the investigators) at an early stage.
Here the action centres on a fancy-dress party being hosted by Sheringham’s friend, Ronald Stratton, and his sister, Celia, at Ronald’s spacious country house in the home counties. Most of the guests have entered into the spirit of things, dressing as either murderers or their victims, as per the gathering’s theme. To add a macabre touch to the evening, Ronald has set up mock gallows on the property’s flat roof, complete with three stuffed figures, two male and one female – the Jumping Jacks and Jenny partly referenced in the novel’s title.
As the party gets going, Sheringham becomes increasingly fascinated by Ronald’s sister-in-law, Ena Stratton, clearly an exhibitionist who craves to be the centre of attention, irrespective of how much trouble this creates for those around her. Virtually everyone at the event has a good reason to dislike Ena intensely, and when Sheringham finally meets her, he too is far from impressed.
“Shall we dance?” said Roger.
“I’d rather have a drink. I haven’t had one for at least half an hour.” She spoke slowly, and her voice was not unpleasant, rather deep and with a particularly clear enunciation. She managed to convey that for a woman of her sophistication not to have had a drink for at least half an hour was quite too ridiculous. (pp. 42–43)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022...
Here the action centres on a fancy-dress party being hosted by Sheringham’s friend, Ronald Stratton, and his sister, Celia, at Ronald’s spacious country house in the home counties. Most of the guests have entered into the spirit of things, dressing as either murderers or their victims, as per the gathering’s theme. To add a macabre touch to the evening, Ronald has set up mock gallows on the property’s flat roof, complete with three stuffed figures, two male and one female – the Jumping Jacks and Jenny partly referenced in the novel’s title.
As the party gets going, Sheringham becomes increasingly fascinated by Ronald’s sister-in-law, Ena Stratton, clearly an exhibitionist who craves to be the centre of attention, irrespective of how much trouble this creates for those around her. Virtually everyone at the event has a good reason to dislike Ena intensely, and when Sheringham finally meets her, he too is far from impressed.
“Shall we dance?” said Roger.
“I’d rather have a drink. I haven’t had one for at least half an hour.” She spoke slowly, and her voice was not unpleasant, rather deep and with a particularly clear enunciation. She managed to convey that for a woman of her sophistication not to have had a drink for at least half an hour was quite too ridiculous. (pp. 42–43)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022...
August 5, 2024
Roger is the most obnoxious, pompous amateur sleuth, and to see him taken down a peg was fun. At a party, the theme was murderer and victims. They also had a gallow on the roof with 3 straw 'people '. Yeah, classy. So, the sister in law of the host was acting 'mad', and no one had anything good to say about her. Later, she is found hanged on the gallow, with a stuffed dummy cast aside. Instead of trying to help the police, Roger just jumps in and lays false clues. Real classy. The redeeming value was the twist at the end.
January 10, 2022
Anthony Berkeley è uno degli autori più importanti nel panorama della Golden Age del giallo classico, non solo per il suo innegabile apporto letterario che ha letteralmente aperto nuove strade nel genere, come dimostra in capisaldi quali "Delitto a porte chiuse" (1925), in cui introdusse Roger Sheringham, detective innovativo per la sua fallibilità, che lo rende più normale e vicino al lettore, e "Il caso dei cioccolatini avvelenati" (1929), capolavoro sia come romanzo deduttivo che come analisi ironica e accurata delle regole di tale narrativa, ma anche per il fondamentale contributo nella sua valorizzazione e diffusione, che si esplicitò soprattutto nella fondazione nel 1930, sulla base di una sua idea, di un prestigioso circolo letterario, il "Detection Club", destinato a riunire i più grandi giallisti di tutte le epoche e a consolidare sempre di più in Inghilterra la passione per "il più grande gioco del mondo".
Uomo misterioso e riservato, scrittore sopraffino e pungente, particolarmente sprezzante nei confronti delle convenzioni, spesso ridicolizzate e parodizzate nei suoi lavori, Berkeley ha impresso una sua personale e inimitabile impronta nel giallo, creando spesso trame originalissime e non scontate, che riflettono appieno la sua indole indomita, volubile, la sua volontà di differenziarsi e di non uniformarsi alla massa che disprezzava dall'alto del suoi eccentrici e raffinati gusti.
Questa sua personalità "sui generis", fuori dagli schemi, lo portò progressivamente ad allontanarsi dal giallo di stampo tradizionale, di cui fu peraltro iniziatore e innovatore, per sperimentare nuovi filoni narrativi a lui più congeniali, specie quelli legati allo studio dell'insondabile e spesso imprevedibile psiche umana: firmandosi come Frances Iles, infatti, compose nel corso degli anni '30, tre romanzi prettamente psicologici, precursori del thriller che tanto successo avrà successivamente anche grazie alla trasposizione cinematografica, curata dal celeberrimo Alfred Hitchcock, del suo famoso scritto "Il sospetto" (1932).
Berkeley continuò comunque a scrivere mystery classici, ma dalle sue ultime opere emergono fortemente il suo spiccato interesse per la natura umana e il suo piglio dissacratorio, sarcastico nei confronti dei costumi, che tradisce i suoi ideali libertini e anticonformisti: partito dunque dall'enigma "onesto", lo scrittore termina la sua carriera cercando di scandalizzare il lettore, sbalestrandolo tramite schemi inconsueti, sempre con il ricorso dei precipui temi del delitto, della morte e, più in generale, dell'essenza della giustizia.
Tale tendenza centrifuga è evidente nel suo penultimo romanzo con Sheringham, "L'ultima tappa" ("Jumping Jenny", 1933), in cui l'autore, allontanandosi dalla tradizione gialla, vira sull'inverted-mystery e sulla satira.
