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Death at Half-Term
A British all-boys school acting company is preparing Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" for a festival when one of the actors dies suddenly. Inspector Mitchell of Scotland Yard and amateur sleuth Dr. David Wintringham (whose brother-in-law is headmaster), investigate who would want to kill the actor, helped and hindered by the students and faculty.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
37 people want to read
About the author
Josephine Bell
86 books17 followersJosephine Bell (the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier Ball) was born into a medical family, the daughter of a surgeon, in Manchester in 1897.
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 19, 2019
This is an ok example of mid 20th century British detective fiction, although reading about all the cigarette smoking was rather amusing.
July 29, 2021
Denbury School is holding an end of term festival involving the Shakespeare Players Limited performing "Twelfth Night" and a fathers against pupils cricket match. During the preview event Shakespearean actor Robert Fenton is found dead with his head bashed in despite convincing everybody with his drunken Toby Belch. Scotland Yard's Inspector Mitchell is brought in at the headmasters request who is also the brother-in-law to amateur sleuth Dr. David Wintringham. I felt "Death at Half-Term" made a promising start and looked like it had plenty of promise unfortunately it lost a sense of reality by the school having it's own museum and a number rare gold coins went missing which was key to solving the case. It was stretched reality even more by having the big reveal in front the entire school. I'm sure people would find this enjoyable but unable to take it serious.
October 20, 2021
I enjoyed the book as it gave quite a good idea of life at a boys' boarding school during Half-Term but solving the crime committed moved at a very slow pace. Characters were not very clearly drawn and when eventually the crime was solved I had hardly been aware of the murderer until the last few pages.
July 30, 2025
Took me awhile to get into this book, mainly because there were so many characters to keep track of, and some weren’t well differentiated. However, this Golden Age mystery was ultimately rewarding.
(I own this book)
(I own this book)
April 9, 2021
Nearly a four. Humorous
May 9, 2019
Having picked up a “mod” paperback reprint of this novel to take on vacation, I was very nearly guilty of judging a book by its rather dreadful cover. As I started reading, however, I noticed things were less sixties mod and the writing much better than I expected. So I looked at the copyright page and found it had actually been written in 1939, which explained a few things, and I ended up enjoying the wit and characterizations very much. The mystery was quirky and not obvious, so that was good too.
May 18, 2010
An acting company presenting "Twelfth Night" at a boys' school suffers an unexpected loss when one of the actors dies suddenly. Dr. David Wintringham's brother-in-law is headmaster, and--with Mitchell of Scotland Yard--investigates just who would want to kill an actor, helped and hindered by the crime-crazy students.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews