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In una sera di pioggia
Jake Seaborne, uno studente di medicina in vacanza, sta girando in auto per la campagna inglese quando viene sorpreso da un violento temporale e rimane in panne. Proseguendo a piedi per un sentiero, raggiunge un grande cancello aperto i cui pilastri sono sormontati da curiose statue di animali. L’imponente dimora che sorge alla sue spalle ha l’aria semidisabitata e vagamente sinistra, ma il giovane, ansioso di trovare riparo, decide di chiedere ospitalità. L’accoglienza che riceve è a dir poco strana, perché le persone della casa hanno un atteggiamento ostile anche se voci carezzevoli e soprattutto si comportano come se il suo arrivo fosse atteso. In realtà Jake, come scoprirà di lì a poco, è stato scambiato per Hugo, il figlio segreto che il defunto patriarca aveva avuto dalla prima moglie indiana e che ora è destinato a ereditare l’intera proprietà a scapito dei fratellastri. Costui si presenta alla villa il giorno successivo: è bello, seducente e desideroso di piacere, ma la sua presenza innescherà una serie di drammatici avvenimenti che culmineranno con il ritrovamento di un cadavere nel parco. Odio, amore e avidità sono solo alcuni degli ingredienti che si mescolano in questo romanzo d’atmosfera e di suspense che uscì originariamente nel 1946.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
5 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Mary Fitt
50 books5 followers"Mary Fitt" was the pen-name used for her crime novels by Dr. Kathleen Freeman, who for several years was Lecturer in Greek at the University of Wales at Cardiff.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 4, 2011
A green Penguin by an unknown author, but the title intrigued me and so I picked it up. An interesting synopsis spoke of a young man caught up in strange events at a country house and the opening paragraph made me absolutely certain that I had uncovered a gem.
“I have never seen such lightning or such rain in all my life. As I drove, the rain swept towards me in great grey sheets so that the macadamed road was awash, and the lightning danced in quivering perpendicular lines just ahead of me. I cowered behind my low windscreen as if to avoid a blow; and over the sound of the engine I could hear crash after crash of almost continuous thunder. The sky behind, before, above, closed down over me; it was far darker than the surface of the road. Unable to think, and scarcely able to see, I steered along, doggedly and slowly, wondering what it would feel like when the inevitable happened and the car was struck; is there, or is there not, a moment of awareness before death and oblivion, even when the manner of death is so complacently said to be instantaneous? I wonder then , and I wonder now …”
The young man abroad was Jake Seabourne, medical student and only son of a country doctor; clearly a young man destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
He took a wrong turning and it lead him to a large country house, and the very welcome prospect of shelter from the storm. A manservant admitted him and lead him into a room full of people. Conversation stopped. All eyes turned towards Jake. Silence. And then an effusive greeting from a young woman, and others following her lead.
But they called him Hugo. Who was Hugo?
Fortunately one person present recognised Jake. Sir Frederick Lawton, an eminent surgeon, sees what has happened, sets thing to rights, and smooths Jake’s path.
He draws Jake to one side to explain. The owner of the house has died, and he has not left his house to his twin son and daughter. He has named his illegitimate son as his heir. A young man who he provided for but kept at arm’s length and never met. Hugo.
He had asked Sir Frederick, and old friend, to contrive to be present when Hugo arrived, to smooth his path. But Sir Frederick has urgent business calling him away, and he asks Jake to take his place. Jake, curious, and eager to associate himself with the great man, agrees.
It’s a wonderful scenario, and Mary Fitt manages it beautifully.
She paints wonderful pictures of the house, and of its occupants.
Ursula and Jim, daughter and son of the house; their cousin, Evelyn, who had come to nurse their dying father; and elderly Aunt and Uncle; and Hilary Parmoor, Ursula’s suitor. All complex characters, that would be slowly revealed as the plot advanced.
It was a very clever plot, psychologically true and built upon that fine collection of characters.
Hugo arrived and he was not at all what had been expected, did not at all what had been expected.
And then a very, very well judged twist and a murder.
Jake finds himself in an invidious position, as both confidante and resented outsider.
Another, very clever, twist makes him a suspect, caught in a very tangled web.
Everything, a fine mystery, a wonderful study of English society, and a picture of a way of life recently past and yet long gone, comes out of the characters. No details of the investigation, no set-pieces, just utterly believable and fascinating characters living through, dealing with, a situation.
The resolution works beautifully. It came naturally out of the story and, though I had worked out who the perpetrator had to be, I was still fascinated to learn just what had happened, and just what would happen next.
And a final little twist, a sting in the tail, revealed the meaning of that title.
A fitting end.
Death and the Pleasant Voices is a fine example of the classic country house mystery, and now when I scan the shelves of green Penguins I shall definitely be hoping to find more of Mary Fitt’s work.
“I have never seen such lightning or such rain in all my life. As I drove, the rain swept towards me in great grey sheets so that the macadamed road was awash, and the lightning danced in quivering perpendicular lines just ahead of me. I cowered behind my low windscreen as if to avoid a blow; and over the sound of the engine I could hear crash after crash of almost continuous thunder. The sky behind, before, above, closed down over me; it was far darker than the surface of the road. Unable to think, and scarcely able to see, I steered along, doggedly and slowly, wondering what it would feel like when the inevitable happened and the car was struck; is there, or is there not, a moment of awareness before death and oblivion, even when the manner of death is so complacently said to be instantaneous? I wonder then , and I wonder now …”
The young man abroad was Jake Seabourne, medical student and only son of a country doctor; clearly a young man destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
He took a wrong turning and it lead him to a large country house, and the very welcome prospect of shelter from the storm. A manservant admitted him and lead him into a room full of people. Conversation stopped. All eyes turned towards Jake. Silence. And then an effusive greeting from a young woman, and others following her lead.
But they called him Hugo. Who was Hugo?
Fortunately one person present recognised Jake. Sir Frederick Lawton, an eminent surgeon, sees what has happened, sets thing to rights, and smooths Jake’s path.
He draws Jake to one side to explain. The owner of the house has died, and he has not left his house to his twin son and daughter. He has named his illegitimate son as his heir. A young man who he provided for but kept at arm’s length and never met. Hugo.
He had asked Sir Frederick, and old friend, to contrive to be present when Hugo arrived, to smooth his path. But Sir Frederick has urgent business calling him away, and he asks Jake to take his place. Jake, curious, and eager to associate himself with the great man, agrees.
It’s a wonderful scenario, and Mary Fitt manages it beautifully.
She paints wonderful pictures of the house, and of its occupants.
Ursula and Jim, daughter and son of the house; their cousin, Evelyn, who had come to nurse their dying father; and elderly Aunt and Uncle; and Hilary Parmoor, Ursula’s suitor. All complex characters, that would be slowly revealed as the plot advanced.
It was a very clever plot, psychologically true and built upon that fine collection of characters.
Hugo arrived and he was not at all what had been expected, did not at all what had been expected.
And then a very, very well judged twist and a murder.
Jake finds himself in an invidious position, as both confidante and resented outsider.
Another, very clever, twist makes him a suspect, caught in a very tangled web.
Everything, a fine mystery, a wonderful study of English society, and a picture of a way of life recently past and yet long gone, comes out of the characters. No details of the investigation, no set-pieces, just utterly believable and fascinating characters living through, dealing with, a situation.
The resolution works beautifully. It came naturally out of the story and, though I had worked out who the perpetrator had to be, I was still fascinated to learn just what had happened, and just what would happen next.
And a final little twist, a sting in the tail, revealed the meaning of that title.
A fitting end.
Death and the Pleasant Voices is a fine example of the classic country house mystery, and now when I scan the shelves of green Penguins I shall definitely be hoping to find more of Mary Fitt’s work.
Read
June 25, 20153.5 stars.
Now, here's something entirely different -- while this book is yet another English country house murder, at least it's a new take on an old theme.