Il romanzo prende l'avvio con una festa particolare data dal noto scrittore Ronald Stratton nella sua villa, in cui gli invitati sono vestiti tutti da famosi criminali della storia. Se il tema non fosse chiaro, a togliere qualsiasi dubbio ci sarebbe un'enorme forca, completa con tre fantocci impiccati, due uomini e una donna, collocata sulla terrazza, per dare un tocco macabro all'intera serata. Tra gli ospiti vi è anche il celebre Roger Sheringham, che, come suo solito, comincia ad interessarsi delle varie personalità presenti: dalla leggiadra e volpina Agatha Lefroy, fidanzata del padrone di casa, a Margot, sua ex-moglie, con cui è rimasto in buoni rapporti, accompagnata dal compagno Mike Armstrong, agli ingenui coniugi Williamson. Chi però più lo intriga, da amante del bizzarro e dell'inconsueto, è Ena Stratton, moglie del fratello di Ronald, David, che molti considerano una pazza. Dopo esser riuscito ad avvicinarla, Roger capisce perché tutti paiono non poterla sopportare: si tratta infatti di una narcisista, che cerca continue attenzioni, tanto anche da proclamare ai quattro venti la sua voglia di suicidarsi per porre fine alla sua vita grama. Insomma, se prima ne era stato curioso, ora che ha avuto modo di parlarle, Roger non vuole che fuggire al più presto. La festa procede meravigliosamente se non fosse proprio per le scenate di Ena che, a tarda notte, viene galantemente buttata fuori di casa per evitare ulteriori scenate. Oltraggiata, la donna se ne torna apparentemente a casa, alleggerendo di molto l'atmosfera. Tuttavia Ena non è affatto rincasata, ma si è nascosta solo nella veranda, per cercare di calmarsi dopo l'offesa subita. Il dottor Philip Chalmers, migliore amico di David, nel frattempo, dopo essere stato chiamato da un paziente durante i balli, ritorna a riprendere sua moglie e, casualmente, incontra Ena. I due si recano sul terrazzo, dove la donna inizia a deplorare la sua sorte avversa, la sua sfortuna nel non essere compresa ed esprime la volontà di farla finita una volta per tutte. Chalmers, a conoscenza delle sue manie, cerca di calmarla, ma l'esibizionismo in lei insito la porta a prendere una sedia per arrivare ad infilare la testa in uno dei cappi della forca, rimasto vuoto per il fatto che uno dei fantocci era caduto a terra. Una scenata patetica, ma che agli occhi di chi ha raggiunto il limite della sopportazione, come è il caso del dottore nel vedere questa donna rovinare la vita del suo caro amico, può rappresentare un'invitante occasione... In fondo cosa sarà mai spostare una sedia?
Successivamente, David, allarmato per il fatto che Ena non si trovasse a casa sua, ritorna a casa di Ronald dove inizia una ricerca della donna, che verrà rinvenuta priva di vita sulla famigerata forca.
Agli occhi di tutti sembra un chiaro suicidio, ma Roger, per puro caso, intravede la cruda realtà: quando erano arrivati sulla terrazza, la sedia era troppo lontana dal corpo della donna. Risultato: un odioso omicidio. Omicidio che Roger, tuttavia, vuole a tutti i costi coprire, essendo conscio che il mondo sarebbe stato, ed è gia, un posto migliore senza persone come Ena. Eppure, nonostante egli sia esperto in materia criminale, si ritroverà ad affrontare numerosi ostacoli dovuti a sue sviste, fino ad un finale inaspettato e sconvolgente.
"L'ultima tappa" è un romanzo molto particolare, difficile da iscrivere in un genere particolare in quanto mescola in esso elementi molto eterogenei, senza che nessuno di essi prenda il sopravvento sull'altro.
L'opera risulta impostata all'inizio come una classica inverted-story, in cui si conosce già il nome del colpevole, per poi proseguire tuttavia in una direzione completamente diversa da questo filone, in quanto l'attenzione non viene focalizzata, nella sezione centrale dell'intreccio, sulla figura del criminale, di cui vengono descritte le ansie, i turbamenti e le varie azioni finalizzate a stornare i sospetti da sé, bensì sulla figura di Sheringham che, in tal caso, non opera in qualità di investigatore, deciso a scoprire la verità attraverso l'osservazione e l'interpretazione degli indizi, ma assume le sembianze di un anti-detective: infatti la trama si impernia fondamentalmente sui tentativi di Sheringham per cercare di coprire il delitto facendolo passare per un suicidio. La figura del detective tradizionale, sempre fedele alla causa della giustizia, per quanto sia spesso un concetto di difficile definizione e pieno di contraddizioni, viene qui completamente sovvertita, scardinando questo caposaldo del genere. Roger adopera la sua conoscenza in ambito criminologico e le sue capacità logiche non al servizio delle forze dell'ordine, ma contro di esse, istituendo al tempo stesso una parodia ironica di tale narrativa, guardata da una prospettiva del tutto distorta, e una riflessione piuttosto cinica e interessante sul concetto di giustizia.
Il fulcro della narrazione risiede infatti nella morale del delitto, di cui Berkeley mostra, in maniera spietata e scanzonata in modo da rendere una questione così profonda ancor più amara e destabilizzante, tutta l'ipocrita illusorietà: il delitto è eticamente valido in casi particolari? Perché non dovrebbe esserlo a prescindere, nonostante porti a evidenti benefici?
