Cat and Mouse: A Mystery in Wales

Inspector Chucky

by Christianna Brand

A London writer falls into a trap of romance and false identity

Katinka Jones spends her days beautifying, trying out the latest ointments, corsets, and creams in order to pass the information on to the thankful readers of Girls Together. When not immersed in a mud bath, she answers advice letters, and none are so compelling as those of Amista, a Welsh girl in love with a modern-day Heathcliff. Amista’s dramatic stories and beautiful descriptions of her village spark Tinka’s interest. For her next holiday, Tinka travels to Wales, where she finds that beauty-product salesmen aren’t the only people who lie. No one in Pentre Trist has heard of Amista, and no one will admit to writing the letters. As she tries to learn the identity of her pen pal, Tinka stumbles into an ancient Welsh mystery. The letters may have been lies, but the danger they described is all too real.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, 20th Century, Mystery Thriller, Classics, Golden Age Mystery

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Christianna Brand (December 17, 1907 - March 11, 1988) was a crime writer and children's author. Brand also wrote under the pseudonyms Mary Ann Ashe, Annabel Jones, Mary Roland, and China Thomson.

She was born Mary Christianna Milne in 1907 in Malaya and spent her early years in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess.

Her first novel, Death in High Heels, was written while Brand was working as a salesgirl. In 1941, one of her best-loved characters, Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, made his debut in the book Heads You Lose. The character would go on to appear in seven of her novels. Green for Danger is Brand’s most famous novel. The whodunit, set in a World War 2 hospital, was adapted for film by Eagle-Lion Films in 1946, starring Alastair Sim as the Inspector. She dropped the series in the late 1950s and concentrated on various genres as well as short stories. She was nominated three times for Edgar Awards: for the short stories "Poison in the Cup" (EQMM, Feb. 1969) and "Twist for Twist" (EQMM, May 1967) and for a nonfiction work about a Scottish murder case, Heaven Knows Who (1960). She is the author of the children's series Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted to film as Nanny McPhee (2005).

Her Inspector Cockrill short stories and a previously unpublished Cockrill stage play were collected as The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from inspector Cockrill's Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar (2002).

Series:
* Nurse Matilda
* Inspector Charlesworth
* Inspector Chucky
* Inspector Cockrill

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A riveting thriller. However . . . the denouement (as, I've found, with most thrillers) was something of a letdown. The culprit, his methods and motive, were the the "most likely," and his devilry in the next-to-last chapter was rather perfunctory. I was also hoping more deductive activity by Inspector Chucky. That said, the plot twists afforded maximum tantalization, and Ms. Brand's trenchant observations of human nature were, by turns, hilarious and moving.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discounted | Weird. | The protagonist makes the same bad decisions over and over, and the justification is nonsense. But I was pleased to get a classic cozy mystery with a Welsh setting. That's why I bought the book, and that setting was successful.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m rounding this up a bit. The plot twists were nifty, but the rather shrill tone of the narrative irritated. Brand needed to sharpen the satire; she can do funny, but this missed.

[Julian Worker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the many British Library Crime Classics that are available. It's noticeable how many of them feature parts of the UK not normally covered in the genre. This book is a good example. The story takes place in the fictional village of Pentre Trist near Swansea in South Wales.

Katinka Jones is an agony aunt for Girls Together magazine and when she visits Swansea she decides to pay a surprise visit to one of her regular correspondents called Amista who lives in Pentre Trist. Katinka arrives and immediately sticks out like a sore thumb, however she discovers that no one has heard of Amista though they do know a man called Carlyon, mentioned by Amista in her letters.

The house where Carlyon and presumably Amista lives is across the valley. Katinka has to get a lift across the river courtesy of a milkmaid and then walk up a path to the house set on its own up a mountain. If you're sensing Gothic melodrama, then I think you're right. Katinka is accompanied by an Inspector Chucky from Swansea who has some business at the house.

Anyway, Katinka and Chucky arrive and are 'greeted' by three odd characters who claim never to have heard of Amista. Their strange behaviour causes Katinka to leave the house as soon as she can, but she slips and hurts her ankle. She returns and has to spend the night during which some odd twists and turns occur. Katinka falls in love with Carylon quickly but she knows she has to leave as soon as she can, however this is easier said than done...

[Randee Baty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christianna Brand's Cat and Mouse is a book that has haunted me since the first time I read it 30 years ago or more. Maybe it was just because I was much younger but "haunted" is indeed what this book has done to me. Just thinking about it creates a creepy atmosphere around me!

I found this in an old brown edition from The Detective's Book Club. It made the story look intriguing from the start. I knew nothing about the story or the author and I dove right in.