This book was written by Mary Fitt, AKA Stuart Mary Wick, both pseudonyms of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classicist who, in a field that belonged more or less to men, "used her excellent brain to make the Greeks intelligible and accessible to every man and woman in the English-speaking world." When she wasn't working for the war effort, she turned her hand to writing mystery novels as well as ghost stories, some of them featured in The Second Ghost Book and The Third Ghost Book, anthologies edited by none other than Lady Cynthia Asquith, whose own ghostly tales are often featured in old ghost-story anthologies. Death and the Pleasant Voices is her tenth novel out of nineteen to feature Superintendent Mallett, who plays only a small role here.
Death and the Pleasant Voices itself starts out like a ghost story, in that the narrator of this tale is driving through a blinding rainstorm, complete with lightning. Coming to a fork in the road, he takes the wrong turn and before he can turn around, he discovers he's arrived at a mansion of "dark grey stone." The door is opened by a manservant, who seemed to expect him, not even asking his name. He is greeted by a young woman, Ursula Ullstone, who refers to him incorrectly as "Hugo," and introduces him to the others in the room. The narrator is actually Jake Seaborne, and as he proffers his real name, discovers that one of the party knows his brother. This is Sir Frederick Lawton, a "great surgeon" and Jake's brother's hero. Jake is also a medical student, now on a short holiday. As Lawton escorts Jake to another room for a little chat, Jake hears Ursula ask "But where is Hugo?" , a question that will be answered quite shortly upon Hugo's arrival. It seems that Hugo is the son (via first marriage to a high-caste Indian woman) of the late Mr. Ullstone (the father of Ursula and her twin brother Jim), and up until three weeks prior, no one in the family or in the household had even heard of him. Strangely though, Hugo is now the owner of Ullstone Hall, the now-deceased Mr. Ullstone having made him his heir after refusing to ever allow him to come into contact with the rest of the family. Obviously they've never seen Hugo, since they all mistook Jake for their half-brother. The problem, as so neatly outlined by Sir Frederick, is that
"...all these people who thought themselves securely in possession for the rest of their lives are now going to be dependent upon the caprice of this young man. And as none of them has ever had to earn a living, none of them will have the slightest idea of what to do if Hugo decides that he doesn't want their company."
In short, the Ullstone family destiny is in the hands of a complete stranger. Jim and Ursula were left an annuity of three hundred pounds a year, "a sum that to most the inhabitants of this island would seem to give freedom from financial anxiety fro the rest of their lives," but Hugo has the bulk of the estate. Lawton is there as a "sort of buffer" for Hugo against the family; he must leave and is overjoyed that Jake has arrived, and asks Jake if he wouldn't mind staying until Lawton returns to act in the same role. Because of Jake's connection to Lawton, he agrees -- and ultimately Hugo arrives. That's when the first hint of trouble raises its head -- and before long, three people will end up dead.
Death and the Pleasant Voices is a novel about people, each with their little secrets and lies they have to maintain -- while the plot is decent enough, the heart of this book exists in its characters. As an example, Jim and Ursula have "conditioned" by their upbringing to never have to bother with the mundane task of working to make ends meet; their house guests are sponges who are there for long periods of time, one of them, a physician, has more or less given up on his practice, leaving it in the hands of his locum, for a life of leisure and secret love. The author makes a critical point here that not everything one sees is the way it actually is -- and it is the characters who eventually enliven this theme as the story progresses. The book also has a lot to say between the lines -- the author writes about class, about prejudice, about family relationships, about the roles of women and the follies and foibles of love -- but considering that the book was published in 1946, there's surprisingly very little, in fact nothing, said about the effects of the war that had concluded just a scant year earlier. Frankly, to me, this is quite a surprising omission. Everyone seems to have gone about his or her business somewhat unscathed after such a horrific war -- there is no rationing, the family still employs servants, and it's almost as if the war danced around this little slice of the English countryside.
It's a good enough little read; coming in at just over 200 pages, it will definitely give a crime reader a few good hours of entertainment, and I can attest to the fact that there is a true puzzle to solve here. I thought I had guessed the culprit by page 80 and as things progressed, I realized not only was I wrong, but my choice was not even close. As usual though, if it's too easy, it's no fun. Definitely a keeper, Death and the Pleasant Voices is book #6 in my ongoing obscure women crime writers project, and I would recommend it.