È il quesito, spesso affrontato dai grandi del genere, come Chesterton e Christie, della giustezza di eliminare chi potrebbe nuocere agli altri.
Roger, incarnando in qualche modo l'autore stesso, affronta cinicamente la faccenda, ritenendo corretto dover insabbiare tutto in quanto di sofferenza ce n'era stata già molta quando la vittima era in vita. È una satira amara ma ironica, seria e parodica assieme.
"L'ultima tappa" dunque infatti riflette appieno la personalità complessa, pragmatica e anticonformistica dell'autore, tanto nelle strutture quanto nei contenuti.
Alla fine dunque il romanzo si presenta come uno studio sugli effetti "liberatori" di un delitto di tale specie, incentrato più sui personaggi, le loro dinamiche e idee, che sulla stessa vicenda delittuosa. Tutto ciò è condito da uno humour molto accattivante dovuto soprattutto a Sheringham, detective piuttosto inusuale nella letteratura gialla, che, come nelle altre opere, si dimostra in molte occasioni sbadato, poco rigoroso e tanto fallibile da avvicinarlo molto al lettore, da renderlo veramente più umano a differenza delle tipiche figure degli investigatori irreprensibili e quasi onniscienti. Sebbene dunque il lato giallo sia completamente accessorio, il finale riserva comunque un colpo di scena imprevisto, che ricolloca parzialmente la storia nell'ambito del mystery classico, anche se non si basa su alcun indizio materiale o psicologico.
Dunque "L'ultima tappa" è un romanzo molto peculiare nella produzione di Berkeley, divertente e irriverente, sovvertitore di schemi consolidati, in cui la parte gialla si trova in secondo piano ed è funzionale alla costruzione di un'abile satira sociale.
Uomo misterioso e riservato, scrittore sopraffino e pungente, particolarmente sprezzante nei confronti delle convenzioni, spesso ridicolizzate e parodizzate nei suoi lavori, Berkeley ha impresso una sua personale e inimitabile impronta nel giallo, creando spesso trame originalissime e non scontate, che riflettono appieno la sua indole indomita, volubile, la sua volontà di differenziarsi e di non uniformarsi alla massa che disprezzava dall'alto del suoi eccentrici e raffinati gusti.
Questa sua personalità "sui generis", fuori dagli schemi, lo portò progressivamente ad allontanarsi dal giallo di stampo tradizionale, di cui fu peraltro iniziatore e innovatore, per sperimentare nuovi filoni narrativi a lui più congeniali, specie quelli legati allo studio dell'insondabile e spesso imprevedibile psiche umana: firmandosi come Frances Iles, infatti, compose nel corso degli anni '30, tre romanzi prettamente psicologici, precursori del thriller che tanto successo avrà successivamente anche grazie alla trasposizione cinematografica, curata dal celeberrimo Alfred Hitchcock, del suo famoso scritto "Il sospetto" (1932).
Berkeley continuò comunque a scrivere mystery classici, ma dalle sue ultime opere emergono fortemente il suo spiccato interesse per la natura umana e il suo piglio dissacratorio, sarcastico nei confronti dei costumi, che tradisce i suoi ideali libertini e anticonformisti: partito dunque dall'enigma "onesto", lo scrittore termina la sua carriera cercando di scandalizzare il lettore, sbalestrandolo tramite schemi inconsueti, sempre con il ricorso dei precipui temi del delitto, della morte e, più in generale, dell'essenza della giustizia.
Tale tendenza centrifuga è evidente nel suo penultimo romanzo con Sheringham, "L'ultima tappa" ("Jumping Jenny", 1933), in cui l'autore, allontanandosi dalla tradizione gialla, vira sull'inverted-mystery e sulla satira.
Il romanzo prende l'avvio con una festa particolare data dal noto scrittore Ronald Stratton nella sua villa, in cui gli invitati sono vestiti tutti da famosi criminali della storia. Se il tema non fosse chiaro, a togliere qualsiasi dubbio ci sarebbe un'enorme forca, completa con tre fantocci impiccati, due uomini e una donna, collocata sulla terrazza, per dare un tocco macabro all'intera serata. Tra gli ospiti vi è anche il celebre Roger Sheringham, che, come suo solito, comincia ad interessarsi delle varie personalità presenti: dalla leggiadra e volpina Agatha Lefroy, fidanzata del padrone di casa, a Margot, sua ex-moglie, con cui è rimasto in buoni rapporti, accompagnata dal compagno Mike Armstrong, agli ingenui coniugi Williamson. Chi però più lo intriga, da amante del bizzarro e dell'inconsueto, è Ena Stratton, moglie del fratello di Ronald, David, che molti considerano una pazza. Dopo esser riuscito ad avvicinarla, Roger capisce perché tutti paiono non poterla sopportare: si tratta infatti di una narcisista, che cerca continue attenzioni, tanto anche da proclamare ai quattro venti la sua voglia di suicidarsi per porre fine alla sua vita grama. Insomma, se prima ne era stato curioso, ora che ha avuto modo di parlarle, Roger non vuole che fuggire al più presto. La festa procede meravigliosamente se non fosse proprio per le scenate di Ena che, a tarda notte, viene galantemente buttata fuori di casa per evitare ulteriori scenate. Oltraggiata, la donna se ne torna apparentemente a casa, alleggerendo di molto l'atmosfera. Tuttavia Ena non è affatto rincasata, ma si è nascosta solo nella veranda, per cercare di calmarsi dopo l'offesa subita. Il dottor Philip Chalmers, migliore amico di David, nel frattempo, dopo essere stato chiamato da un paziente durante i balli, ritorna a riprendere sua moglie e, casualmente, incontra Ena. I due si recano sul terrazzo, dove la donna inizia a deplorare la sua sorte avversa, la sua sfortuna nel non essere compresa ed esprime la volontà di farla finita una volta per tutte. Chalmers, a conoscenza delle sue manie, cerca di calmarla, ma l'esibizionismo in lei insito la porta a prendere una sedia per arrivare ad infilare la testa in uno dei cappi della forca, rimasto vuoto per il fatto che uno dei fantocci era caduto a terra. Una scenata patetica, ma che agli occhi di chi ha raggiunto il limite della sopportazione, come è il caso del dottore nel vedere questa donna rovinare la vita del suo caro amico, può rappresentare un'invitante occasione... In fondo cosa sarà mai spostare una sedia?
Successivamente, David, allarmato per il fatto che Ena non si trovasse a casa sua, ritorna a casa di Ronald dove inizia una ricerca della donna, che verrà rinvenuta priva di vita sulla famigerata forca.
Agli occhi di tutti sembra un chiaro suicidio, ma Roger, per puro caso, intravede la cruda realtà: quando erano arrivati sulla terrazza, la sedia era troppo lontana dal corpo della donna. Risultato: un odioso omicidio. Omicidio che Roger, tuttavia, vuole a tutti i costi coprire, essendo conscio che il mondo sarebbe stato, ed è gia, un posto migliore senza persone come Ena. Eppure, nonostante egli sia esperto in materia criminale, si ritroverà ad affrontare numerosi ostacoli dovuti a sue sviste, fino ad un finale inaspettato e sconvolgente.
"L'ultima tappa" è un romanzo molto particolare, difficile da iscrivere in un genere particolare in quanto mescola in esso elementi molto eterogenei, senza che nessuno di essi prenda il sopravvento sull'altro.
L'opera risulta impostata all'inizio come una classica inverted-story, in cui si conosce già il nome del colpevole, per poi proseguire tuttavia in una direzione completamente diversa da questo filone, in quanto l'attenzione non viene focalizzata, nella sezione centrale dell'intreccio, sulla figura del criminale, di cui vengono descritte le ansie, i turbamenti e le varie azioni finalizzate a stornare i sospetti da sé, bensì sulla figura di Sheringham che, in tal caso, non opera in qualità di investigatore, deciso a scoprire la verità attraverso l'osservazione e l'interpretazione degli indizi, ma assume le sembianze di un anti-detective: infatti la trama si impernia fondamentalmente sui tentativi di Sheringham per cercare di coprire il delitto facendolo passare per un suicidio. La figura del detective tradizionale, sempre fedele alla causa della giustizia, per quanto sia spesso un concetto di difficile definizione e pieno di contraddizioni, viene qui completamente sovvertita, scardinando questo caposaldo del genere. Roger adopera la sua conoscenza in ambito criminologico e le sue capacità logiche non al servizio delle forze dell'ordine, ma contro di esse, istituendo al tempo stesso una parodia ironica di tale narrativa, guardata da una prospettiva del tutto distorta, e una riflessione piuttosto cinica e interessante sul concetto di giustizia.
Il fulcro della narrazione risiede infatti nella morale del delitto, di cui Berkeley mostra, in maniera spietata e scanzonata in modo da rendere una questione così profonda ancor più amara e destabilizzante, tutta l'ipocrita illusorietà: il delitto è eticamente valido in casi particolari? Perché non dovrebbe esserlo a prescindere, nonostante porti a evidenti benefici?
È il quesito, spesso affrontato dai grandi del genere, come Chesterton e Christie, della giustezza di eliminare chi potrebbe nuocere agli altri.
Roger, incarnando in qualche modo l'autore stesso, affronta cinicamente la faccenda, ritenendo corretto dover insabbiare tutto in quanto di sofferenza ce n'era stata già molta quando la vittima era in vita. È una satira amara ma ironica, seria e parodica assieme.
"L'ultima tappa" dunque infatti riflette appieno la personalità complessa, pragmatica e anticonformistica dell'autore, tanto nelle strutture quanto nei contenuti.
Alla fine dunque il romanzo si presenta come uno studio sugli effetti "liberatori" di un delitto di tale specie, incentrato più sui personaggi, le loro dinamiche e idee, che sulla stessa vicenda delittuosa. Tutto ciò è condito da uno humour molto accattivante dovuto soprattutto a Sheringham, detective piuttosto inusuale nella letteratura gialla, che, come nelle altre opere, si dimostra in molte occasioni sbadato, poco rigoroso e tanto fallibile da avvicinarlo molto al lettore, da renderlo veramente più umano a differenza delle tipiche figure degli investigatori irreprensibili e quasi onniscienti. Sebbene dunque il lato giallo sia completamente accessorio, il finale riserva comunque un colpo di scena imprevisto, che ricolloca parzialmente la storia nell'ambito del mystery classico, anche se non si basa su alcun indizio materiale o psicologico.
Dunque "L'ultima tappa" è un romanzo molto peculiare nella produzione di Berkeley, divertente e irriverente, sovvertitore di schemi consolidati, in cui la parte gialla si trova in secondo piano ed è funzionale alla costruzione di un'abile satira sociale.