The heroine, Tinka Jones, gives advice on beauty to readers of a girl's magazine. She answers their letters and particularly notes the letters of a girl named Amista who talks about her village and the guy she's in love with. Her letters are enough to make Tinka take her vacation to Wales to meet Amista. Just one problem, when she arrives there, no one knows who Amista is. As she struggles to find out who wrote the letters, the atmosphere become unsettling and Tinka begins to doubt what she thought she knew. The ending is not to be missed and I had no idea what was coming. Boy, do I love that in a book!

The atmosphere of this mystery is exactly what you would expect from a visit to a desolate house in rainy Wales. You can feel the gloom and the chill and the shadows closing in on you. Such a perfect read if you have a rainy afternoon to spend with a book. It's a forgotten classic in my opinion and Christianna Brand is a master of the mystery well worthy of modern re-reads.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so sure that I had figured out the solution, only to find out at the end how wrong I was!

I really enjoy Brand's mysteries but this is the first non-Inspector Cockerill one I have read (but not the last!).

[Claire Q · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I love Christianna Brand and Wales, so I was super excited about this one. But Gothic isn't really my thing, even in a semi-paraody like this. Yet something about it kept me turning the pages, and I finished it in two days. Loved how the cat and mouse theme was woven throughout.

[Cestmoi]

i mean this as a genuine, wholehearted compliment, this book felt like being 13 and finding a james patterson book and staying up all night to read it.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1950, this gothic "who done it" shows its age a bit, but is still a compelling story, although these days I would hope the heroine would have run for her life long before the suspenseful denouement. The Welsh setting adds something to the story, and fortunately there's a short glossary of Welsh pronunciation and definitions for some of the commonly used terms. If you're looking for an old fashioned thriller you might take a look at this one.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Cocky but Chucky! Very good.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Absolutely loved this. Gripping from start to finish.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Katinka, a glamorous writer for a girls' magazine, finds herself at a loose end on while on her holiday in Wales. She decides to visit the magazine's most frequent correspondent, newly-married Amista. However, when she arrives at Amista's, she's told that there's no such person and never has been. However, Katinka can't let it go. When she hurts her ankle and is forced to stay at the house, she finds herself investigating what happened to Amista while falling for her charming husband.

On the whole, I found this novel annoyingly silly. The melodrama was pumped to the max. The narrative, frequently focalised through Katinka, was overwrought. Katinka's emotions were all-over-the-place and pivoted from strange solution to strange solution. There were a few cunningly placed clues for the reader to find but, on the whole, I found the novel just ok.

[Trevor Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it's my fault, but I found this book hard-going. The on-off relationship of the two main characters was, frankly tedious and when it was 'on' the description is, what I would imagine to be, 'Mills and Boon'. Whilst this is described on the British Library back cover as 'a lurid love letter to Gothic melodrama', I found the language in Chapter 14 irritatingly anachronistic for a novel published in 1950 and set in, what was then, the current day.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just loved this creepy psychological Hitchcockian thriller set in Wales. Couldn’t put it down. It’s more of a what happened mystery than a whodunnit, with a generous dollop of du Maurier gothic coupled with a Colombo-style detective who keeps popping up in surprising places. Many interesting female characters, and our heroine is a sort-of jaded agony aunt in a woman’s magazine. What’s not to love? A 5-star in pure enjoyment although not great literature.

[Genevieve · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the few Christianna Brands that didn't hit for me, although I'll reread it at some point and see if that changes. I was annoyed at the setup for the mystery and the dithering it required of the heroine.

[Corrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a struggle to finish. Main character repeatedly making same mistakes.

[Mr S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again the British Library Crime Classics have uncovered a somewhat overlooked thriller: Cat and Mouse by Christianna Brand. The majority of the action takes place in South Wales, as young journalist, Katinka Jones, follows up on a series of mysterious letters signed from ‘Amista’ that have been sent to her magazine’s agony aunt column. But upon arriving at the isolated house given as the address of her correspondent it becomes increasingly clear that not all is as it seems. No one in the town has even heard of Amista, yet there are a number of clues which convince Katinka that something sinister is afoot.

The more we get to know the key characters in the drama, the more we realise that we cannot be sure who is telling the truth and who is toying with her. Katinka is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery but the more involved she becomes, the more dangerous it becomes. Plenty of twists and turns in this mystery left me wondering right until the end whether I had successfully figured out the identity of Amista or not, and who was the malevolent architect of chaos responsible for the tragic events that unfold.

I think my main frustration with the book was probably the characterisation of Katinka herself. Without giving too much away, it’s hard to decide if she is a fiercely independent investigator or a hopelessly credulous romantic. Certainly it is that inconsistency which builds the tension as the story reaches its denouement. But perhaps that is simply the outworking of her own stated worldview: “I just think that we all have our own inside standards of right and wrong and we should to our own selves be true and all that, and let the others get on with it in their way, too."