Now, here's something entirely different -- while this book is yet another English country house murder, at least it's a new take on an old theme.
This book was written by Mary Fitt, AKA Stuart Mary Wick, both pseudonyms of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classicist who, in a field that belonged more or less to men, "used her excellent brain to make the Greeks intelligible and accessible to every man and woman in the English-speaking world." When she wasn't working for the war effort, she turned her hand to writing mystery novels as well as ghost stories, some of them featured in The Second Ghost Book and The Third Ghost Book, anthologies edited by none other than Lady Cynthia Asquith, whose own ghostly tales are often featured in old ghost-story anthologies. Death and the Pleasant Voices is her tenth novel out of nineteen to feature Superintendent Mallett, who plays only a small role here.
Death and the Pleasant Voices itself starts out like a ghost story, in that the narrator of this tale is driving through a blinding rainstorm, complete with lightning. Coming to a fork in the road, he takes the wrong turn and before he can turn around, he discovers he's arrived at a mansion of "dark grey stone." The door is opened by a manservant, who seemed to expect him, not even asking his name. He is greeted by a young woman, Ursula Ullstone, who refers to him incorrectly as "Hugo," and introduces him to the others in the room. The narrator is actually Jake Seaborne, and as he proffers his real name, discovers that one of the party knows his brother. This is Sir Frederick Lawton, a "great surgeon" and Jake's brother's hero. Jake is also a medical student, now on a short holiday. As Lawton escorts Jake to another room for a little chat, Jake hears Ursula ask "But where is Hugo?" , a question that will be answered quite shortly upon Hugo's arrival. It seems that Hugo is the son (via first marriage to a high-caste Indian woman) of the late Mr. Ullstone (the father of Ursula and her twin brother Jim), and up until three weeks prior, no one in the family or in the household had even heard of him. Strangely though, Hugo is now the owner of Ullstone Hall, the now-deceased Mr. Ullstone having made him his heir after refusing to ever allow him to come into contact with the rest of the family. Obviously they've never seen Hugo, since they all mistook Jake for their half-brother. The problem, as so neatly outlined by Sir Frederick, is that
"...all these people who thought themselves securely in possession for the rest of their lives are now going to be dependent upon the caprice of this young man. And as none of them has ever had to earn a living, none of them will have the slightest idea of what to do if Hugo decides that he doesn't want their company."
In short, the Ullstone family destiny is in the hands of a complete stranger. Jim and Ursula were left an annuity of three hundred pounds a year, "a sum that to most the inhabitants of this island would seem to give freedom from financial anxiety fro the rest of their lives," but Hugo has the bulk of the estate. Lawton is there as a "sort of buffer" for Hugo against the family; he must leave and is overjoyed that Jake has arrived, and asks Jake if he wouldn't mind staying until Lawton returns to act in the same role. Because of Jake's connection to Lawton, he agrees -- and ultimately Hugo arrives. That's when the first hint of trouble raises its head -- and before long, three people will end up dead.
Death and the Pleasant Voices is a novel about people, each with their little secrets and lies they have to maintain -- while the plot is decent enough, the heart of this book exists in its characters. As an example, Jim and Ursula have "conditioned" by their upbringing to never have to bother with the mundane task of working to make ends meet; their house guests are sponges who are there for long periods of time, one of them, a physician, has more or less given up on his practice, leaving it in the hands of his locum, for a life of leisure and secret love. The author makes a critical point here that not everything one sees is the way it actually is -- and it is the characters who eventually enliven this theme as the story progresses. The book also has a lot to say between the lines -- the author writes about class, about prejudice, about family relationships, about the roles of women and the follies and foibles of love -- but considering that the book was published in 1946, there's surprisingly very little, in fact nothing, said about the effects of the war that had concluded just a scant year earlier. Frankly, to me, this is quite a surprising omission. Everyone seems to have gone about his or her business somewhat unscathed after such a horrific war -- there is no rationing, the family still employs servants, and it's almost as if the war danced around this little slice of the English countryside.