March 5, 2022
Gallows humour…
Amateur detective Roger Sheringham is attending a fancy dress party at the home of a friend. The party’s theme is that all the guests should come dressed as famous murderers or their victims, and to add to the fun of the occasion the host has built a gallows on the roof terrace, and suspended three hanged dummies on it. It is this gallows that, by the end of the evening, will become the focus of the investigation into the death that brings the evening’s jollity to an end…
This is an “inverted crime” – that is, the reader sees the murder being done and knows whodunit, and then follows the detectives as they investigate. The victim is a woman, Ena Stratton – an attention-seeker and drunk who has annoyed just about everyone at the party in one way or another, mostly because they all feel sorry for her poor husband for being married to her, especially since he’s in love with someone else. So when she’s found dead, they’re all happy to think that she has killed herself and rid their pampered little world of an annoyance. But Sheringham isn’t so sure her death was at her own hands. So, as you would, he decides to tamper with the evidence to ensure that if one of his pals bumped her off they get away with it, and the death is neatly filed away as a convenient suicide.
Charming, isn’t it? Someone mentioned to me recently that Berkeley didn’t like women, and I responded that I hadn’t read much of him yet and hadn’t become aware of that. I have now! The treatment of Ena in this one is way beyond typical sexism of the time – there is much talk of how it would be great if her husband could just get her locked away in an asylum, so that he’d be free to carry on his affair openly in her absence. Unfortunately, while the two doctors present at the party agree she’s a nuisance, neither of them is willing to declare her insane. Sheringham thinks that her husband should have beaten her into submission long ago – literally. So the party-goers’ delight at her unexpected death is unbounded – problem solved! Everyone is agreed that if her husband killed her, he was totally justified. Even the bit that the reader knows and the guests don’t – i.e., exactly what happened that led to the murder and who did the deed – is presented as if it is in some way justified by the fact that Ena is annoying. Poor Ena!
Having said all that, the book is as well-written as always and is enjoyable to read, with plenty of humour, some of it on the macabre end of the spectrum. Sheringham’s bid to mislead the police backfires somewhat, so that he finds himself as a suspect. (I hoped he’d be charged, convicted and hanged, personally – karma would have done its duty.) From then on, he spends his time encouraging everyone to commit perjury left, right and centre to prove the suicide theory, which they all cheerfully agree to do. And in the end, Berkeley throws in a final twist, which did nothing to redeem anyone in this reader’s eyes!
Berkeley was simply having some light-hearted fun here and clearly didn’t intend for the reader to take the book too seriously, and I found it quite easy and fun to go along for the ride. But I fear I shall no longer admire Sheringham as a person, though I will still enjoy him as a character. The whole thing is so far over the credibility line all the way through that even the ridiculousness of the final twist seems in keeping with the rest of the nonsense. So not one to take seriously, and not so much morally ambiguous as morally vacuous – but still entertaining…
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, the British Library.
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Amateur detective Roger Sheringham is attending a fancy dress party at the home of a friend. The party’s theme is that all the guests should come dressed as famous murderers or their victims, and to add to the fun of the occasion the host has built a gallows on the roof terrace, and suspended three hanged dummies on it. It is this gallows that, by the end of the evening, will become the focus of the investigation into the death that brings the evening’s jollity to an end…
This is an “inverted crime” – that is, the reader sees the murder being done and knows whodunit, and then follows the detectives as they investigate. The victim is a woman, Ena Stratton – an attention-seeker and drunk who has annoyed just about everyone at the party in one way or another, mostly because they all feel sorry for her poor husband for being married to her, especially since he’s in love with someone else. So when she’s found dead, they’re all happy to think that she has killed herself and rid their pampered little world of an annoyance. But Sheringham isn’t so sure her death was at her own hands. So, as you would, he decides to tamper with the evidence to ensure that if one of his pals bumped her off they get away with it, and the death is neatly filed away as a convenient suicide.
Charming, isn’t it? Someone mentioned to me recently that Berkeley didn’t like women, and I responded that I hadn’t read much of him yet and hadn’t become aware of that. I have now! The treatment of Ena in this one is way beyond typical sexism of the time – there is much talk of how it would be great if her husband could just get her locked away in an asylum, so that he’d be free to carry on his affair openly in her absence. Unfortunately, while the two doctors present at the party agree she’s a nuisance, neither of them is willing to declare her insane. Sheringham thinks that her husband should have beaten her into submission long ago – literally. So the party-goers’ delight at her unexpected death is unbounded – problem solved! Everyone is agreed that if her husband killed her, he was totally justified. Even the bit that the reader knows and the guests don’t – i.e., exactly what happened that led to the murder and who did the deed – is presented as if it is in some way justified by the fact that Ena is annoying. Poor Ena!
Having said all that, the book is as well-written as always and is enjoyable to read, with plenty of humour, some of it on the macabre end of the spectrum. Sheringham’s bid to mislead the police backfires somewhat, so that he finds himself as a suspect. (I hoped he’d be charged, convicted and hanged, personally – karma would have done its duty.) From then on, he spends his time encouraging everyone to commit perjury left, right and centre to prove the suicide theory, which they all cheerfully agree to do. And in the end, Berkeley throws in a final twist, which did nothing to redeem anyone in this reader’s eyes!
Berkeley was simply having some light-hearted fun here and clearly didn’t intend for the reader to take the book too seriously, and I found it quite easy and fun to go along for the ride. But I fear I shall no longer admire Sheringham as a person, though I will still enjoy him as a character. The whole thing is so far over the credibility line all the way through that even the ridiculousness of the final twist seems in keeping with the rest of the nonsense. So not one to take seriously, and not so much morally ambiguous as morally vacuous – but still entertaining…
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, the British Library.
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November 20, 2022
This is an inverted mystery, where we know who did the murder already; the "mystery" for this novel comes more so from how Roger Sheringham is going to get himself out of trouble after putting himself into the mess in the first place. He attempts to save a friend from what he believes to be an unjust punishment, as the hanged woman--Ena Stratton--has been unpleasant to everyone at the party, even including himself.
This book was incredibly frustrating on so many parts. There is a warning at the beginning of the book to note that some themes might not be seen in the same light now as they were in the past, and that certainly has to do with the sneering misogyny on display. They label Ena in a derogatory fashion left, right, and centre, saying she ought to be in an asylum but she's just this side of sane so they can't. There is musing about how her husband ought to knock some sense into her--literally--and everyone wishes ill on her.
The characters also, for the most part, blend together and don't have very much personality outside of, say, Sheringham, Ena, and maybe Colin. It's also quite funny that they each deem Ena to be an awful person, when they themselves are all, in a word, appalling.
And this is truly an unfortunate book to pick to start the Sheringham series with; how the devil can I trust him in any future outings? This book could have better been titled 'Several Ways to Gaslight Your Acquaintances". He--and the others--pat themselves on the backs when they convince someone of something that never happened, but he's the worst because he's a detective! What other crimes has he been to in which he has planted evidence just based on the idea that the victim had it coming to them after knowing the victim for all of a couple hours? Good Lord!
The pros for this book are that it's short and thus a (fairly) quick read, there's an actual twist at the end that was quite good (there weren't so many twists as I'm typically accustomed to with mystery novels, which was slightly disappointing), and Sheringham as well as just the general narration holds a certain wittiness that is fun even with the crime that is taking place.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was incredibly frustrating on so many parts. There is a warning at the beginning of the book to note that some themes might not be seen in the same light now as they were in the past, and that certainly has to do with the sneering misogyny on display. They label Ena in a derogatory fashion left, right, and centre, saying she ought to be in an asylum but she's just this side of sane so they can't. There is musing about how her husband ought to knock some sense into her--literally--and everyone wishes ill on her.
The characters also, for the most part, blend together and don't have very much personality outside of, say, Sheringham, Ena, and maybe Colin. It's also quite funny that they each deem Ena to be an awful person, when they themselves are all, in a word, appalling.
And this is truly an unfortunate book to pick to start the Sheringham series with; how the devil can I trust him in any future outings? This book could have better been titled 'Several Ways to Gaslight Your Acquaintances". He--and the others--pat themselves on the backs when they convince someone of something that never happened, but he's the worst because he's a detective! What other crimes has he been to in which he has planted evidence just based on the idea that the victim had it coming to them after knowing the victim for all of a couple hours? Good Lord!
The pros for this book are that it's short and thus a (fairly) quick read, there's an actual twist at the end that was quite good (there weren't so many twists as I'm typically accustomed to with mystery novels, which was slightly disappointing), and Sheringham as well as just the general narration holds a certain wittiness that is fun even with the crime that is taking place.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 21, 2022
Jumping Jenny is a classic mystery published in 1933. It is an inverted mystery which means we see the murder as it's committed and who does the deed. The mystery then lies in if the murderer will be discovered. Jumping Jenny starts off with a costume party with a theme of murderers and their victims. How cute, right? Maybe it gives some insight to the character of the attendees and the person who set the party up, Ronald Stratton, who created a gallows display of straw "jumping jacks" and a "jumping jenny" on the rooftop.
Everyone is full of drinks and dancing but not everyone is having a good time. Ronald's sister in law, Ena Stratton, is universally disliked. Her erratic and antagonistic behavior is on full display, even to guest of honor, Roger Sheringham, who has never met her before. After an argument, Ena runs off to the roof. Later someone else goes on to the roof and Ena ends up dead. It appears at first to the guests to be suicide, but we know and soon Roger Sheringham, a well known criminologist, will know too that it is murder.
In the process of Sheringham's investigation, which happens to be mostly for his own amusement, evidence gets destroyed. Wanting to save someone from going to jail, he tries to steer the investigation in a certain way. But he makes mistake after mistake, eventually implicating himself. The story is a great example of someone coming up with ideas based on observations and known facts but still managing to be wrong. Sometimes there can be a different explanation for something.
There is a lot of humor in Jumping Jenny. It comes from watching Sheringham and his wild ideas and watching him squirm as he thinks the police are closing in. Ena is not a likeable character. None of the characters like her. We see evidence ourselves of her behavior. However, most of what we, and Sheringham, know is related by other characters. So, while I think we aren't supposed to feel bad about Ena's death, I do. I spent the whole book at odds with the characters. This didn't lessen my enjoyment. It is a fun ride waiting to see how it will all end.
Everyone is full of drinks and dancing but not everyone is having a good time. Ronald's sister in law, Ena Stratton, is universally disliked. Her erratic and antagonistic behavior is on full display, even to guest of honor, Roger Sheringham, who has never met her before. After an argument, Ena runs off to the roof. Later someone else goes on to the roof and Ena ends up dead. It appears at first to the guests to be suicide, but we know and soon Roger Sheringham, a well known criminologist, will know too that it is murder.
In the process of Sheringham's investigation, which happens to be mostly for his own amusement, evidence gets destroyed. Wanting to save someone from going to jail, he tries to steer the investigation in a certain way. But he makes mistake after mistake, eventually implicating himself. The story is a great example of someone coming up with ideas based on observations and known facts but still managing to be wrong. Sometimes there can be a different explanation for something.
There is a lot of humor in Jumping Jenny. It comes from watching Sheringham and his wild ideas and watching him squirm as he thinks the police are closing in. Ena is not a likeable character. None of the characters like her. We see evidence ourselves of her behavior. However, most of what we, and Sheringham, know is related by other characters. So, while I think we aren't supposed to feel bad about Ena's death, I do. I spent the whole book at odds with the characters. This didn't lessen my enjoyment. It is a fun ride waiting to see how it will all end.
February 6, 2022
I really struggled with this one, it’s not my favourite… due to how a certain character is written and her mental health I found it in appalling taste and also I really despised all the characters even the somewhat “great amateur detective” which I found wanting him to magically disappear and never return. I know that these attitudes were prevalent during that time but the writing style and how the characters come across just make me feel appalled. But aside from that it is an intriguing and fascinating spin on the traditional detective mystery it makes you realise that even amateurs and ones that know what they doing is wrong in the eyes of the law but personally they don’t see it as wrong. For me it left a bad taste in my mouth.
May 19, 2022
Quite a good book with a surprising ending.
October 11, 2022
4.5
I enjoyed this "inverted crime". Entertaining and a lot of humour, almost farcical, as long as you don't take this book seriously.
I enjoyed this "inverted crime". Entertaining and a lot of humour, almost farcical, as long as you don't take this book seriously.
October 28, 2022
Roger Sheringham is attending a fancy dress party at which he is the guest of honor. His host, Ronald Stratton, has decreed that the guests dress as famous murderers or victims. He’s also had a gallows built on the roof, hanging from which are three figures, one woman and two men. They’re stuffed dummies of course, all in the spirit of fun.
During the evening Sheringham, “always on the look-out for types,” becomes intrigued with the behavior of one of the guests. It’s obvious to him that Ena Stratton, the wife of his host’s brother, is determined to be the center of attention. And based on what he hears from the other guests, she is universally disliked. One of Ena’s ploys for attention is to tell all and sundry “that the best thing to do would be to put an end to it all.” So in the early hours of the morning, when Ena is found hanging from the gallows, no one is really surprised…especially the one who killed her.
I’ll get straight to the point. I despise aspects of this book. Yet because it was, for the most part, well written, I do not hate it. The views that Berkeley seems to embrace are unpalatable. But more than anything I dislike it’s casual insensitivity. Rather than feel compassion, or even pity for Ena, we are told that she is a malignancy that needs to be removed. Whoever murdered her is a “decent person” who should be protected and tapering with evidence and witnesses is a moral act. And while Sheringham has no wish to find justice for Ena, he will find justice for himself when it is he who is thought to be the murderer.
While the writing is witty and Berkeley fills the plot with twists, the story slows to a crawl as Sheringham attempts to deflect the police from investigating the death as anything but a suicide. Then he theorizes, and he theorizes, and he theorizes, to determine who the actual murderer is. None of this is helped by the fact that, other than Sheringham and Ena, the characters are indistinguishable one from the other. They simply fade into the background.
Now for what I did like. This is an inverted mystery, which is a sub-genre I really enjoy. The reader “knows” what actually happened, and the identity of the murderer. But Berkeley really gave this one a twist, and the real explanation isn’t revealed until the very end. I certainly didn’t see it coming. Berkeley also filled the story with humor, most of it on the dark side, but still enjoyable. And I especially enjoyed it when it was at the expense of Sheringham. It was so enjoyable to see Sheringham made into the patsy. He believes himself to be in control of the narrative, manipulating events and characters toward his intended outcome. But in reality it is the women who are in control all along. Where Sheringham is obvious in his attempts, they achieve their aims through subtle, artless comments and actions. It was exquisite to see.
So all in all, while there was humor and wit throughout, ultimately there was just too much moral ambiguity in this one for me.
During the evening Sheringham, “always on the look-out for types,” becomes intrigued with the behavior of one of the guests. It’s obvious to him that Ena Stratton, the wife of his host’s brother, is determined to be the center of attention. And based on what he hears from the other guests, she is universally disliked. One of Ena’s ploys for attention is to tell all and sundry “that the best thing to do would be to put an end to it all.” So in the early hours of the morning, when Ena is found hanging from the gallows, no one is really surprised…especially the one who killed her.
I’ll get straight to the point. I despise aspects of this book. Yet because it was, for the most part, well written, I do not hate it. The views that Berkeley seems to embrace are unpalatable. But more than anything I dislike it’s casual insensitivity. Rather than feel compassion, or even pity for Ena, we are told that she is a malignancy that needs to be removed. Whoever murdered her is a “decent person” who should be protected and tapering with evidence and witnesses is a moral act. And while Sheringham has no wish to find justice for Ena, he will find justice for himself when it is he who is thought to be the murderer.
While the writing is witty and Berkeley fills the plot with twists, the story slows to a crawl as Sheringham attempts to deflect the police from investigating the death as anything but a suicide. Then he theorizes, and he theorizes, and he theorizes, to determine who the actual murderer is. None of this is helped by the fact that, other than Sheringham and Ena, the characters are indistinguishable one from the other. They simply fade into the background.
Now for what I did like. This is an inverted mystery, which is a sub-genre I really enjoy. The reader “knows” what actually happened, and the identity of the murderer. But Berkeley really gave this one a twist, and the real explanation isn’t revealed until the very end. I certainly didn’t see it coming. Berkeley also filled the story with humor, most of it on the dark side, but still enjoyable. And I especially enjoyed it when it was at the expense of Sheringham. It was so enjoyable to see Sheringham made into the patsy. He believes himself to be in control of the narrative, manipulating events and characters toward his intended outcome. But in reality it is the women who are in control all along. Where Sheringham is obvious in his attempts, they achieve their aims through subtle, artless comments and actions. It was exquisite to see.
So all in all, while there was humor and wit throughout, ultimately there was just too much moral ambiguity in this one for me.
January 17, 2023
Jumping Jenny, like jumping jack, pops out of a box to surprise everyone. In this case, Mrs. Stratton surprises everyone by being murdered at a murder party. This is the ninth mystery for Anthony Blakeley’s supersleuth Roger Sheringham. In honor of Sheringham’s Holmesian talents, his friend Ronald Stratton hosted a murder party where everyone came dressed as famous murderers and victims. To add to the sense of the macabre, he had a gallows placed on the roof terrace with three straw characters, two men and one woman, two Jacks and a Jenny.
During the party, Ena Stratton, wife of the host’s brother, insists on being the center of attention, casually dropping extortionate threats and generally being an awful woman. Her husband wants desperately to divorce her and anyone with a heart would want the same for him. And then she was murdered, hanging where the straw Jenny had been. And when the police come, they find a house full of murderers – at least in costume.
Jumping Jenny is a satisfying mystery and scrupulously fair and yet, I was surprised in the end. It’s rare when I am surprised when the mystery is fair. Surprises usually come with a few of those reports of results from some outside inquiry that the detective reads, says aha, and goes on without readers learning of them until the climax when the detective uses the results to solve the murder. That does not happen.
I liked Jumping Jenny. It works as a comedy of manners as much as a mystery. The party guests were so determined to be arch and sophisticated, even in the face of murder. It was a sight to see, or rather, to read. I should point out, though, the Berkeley paints the scene with his words so well, that readers will be able to see the scene perfectly well. I definitely want to read more in this series.
Jumping Jenny will be published January 17th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
Jumping Jenny at ABE Books from Poisoned Pen Press at Sourcebooks
Anthony Berkeley on Wikipedia
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
During the party, Ena Stratton, wife of the host’s brother, insists on being the center of attention, casually dropping extortionate threats and generally being an awful woman. Her husband wants desperately to divorce her and anyone with a heart would want the same for him. And then she was murdered, hanging where the straw Jenny had been. And when the police come, they find a house full of murderers – at least in costume.
Jumping Jenny is a satisfying mystery and scrupulously fair and yet, I was surprised in the end. It’s rare when I am surprised when the mystery is fair. Surprises usually come with a few of those reports of results from some outside inquiry that the detective reads, says aha, and goes on without readers learning of them until the climax when the detective uses the results to solve the murder. That does not happen.
I liked Jumping Jenny. It works as a comedy of manners as much as a mystery. The party guests were so determined to be arch and sophisticated, even in the face of murder. It was a sight to see, or rather, to read. I should point out, though, the Berkeley paints the scene with his words so well, that readers will be able to see the scene perfectly well. I definitely want to read more in this series.
Jumping Jenny will be published January 17th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
Jumping Jenny at ABE Books from Poisoned Pen Press at Sourcebooks
Anthony Berkeley on Wikipedia
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
December 8, 2023
A British murder mystery set at a country estate during a fancy dress party, the guests disguised as famous murderers and victims. In a twist on the clichés of the time (even in '33), Berkeley's "amateur criminologist" Roger Sheringham spends most of his time trying to obfuscate the crime and bamboozle the police while coordinating alibis and red herrings among the guests -- much as if Sherlock Holmes was doing his best to cover up a murder instead of solving it. Anthony Berkeley [Cox] (1893-1971), who also wrote some of his best as Francis Iles, was the most creative of all the mystery authors. No two of his books were alike and in each he tried to do something completely different with the mystery form, experimenting with different approaches -- never in a rut. In fact, even his detective, Roger Sheringham, changed radically as the book series went on, evolving from an obnoxious oaf to a reasonable, if at times almost faceless, facsimile of a great detective. In Jumping Jenny, the ninth episode in the Sheringham series, Berkeley once again twists and tweaks the mystery genre, rejecting formula and the tried and true. Also titled Dead Mrs. Stratton. [4★]
December 28, 2022
A classic mystery that starts out as a party that is a bit odd. I mean, who hangs scarecrows from gallows as decorations. Anyways, later on, one is no longer just a scarecrow, but a body.
I liked the layout and flow of this mystery in a sense that it looked at many of the characters individually on how they may be the murderer. In the end, it really came down to being suicide or not.
The struggle I had with this book was keeping track of all of the characters. Many had similar names to others, so I kept getting confused. This book is also mostly dialog, but I think it could have used more scene descriptions in some parts to be more effective.
I enjoyed it overall including the fun little twist explained at the end.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ebook for my honest review.
I liked the layout and flow of this mystery in a sense that it looked at many of the characters individually on how they may be the murderer. In the end, it really came down to being suicide or not.
The struggle I had with this book was keeping track of all of the characters. Many had similar names to others, so I kept getting confused. This book is also mostly dialog, but I think it could have used more scene descriptions in some parts to be more effective.
I enjoyed it overall including the fun little twist explained at the end.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ebook for my honest review.
July 26, 2023
These British Crime Library Classics are a treat. I'm so glad they're re-releasing these , that they're available in audiobook or book form. Some of them are sloooow but that's just how it is sometimes there's one that just works for me and sometimes not. I enjoy looking through the selection and deciding which one I want next. I like Anthony Berkeley's Poison Chocolates Case so, I thought I'd give this one a try. It's a bit convoluted but, it was amusing to see them fumble through this murder and it's inquest and that amusement is what gets it that 4th star. If you've checked out a book from this series or you like golden age mysteries, you might like this, but know going in that there is quite a bit of back and forth about the many suspects , more then what im used to and like i said it was done in an amusing manner so i liked it, sone might find it a little tedious. I definitely will read more by Berkeley in future.
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