Brand also published one other story, A Ring of Roses, featuring characters from this story nearly 30 years later under the pen name Mary Ann Ashe.

[Alberto Avanzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Probabilmente nasconde una moglie pazza nell’attico, come in Jane Eyre.”
Un giallo del 1950, inglese, molto particolare, con incursioni nel rosa e nel cozy. Non abbiamo il solito Cockrill, personaggio ricorrente della Brand, ma quello che io chiamo “detective per caso”. Qui il ruolo è svolto da Catherine detta Katinka, “giornalista” per un femminile dozzinale fatto di consigli di bellezza e di posta del cuore. Ed è proprio una frequentatrice assidua della rubrica della posta del cuore, una certa Amista, a scrivere sistematicamente a Katinka e a farle venire il desiderio di incontrarla di persona. Ma una volta arrivata nel villaggio, nessuno sembra conoscere Amista. Ma allora… chi manda le lettere? E perché? Ma questo è solo l’inizio..
Ottimamente riuscita l’ambientazione, il paesino gallese con il suo maniero in campagna e tutti i topoi del Galles letterario. I personaggi sono volutamente sopra le righe, il che attira i sospetti del lettore che, come in un gioco di prestigio, volgerà le sue attenzioni da uno all’altro dei personaggi, costruirà teorie che dureranno lo spazio di un capitolo, crederà di vedere dei collegamenti che poi lo porteranno fuori strada.
Gli ultimi cinque o sei capitoli sono un susseguirsi di colpi di scena, di rivelazioni una più stupefacente dell’altra fino al gran finale, con il consueto disvelamento.
Tuttavia, rispetto alle aspettative create, e rispetto alla fama (meritata) dell’autrice, che io amo molto, mi è piaciuto ma meno di quanto avrei voluto e mi sarei aspettato. Purtroppo, non riesco a dirvi le mie perplessità senza fare spoiler. Vi invito comunque a leggerlo, è un bel romanzo oltre che un bel giallo. E magari dopo che lo avete letto lo commentiamo insieme, con avvertenza di spoiler. O se preferite mandatemi una lettera, come quelle che Amista mandava a Katinka.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual book within Christianna Brand's mysteries. Published in 1950, this sits between some of her most popular books, Death of Jezebel in 1948 and London Particular in 1952. Both of the previous titles are Inspector Cockrill titles though, whereas this features the oddly named Inspector Chucky, a character she did not return to until 1977 with A Ring of Roses, now sadly out of print. However, this first novel featuring Chucky has now been reprinted with a lovely cover of the Welsh hills, and any revival of Brand is, for me, a cause for celebration.

Tinka Jones is a Welsh reporter, working in London for the publication, 'Girls Together.' Under the assumed names 'Miss Friendly-wise,' and 'Miss Let's be Lovely,' Tinka and her colleague, enjoy reading letters from a reader names Amista. Amista writes in for advice about a man named Carlyon, her guardian. When Tinka takes a holiday in her native Wales, she decides on a whim to visit Amista, only to find that everyone denies her existence.

Carlyon is, indeed, handsome - living in a remote house with two servants. Tinka feels something is mysterious and amiss, while she is viewed with suspicion due to her job as a journalist. Chucky is also visiting and, when Tinka hurts her ankle, she ends up staying the night and becomes determined to uncover what is going on in the house. This is a romantic mystery, with lots of twists and turns. Chucky rather annoys Tinka, who is the main character, but I hope that the second book will be reprinted. Brand is, in my opinion, an excellent Golden Age detective writer and I am pleased her work has recently had more attention.

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a fiendishly clever mystery from 1950, set in a valley above Swansea. Catherine (Katinka) Jones is an old (nearly thirty) journalist who writes as an agony aunt for a London teenage magazine before teenagers were a thing. She gives advice through her column to a young lady from Wales who signs herself as Amista who chronicles her feelings for the man of her dreams up till the point they are to be married. The romance of it all draws Tinka back to Swansea (her home town) where she decides to call with Amista and her new husband, Mr Carlyon.
Only it appears that there is no such person as Amista. Mr Carlyon and his two servants as well as the villagers deny all knowledge of her, and Miss Friendly-wise’s increasingly puzzled enquiries bring her to the attention of Inspector Chucky of the Swansea police who has his own reasons to be suspicious of the goings on at Penderyn. The house is situated on the precipitous side of the valley opposite the village and is only accessible by a rowing boat propelled by Miss Evans the Milk, who delivers her cans to the house every day. Tinka cannot work out why Mr Carlyon is nice to her one minute and cold the next. She’s infatuated by him and keeps bothering on about Amista. The twists and turns of her enquiries lead to danger even as the fat colourful buses wend their way through the village back and fore to Swansea. Indeed it’s all very Welsh you see.
By the way, if like me you have a thing for amusing books set in the Swansea area in the early 1950s, you could do worse than one of my favourite reads, “That Uncertain Feeling” (filmed as the sublime “Only Two Can Play”) by Kingsley Amis.