It's a good enough little read; coming in at just over 200 pages, it will definitely give a crime reader a few good hours of entertainment, and I can attest to the fact that there is a true puzzle to solve here. I thought I had guessed the culprit by page 80 and as things progressed, I realized not only was I wrong, but my choice was not even close. As usual though, if it's too easy, it's no fun. Definitely a keeper, Death and the Pleasant Voices is book #6 in my ongoing obscure women crime writers project, and I would recommend it.
April 21, 2017
A gem of a read. A good mystery with the right sort of intrigue and atmosphere. The Anglo-Indian's angst was a tad exaggerated though. Poor fellow. To imagine that he was the result of two people's love for each other and yet to be so lonely and wretched.
First Line: I have never seen such lightening or such rain in all my life.
Source: Open Library
First Line: I have never seen such lightening or such rain in all my life.
Source: Open Library
June 20, 2021
It took me a while to get into this because the characters all seemed so unpleasant. But I stuck with it and am glad I did. Before long the characters stopped annoying me and began to fascinate me, and my interest was sustained right up through the end. Be warned, Mary Fitt is not a sentimental novelist; she has a cold, clear vision into people's characters and motivations, and perhaps it was this that initially put me off. This is a short book, but the pace is leisurely enough for the narrator's ruminations on the other characters and his own feelings. But the pace picks up toward the end, and it comes to a very satisfying conclusion. I hope to read more of this author, but I don't know how, as I've been unable to find any of her books available for free download (I'm pretty sure they are now in the public domain, as Dover never publishes anything else) or elsewhere. Gives me something to hunt for.
August 30, 2017
Una lettura piacevole, anche se ai fini dell'indagine non ci sono indizi che portino al colpevole, se non una vaga idea che viene per forza a furia di leggere detective stories. E comunque la parte di detection manca completamente: il sovrintendente Mallett è quasi inesistente e quelle di Seaborne non sono affatto indagini.
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December 23, 2018Synopsis: a young medical student Jake Seabourne gets lost and ends up at a country home where he is called Hugo. Strange. Next, three murders.
October 16, 2025
Would say 3.5 stars. We follow the story through the eyes of a young man (a medical student) who is making his way toward one destination during a storm when his car dies. He finds a large estate, and enters into a place awaiting someone. After it is cleared up that he is not the person, he is allowed to remain as the weather is inclement. And he is then asked to stay as a help to another physician out and ends up watching a rather tense group of prickly personalities - and then murder.
While there is some detecting afoot, our narrator is confounded by a few things, the police don’t confide in him, everyone seems intent on lying to him and he is also easy to fall in love with the ladies of the house. Event after event occurs- and a second death makes him suspect that assumptions about who the murderer is- is not true. It also pushes him to find new information.
The story presents pretty much a full cast of suspects in which you don’t know if they are capable of murder or are just really unhappy and maladjusted humans. In this story, all these events would not have happened (at least not in this way) if one person’s death and their decision to change a will had not happened. I also feel that the handling of this affair by others also- were twisted by them to better themselves as well. So, while not everyone was a murderer, others did their best to get their pound of flesh in another way.
While not a puzzle that you could figure out on your own, it certainly tells a story of how desperation of people who have all lived off one person are useless at actually going out and working for a living so they could still eat. The only normal person - is the young man tells the story.
While there is some detecting afoot, our narrator is confounded by a few things, the police don’t confide in him, everyone seems intent on lying to him and he is also easy to fall in love with the ladies of the house. Event after event occurs- and a second death makes him suspect that assumptions about who the murderer is- is not true. It also pushes him to find new information.
The story presents pretty much a full cast of suspects in which you don’t know if they are capable of murder or are just really unhappy and maladjusted humans. In this story, all these events would not have happened (at least not in this way) if one person’s death and their decision to change a will had not happened. I also feel that the handling of this affair by others also- were twisted by them to better themselves as well. So, while not everyone was a murderer, others did their best to get their pound of flesh in another way.