[BrokenTune · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cat and Mouse started of great with a humorous setting in the offices of a women's magazine. The mystery starts there, but I never understood why the main character would even set off to pursue her line of enquiry in the first place.

Sadly, after the first scenes at the office, the plot seemed to unravel and the writing seemed to labour over tedious and repetitive details.
I had hoped that Cat and Mouse would have me at the edge of my seat like any other book I have read by the author, but it just lacked the tight plot and realistic characters that others had. Cat and Mouse was more of a suspenseful fairy story and reminded me much more of the works of Mary Stewart than of the writing of the Christianna Brand that I have come to admire through her other books. This was especially so as the main character was TSTL, ignoring all of the red flags she encountered on her adventure. This book just didn't manage to hook me at all.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1950, and moves at a different pace from most modern detective fiction. It's very atmospheric, mostly set in an isolated Welsh house, with echoes (deliberate) of Jane Eyre and Rebecca. There is a twist in the ending, but I'm sure I've read this years ago & did know what was coming. I enjoy old novels because they give such a vivid picture of day-to-day life, social history really comes alive. I'm amazed how much people drank & smoked in the 40s & 50s. The heroine of this book is an advice columnist on a women's magazine, regretful that her career has stalled, and acutely aware that she's unlikely ever to marry & have children, as most of the men of her generation were killed in the war, but trying her best to be cheerful and make the most of what she has.

[Stephen]

What a funny book! Both amusing but peculiar too. End of the day, it's a jolly murder mystery romp in South Wales, and very enjoyable for that. It also packs in a ton of twists. The mystery itself is well disguised while still being foregrounded — many times I felt "oh, I should have noticed that", which speaks of superior mystery writing to me. The one failing of the book is the improbable behavior of the protagonist, Tinka Jones. Very likeable, well-rounded, and even with a good level of self-awareness, she seems to make some very bad choices for a seemingly smart person. Overall it is all a bit improbable, but well-constructed and enjoyable for that. Didn't make me miss my stop, but at least had me standing on a station platform to finish the book after I'd got off the train.

[Martin Pilkington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was first published in 1950. The introduction says that this isn’t a conventional whodunit, and having read it, i can agree with that. Katinka Jones is the agony aunt at a women’s magazine. She’s. Had and published a number of letters from someone called Amista from South Wales. She decides to head there, visit her and find out more about her.

It’s quite a clever novel. In tone it’s often more like a melodrama than a crime novel. My main complaint with the book is the annoying lead character of Katinka Jones. Her jumps in mood, and moving from person to person in her suspicions, became wearing very quickly.

It’s by far my least favourite of the books of Christianna Brand that I’ve read. But she produced a different type of crime book here that it was interesting to try.

[Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a skeleton of quite a good suspense story in here, but it ended up swamped by melodramatic over-writing (some of the descriptions of more unpleasant aspects, like a person with a severely disfigured face, for instance, verged almost on horror, which is not at all my thing). If you're going to have even a chance of convincingly selling the (classic, let's admit) type of suspense story that requires the heroine to make impulsive, counter-intuitive, and dangerous decisions, you need to do it with restraint, not keyed up to the highest pitch of emotion and implausibility on every page!

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird book. It's sort of like Jane Eyre on steroids. Set in South Wales, the story revolves around a women's magazine writer who comes home to the Swansea area and decides to visit a correspondent to the magazine. She visits a lonely house, where there is no woman, except an older nurse, until another woman, younger, but horribly disfigured, appears. It's not clear who's telling the truth about the disfigured woman since her husband is angry then flirtatious, then murderous. The twists and turns are mind bending, but Miss Jones, our protagonist, is rather hysterical.

[Kidlitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A DRC was provided by Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and slightly irritated review.

Not on of my favorite Brands, but the Welsh setting is lovely, the heroine only loses her sense a few times, as annoying as that is, and though Inspector Chucky is a bit useless, there is a kind of rough justice. The plot makes absolutely no sense, I maintain and much eye-rolling is necessary to get through the hysteria. The cover design of the British Crime Classic one is absolutely gorgeous.

[Adam Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twisty, somewhat dark story set in the Welsh countryside. More a thriller than a whodunnit, there are some Ethel Lina White vibes here but in Brand’s unique style.

Took me a few chapters to get into the writing style but I was certainly gripped by the twists, and the lead character who’ll just make you want to keep shouting ‘stop making silly decisions!’

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gothic romantic suspense, not really my cuppa. If it's yours, cheers to you and here you go.

[Linda Bendele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

The ending is totally surprising. It sneaks up and leaves the reader almost breathless. A bit difficult at the beginning, it soon captures and then shocks.