While not a puzzle that you could figure out on your own, it certainly tells a story of how desperation of people who have all lived off one person are useless at actually going out and working for a living so they could still eat. The only normal person - is the young man tells the story.
January 2, 2018
This novel is usually classified as a mystery novel, but there is definitely an element of "gothic" as well. It all starts.. on a dark and stormy night... when the protagonist, a young medical student, has a car breakdown and has to seek shelter in a mansion. Welcomed cordially by the beautiful Ursula, and with glowering looks from her brother Jim and aunt and uncle, he has to correct their misunderstanding : he is not Hugo, the half-brother whose existence they had never suspected and who has inherited their father's estate. What makes it especially complicated is that this never-before-seen Hugo is half-Indian and has lived most of his life in Paris. (One can sense the complex mixture of racism and distrust of the French throughout the book). Then Hugo arrives and charms everybody, including Ursula and the poor relation Evelyn. But wait a second ! Evelyn has " an understanding" with Jim. No ! She had come close to marrying Jim's father! No, the protagonist wants to marry her! When one of the actors in this drama is found dead, everybody starts behaving strangely.
I didn't enjoy this book much because everybody kept changing their mind about who they were attracted to and who they wanted to marry, where they wanted to live, what they were going to do with their life. So there was no firm sense of character, and poor, moody Hugo never came alive for me.
I didn't enjoy this book much because everybody kept changing their mind about who they were attracted to and who they wanted to marry, where they wanted to live, what they were going to do with their life. So there was no firm sense of character, and poor, moody Hugo never came alive for me.
July 21, 2017
Mary Fitt is an oddball Golden Age detective story writer. I was intrigued by her old-fashioned "Death and Mary Dazill", so I've been given two more. The scenario starts off Scooby Doo ish, with innocent motorist taking refuge at spooky house, where everyone is waiting for the hated heir to the estate whom they've never met; and where the motorist is also invited to stay for no obvious reason. I wasn't really convinced by any of the characters, who all behave implausibly, or by the method of revelation of the murderer (which I was completely wrong about.) But it was a smooth and intriguing read.
July 25, 2019
Credo che questo libro sia uno dei peggiori bassotti che ho letto. Più che un giallo, è un continuo trastullarsi del personaggio principale con le due donne della storia, Ursula e Evelyn. Prima s'innamora di Evelyn, poi diciamo che in seguito a certi eventi si butta su Ursula, mentre per i due omicidi presenti non c'è nessun indagine fatta seriamente, ed il colpevole viene scoperto tramite una lettera postuma. L'unica cosa che si salva è l'inizio, molto d'effetto, sebbene questo effetto si sgonfi molto rapidamente.
September 17, 2017
This was different than other murder mysteries I've read. A nice change of pace, although I'm not likely to seek this author out again.
February 19, 2019
Well enough written, but the whole set-up and psychologies make no sense.
September 23, 2024
A Moving Mystery
This is a great novel, not just a good mystery! A great study of the human condition. A very moving read.
This is a great novel, not just a good mystery! A great study of the human condition. A very moving read.
February 4, 2025
Pleasantly absorbing.
March 19, 2019
Intricate setup and characters - underwhelming denouement.
April 5, 2015
This is the third book of Mary Fitt's that I have read. I love the introduction to this; a young student doctor caught in a storm seeks refuge in a seemingly empty house. The prose is excellent, the reader is immediately drawn in to the story and wants to find out more. Unfortunately for me, the more I read the less interested I was in the outcome. The characters were unlikeable, their behaviour irritating in the extreme and I guessed who the murderer was quite early on in the proceedings.
January 12, 2010
This is a fun enough read--nothing too remarkable, but a diversion. I will say that I was pretty sure I had identified the murderer by about page 30...and I was right.
July 29, 2016
Classico giallo inglese che, come ben illustrato nella nota sul autrice, punta molto sull'aspetto psicologico dei personaggi più che sull'azione. buona lettura per l'estate.
September 4, 2016
I enjoyed this book very much. Looks like it will be very hard to find more of her books though. Hopefully someone will reprint them soon!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews